Fall Colors on Mt. Monadnock

Today I have a timely update for the season, some gorgeous fall colors on Mt. Monadnock! I went for a very nice 6 mile hike there earlier this month in what must have been their peak leaf season. The hike and weather was excellent, the colors were stunning, and the views were amazing. I can’t recommend this one enough. Enjoy!

A high alpine pool near the summit
There was plenty of interest along the ground with the bright red maple leaves everywhere
The colors looking down into the valleys were stunning. It gives a great perspective of the change from the high alpine pines to the lower elevation maples, birches, and oaks.

Taken 10/8/22

Mt Tripyramid Loop

It’s definitely been a while since I added any new photos here, it’s been a busy summer. Don’t worry though, I’ve still been going on plenty of adventures and taking plenty of photos. Today I have one such adventure in the white mountains with my cousin. We started at the Livermore Trailhead and headed up towards the Scaur and Waterville Flume. The Scaur was a nice overlook, but was otherwise not too noteworthy. The flume on the other hand was a little more unique. We hiked to the bottom of it and spent a few minutes poking around the stream and the little chasm it passes through.

The bottom of the Waterville Flume, our first stop of the day
There wasn’t too much water coming down the flume, but it was definitely pretty

We were still feeling pretty fresh, so we soon headed out and up towards the day’s main event: Mt. Tripyramid. The approach is simple enough, but the trail quickly starts ascending up a creek bed that slowly becomes an open slide. This section of the trail is extremely steep. (1500′ in 0.7 miles) It quickly became scramble on all fours, and did not let up much until just before the summit. On the plus side, the views are spectacular the whole way up. We had plenty of time to take it all in as we picked our way up and stopped to catch our breath.

The beginning of the north slide. It’s hard to appreciate the steepness of this from the photos, but
Nearing the top of the slide

This is one of the most impressive trails I have ever done in the whites. It really is something that has to be experienced. Once we cleared the top of the slide and finished off the last of the elevation and arrived at the summit of North Tripyramid. From there we continued south along the ridge to the middle and south peaks as well. It’s a good thing the views from the climb were so good, because the summits were nothing to get excited about. They were all covered in trees and offered virtually no views. Once past south peak though the fun began again, with the descent down the south slide.

The view from the top of the south slide

This slide was about the same steepness as the one we came up, but was tighter and had more gravel along the way. Fortunately it was also more boulder covered, so we made steady progress back down. From there it was a long but uneventful hike back out to the car. All in all, I really enjoyed this hike. It’s a great example of going on a hike “for the journey.” Totally worth the trip, but doesn’t have much of a “destination” either.

Taken 9/10/22