The Tripyramids (6/5/21)
I'm a little tardy in getting this post up, but I suppose better late than never. As June began, I had some new equipment I wanted to test out for my upcoming Appalachian Trail section hike, plus I just needed to get out in the mountains, so I decided to start working on the Terrifying 25 list. Both the North Tripyramid Slide and the South Tripyramid Slide are on the list, so the Tripyramids seemed like a good place to start. In case you're wondering, a slide is a section of rocks or boulders on a mountain that have been deposited there, usually by an avalanche or a mudslide or some other major event. Sometimes the rocks are firmly together, and at other times they can be loose, so you always have to be careful.
I was testing two pieces of equipment. First, I bought myself a Garmin inReach Mini, which is a satellite communicator. It has multiple functions that are useful on hikes. It allows me to send texts and other messages from the backcountry, it tracks my movement and sends it to my mother and my girlfriend Dragonfly, and it has an SOS feature in case of emergencies. It seemed like a good safety precaution to have on a big hike.
Second, I bought myself new shoes and I wanted to test them out. They are Altra Lone Peaks 4.5s. I have been using Altra Lone Peak 4s for the last few years and I love them, but they have been replaced by the 4.5s. Supposedly the 4.5 is more durable, which would be great, because durability is the only major flaw in the Altra shoes. Well, price too, but there's not much you can do about that. Still, they're comfortable and have great traction, so they are my shoe of choice.
The Tripyramids are a loop. I decided to ascend the North Tripyramid Slide and descend the South Slide because the northern one is supposedly more treacherous, and you always want to be going up instead of down on difficult terrain. In the parking lot I activated the Garmin, and I was off. The beginning of the hike was amazing. The temperatures were reasonable, and the trail I was using was an old logging road, so it made for beautiful hiking. That trail went for approximately three miles before the climbing really began.
Thankfully, the North Tripyramid Slide was exactly the type of climbing I enjoy. It was a lot of hand over hand rock climbing up a steep hill, which is what I picture when I think about climbing a mountain. It brings back memories of being a child and climbing rocks near my family's camp in Pennsylvania. It was long and it was hard, but I was having a blast.
The Slide was actually the first place on the hike that the Garmin started working. It turns out that it doesn't do well under trees, which makes sense given that it is a satellite communicator, but it's still a bit concerning given that the majority of the Appalachian Trail is covered in trees. Other trails, such as the Pacific Crest Trail, have a lot of hiking in open areas, but the Appalachian Trail is affectionately known as The Green Tunnel.
Climbing the Slide was slow going, but I finally made it to the top. There were a few other people on trail as I ascended. There were two ladies hiking together. I passed them about midway up the Slide. One seemed to be doing well, but her friend was struggling a bit. I think it was the first time that she had taken on a climb that tough.
There was also another lady ahead of me, and she kept a consistent gap between us the entire way up, which I was impressed with. I normally climb faster than most people, so to stay ahead of me she was really moving. The strange thing, though, was that when I got to the top, I didn't see her anymore. I figured that she had just booked it ahead of me, so I didn't worry too much about it, and I dug some snacks out of my pack's hip belt pockets to refresh my calories after the climb.
I had just started snacking when I heard someone calling to me. I answered, and I realized it was the lady who had been hiking in front of me. A couple quick calls back and forth helped me ascertain what had happened. At the top of the slide, the trail took a sudden left, but if you missed it there was an area in front of you that could be mistaken for a trail. She had missed the left and had gone up the wrong trail, and now she was a bit lost. I maneuvered my way back down to the trail intersection, and when she could see me she was able to work her way down to where I was. She thanked me for helping her out, and we got to chatting. I learned that her name was Tina, and she was obviously a strong hiker, but this was her first time on the Tripyramids. She was using AllTrails for navigation and struggling with it, so I suggested the Guthook app, which she hadn't heard of before but said she would look into. She went to fix some equipment and I hiked on.
Before too long, I summited North Tripyramid, and then from there it was a quick jaunt through a saddle to Middle Tripyramid. Technically, those are the only two Tripyramids to count as four thousand footers. I am not sure if South Tripyramid doesn't count because it's not tall enough, or because it's considered a shoulder of the middle peak. Either way, I made good time over to the southern peak, although I was back in trees, and so my Garmin wasn't working again. It took about an hour just to send a simple text message. I wasn't impressed.
The hike down South Tripyramid Slide was long. I had to pick my way very carefully. It probably didn't help that I met a nice guy who was ascending the trail and stopped to chat with him for about ten minutes. There was a group behind me on the way down, but they never quite caught up with me on the Slide.
Once I finished the Slide, I was back on the normal loop trail, heading back to the logging road. That was another couple miles, but it went quickly on the easier terrain. When I made it back to the road, I stopped for a minute for a food and water break. I was running low on water by this point, but I wasn't concerned, as I knew the trail was easy from there. Plus, I always carry a water filter with me in the summer in case things get desperate.
As I was stopped for my break, Tina caught up to me. She was now hiking with two young guys. I am not sure if they were her family or friends, but I thought it was weird that they weren't with her before when she got lost on the trail. What was even weirder was that she didn't recognize me at all, when I had met her like an hour or so beforehand. I thought maybe it was because I had taken my hat off, but who knows?
Once I got going again, I flew down the logging road. I think I did the last three miles in about an hour. I even re-passed Tina and her young friends. It was good that I made it out when I did, too, because the day was just starting to get really hot when I made it back to the car.
In the end, the Altras worked great. I was very happy with them, and I definitely feel comfortable using them on my AT section hike. The Garmin... well... the jury's still out on that. I am going to take it on my AT hike and see how it does. If it does well, then I will keep it, and if I am not happy with it, then it will be going back to REI.
Regardless of whether the Garmin joins me on my AT section hike, I hope that you will be joining me on my hike here on this blog. It will be starting soon, and I will be posting updates here every few days. Until then, always remember that you can't take flight until you spread your wings.
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