Hitting the Trails: 05/24/2014 Tripryamids

Saturday, May 24, 2014

North Tripyramid / Middle Tripyramid / South Tripyramid

Livermore Trail / Tripryamid Loop (North Slide up / South Slide down)

After a nice walk into the woods on the wide, level Livermore Trail, things got interesting heading up the North Slide of Tripyramids. The wooded trail disappears and you stare up a big rocky pile as far as the eye can see. Recent rains kept the rocks on the slide nice and slippery, but early on there were enough footholds to head up. Soon the rocks and boulders on the slide had some very flat, large slabs of rock with no handholds and lots of exposure. Hugging the left side of the slide worked for a while, but eventually it was necessary to head into the brush to keep heading up. With all of the rain and dew collected in the brush, we were soaked in no time. Visibility started to diminish higher up and the occasional cairn would appear in the fog above. Higher up, the slide was more manageable as the angle leveled off somewhat and the rocks were drier. Keep your eyes open for a large cairn and look to your left as the trail heads back into the woods. It's very easy to keep going straight up the slide here, especially in low visibility conditions.

We only ran into one other hiker, maybe the rain kept them away, but the weather was pretty decent.