North and Middle Tripyramid, Whiteface and Passaconway
We knew this was going to be a long stenuous hike, and since we wanted to summit all four peaks in one day, we started early..4:30 AM. We camped at the Sabbaday Campground just off the Kangamangus Highway. Up at 4:00 we drove to the Sabbaday falls Trailhead just one mile north of our location. We hiked the Sabbaday Brook Trail for the first 4.5 Miles with minimal elevation gain. Approximatly one mile after the first stream crossing you will enter the Sandwich Range Wilderness. You cross over Sabbaday Falls at least 4 times before linking with Mt. Tripyramid Trail. Hook right and head north to Mt. Tripyramid. The stream crossings were not difficult but youre going to get wet. As you gain some elvation, just before the intersection of Sabbaday Brook Trail and Mt. Tripyramid Trail you can see glimpses of the Fool Killer to the north and the ridge line to Middle Tripyramid. When we got to Mt. Tripyramid Trail, we hooked a right to summit North Tripyramid.
The trail to the summit is short and steep and offers limited views of the Carter Range. The bugs were starting to wake up so we didnt spend too much time relaxing at the summit.
From the summit of North Tripyramid, we went back down to the junciton of Sabbaday Falls and continued South to Middle Tripyramid. The trail on the ridgeline flattened out for a short time and then climbed a bit to get to the summit. The views from Middle Tripyramid were much better, it was a clear day and you could see Waterville Valley to the west. You catch views of Passaconway, Tecumseh and Osceola as well. From Middle Tripyramid, we travelied south across the South Peak. Once you begin to climb down from the south summit, the trail becomes very steep and rocky. There are amazing views to the west but the rocks are loose and its easy to loose your footing, on top of that the flys were everywhere.
Peyton and Savvannah at the North Tripyramid summit
The junction of Sabbady falls and tripyramid loop
middle tripyramid summit
The steep rocky section near the junction of Tripyramid loop and kate sleeper trail
The rocky section heading towards Kate Sleeper is marked with cairns, once you get toward the bottom of the steep sectin the trail cuts hard left and heads towards West Sleeper. The trail here is well marked, has easy footing and was riddled with moose dung. I was suprised not to see or at least hear any moose. There is a summit spur that we choose not to take that leads you to East Sleeper, we continued east to Whiteface. The trail has some wet sections and there is alot of blowdown near a flat section just before you push towards the summit. Reports state that this is where most of the moose activity is, but again, no sightings of moose, just their poop...
There is a flat section along Kate Sleeper Trail where there is some serious blowback and Moose scat everywhere. We did not see any Moose on this trip, but there were deffinite signs. We hit the summit of Whiteface and took a short break, there are no views from the summit, so
we took a quick break, snapped our photo and moved on. There is a ledge just below the summit of Whiteface along Rollins Trail that offers great views of the southeast and glimpses of Mt. Passaconway. Here is where we sat for a while and had lunch.
We traveled along Rollins Trail to Dicey's Mill Trail to the Summit of Passaconway. Again, no views, alot of flys, a short break, photo op an we were off. Mt. Passaconaway has limited views of Mt. Whiteface to the south, Mt. Wonalancet, and of the Tripyramids from a small lookout. Now the decent which seemed to take forever. We took Walden Trail to the Passaconway Cuttoff to the Olivarian Brook Trail to the trailhead. 4.1 miles in total, half of it steep which flattened out for about the last mile and a half.
This is a great loop but takes some time. I notice from reading the trip reports that most summit the Tripyramids via the Pine Bend Brook trail or the Scaur Trail, not many use Sabbady Falls which I found to be a very easy way to ease yourself into hiking this 15+ mile loop.
short lunch break on rollins trail
