Bonds and Tripyramids: Bringing Diaz back to the Whites

Date of Hike: 5/30/13 & 5/31/13

Lincoln Woods Trail: 2.9 miles  /  Bondcliff Trail: 7.9 miles  / West Bond Spur: 1.0 miles  /  Bondcliff Trail: 7.9 miles  /  Lincoln Woods Trail 2.9 miles
Miles: 22.8 (4,800 elevation gain)

Livermore Trail: 3.6 miles  /  Mout Tripyramid Trail: 4.9 miles  /  Livermore Trail: 2.6 miles
Miles: 11.1 (3,000 elevation gain)

Trip Report:

- On Wednesday after work I met up with my roommate from college (Quinnipiac University) Tom Diaz at the Lowell train station and headed up north to beat the heat for two days of hiking.

- We set up camp at Lafayette Place Campground which was almost completely empty, there were only a few other tents set up and it was as quiet as I've ever heard it.

- On Thursday we got up really early, around 4:45 a.m. because it was already bright out and we both were excited to go on a kick ass hike.  After getting our gear set up we headed to D&D for some breakfast and then made our way to Lincoln Woods hitting the trail at 6:15 a.m.

- The clouds were clearing off and it was windy but the breeze was unusually warm for it being so early in the morning and we knew the temperature was going to skyrocket as the day went on.

- As we made our way past the Pemigewasset Wilderness Boundary we heard a faint grunt and small crash about ten feet off the trail and saw a brownish / black big furball take off running through the woods.  It was a black bear and it wanted nothing to do with us.  After thousands of miles hiking over the past five years I finally saw a bear on the trail even if it was only a flash of fur for a few seconds!

-  The first couple of miles on the Bondcliff Trail is a long gradual climb up to the Bondcliff.  It only gets steep in one section and isn't to exciting, however, when you reach treeline that long hike through the woods is beyond rewarding.  This was Diaz first time on Bondcliff and the look on his face after making it to the top of the short scramble reminded me of myself when I first came up here in 2009.

- The wind was whipping pretty good up on Bondcliff, over 30 mph with gusts over 40.  However, with the warm temps the wind felt very refreshing and was fun to hike through.

- We took a nice break on Bond behind some rocks to get out of the wind and laid down in the sun and watched the clouds rush by high above us.  After our break we headed over to West Bond and encountered the last of the rotting snow, a couple of ten foot sections.  On Sunday and Monday there was almost a half foot in places which had all melted away.  The snow that was left now was a small spine from the winter's snowfall.

- By the time we hit West Bond the temperature was over sixty and the wind was starting to die down making for a pleasant hike back over Bond to Bondcliff.

- We took another long break on Boncliff before Diaz's first long descent back to the Lincoln Woods trailhead.  Like the rest of us he learned that the last few miles seems to go on forever.  Along the way we picked up another hiker who tagged along because he needed a ride into town.  We both forgot his name so we referred to him as Larry.  Larry had spent the past two weeks being wet wandering around the trails of the White Mountains and was next heading to Lyme, New Hampshire.  From what I gathered he started at Pinkham Notch two weeks ago and ended up here, he didn't quite now where he came from but he may have been stoned in the dungeon at Lakes of the Clouds for about ten of the fourteen days... I kid, I kid.

- We made it back to the trailhead around 4:20 p.m. and drove Larry into town where he said his friend was picking him up.  So long Larry!

- From here we headed back to our base camp and cooked dinner, made a fire, and drank some beers before calling it a night before doing it all again on Friday on the 'Tri Slides'.

- Friday was much warmer, drier, and less windy than Thursday.  To make things a little more interesting the bugs were out in full force, luckily not many of them were mosquitos but millions of those little annoying black ones.

- The hike to the bottom of the north slide is rather tame, you hike just under four miles along the relatively flat Livermore Trail before banging a right on the Mount Tripyramid Trail.  The trail wanders through the woods for a few tenths of a mile before reaching the bottom of the slide.  the bottom of the north slide is narrow and has no views, it's slippery in places even when dry from the moss covering the slab in spots. The slide gradual opens up and is relentlessly steep with some tricky sections here and there.  The blazes are faded and few are seen so you can make your own trail up the slide.  This was my fourth or fifth time up the slide so it was all fun for me, Diaz was loving it too but was a little more cautious ascending the steep slab.

- After awhile the slide opens up, the second part traveled is just as steep but easier as it transitions from slab to gravel and boulders making for an easier climb as long as you don't slide around on the loose talus.

- We huffed and puffed our way to the top then made the easy hike across the ridge from North - Middle - South Peak.  The ridge is a gentle walk through the woods with some really good footing.

- From South peak we descended steeply through the woods to the top of the south slide.  The south slide is not as open or as fun as the north slide.  It's mostly loose gravel and small boulders, still, it's better than hiking in the woods.

- We had fun sliding down the slide as the temperatures reached the low eighties.  Once back in the woods we put our heads down and beat feet back to the Livermore Trail.  We stopped for lunch on the side of the trail and could here thunder rumbling to the west but it never came near us.  When we made it back to the car we packed up and headed south into the scorching heat.  By the time we hit Lowell, the temp said 100 but it was probably more like 95.  Traffic heading north as we drove south was some of the worst I've ever seen

- At the train station we parted ways, Diaz back to Somers, NY, and me back to N.P. RI.  It was a great two days in the White Mountains with my old roommate from college who I will see again in early fall as we will meet up in the Adirondacks for two awesome hikes, one in the Macintyre Range ( Wright - Algonquin - Iroquois) and a Giant - Rocky Peak Ridge Traverse (73 to New Russia).

 Lincoln Woods Trailhead

 Lincoln Woods Ranger Station

 East Branch Suspension Bridge

 East Branch Pemigewasset River

 Franconia Brook Footbridge

 Bondcliff / Franconia Brook Trail Junction

 Bondcliff / Wilderness Trail

 Bondcliff / Wilderness Trail

 First crossing of the Black Brook

 Second crossing of the black Brook

 Owl's Head, Mount Liberty, and Flume Mountain

 Hellgate Ravine and West Bond

 Mount Bond Slide

 Bondcliff, Bond, and West Bond

Bondcliff Trail

 

Bondcliff

 Mount Carrigain 

 Diaz touching the clouds

 Bondcliff Trail

 Bondcliff

 Mount Garfield

 Bondcliff Ridge

 View toward Mount Guyot and the Twin Range from Mount Bond

 West Bond

Twin Range 

 Pemi Wilderness

 Bondcliff

 Twin Range Slides

 Read Rock Ravine

 Rotting snow

 Bondcliff summit area

 Hancock's

 Owl's Head and the Franconia Ridge

 Black Brook Trestle

 Livermore Trail

 Livermore Trail

 Mount Tripyramid / Livermore Trail Junction

 Bottom of the North Slide

 Diaz on the lower section of the North Slide

 North Slide

 Looking down the North Slide

 Diaz 'climbing'

Up the North Slide 

 Osceola's

Diaz getting a good grip on the slab 

 Osceola's

Looking up the North Slide 

 Diaz getting a good hand hold

 More slab on the North Slide

 Diaz finding some hand holds for safe passage

 Looking to the Osceola's

Upper section of the North Slide 

 View from the top of the North Slide

 Mount Tecumseh and Waterville Valley Ski Area

Top of South Slide 

 South Slide

 South Slide

 Diaz on the South Slide

 South Slide

 Brook crossing

 Livermore Road Trail Info