Some overnight showers plus snowmelt had Slide Brook surging at White Cascade.
Daniel coined the unofficial name for this cascade due to its light-colored bedrock, known as Kinsman granodiorite.
A Red Trillium in bloom beside Livermore Trail.
We went off-trail to visit a favorite maple glade that hosts a vast colony of Dutchman's Breeches.
Tripyramid through the trees.
The Dutchmen were blooming!
We poked around the area of the second Avalanche Camp (in use in the 1930s/1940s) for a while.
A number of bed frames were abandoned here.
This was a can of Swift's Premium Ham; the graphic matches ads from the early 1940s.
Dinty Moore has been a staple in the woods for many years. I consumed a few cans of it myself in my younger backpacking days. (Note that these artifacts are protected by law and it is illegal to remove them.)
This ad from 1940 matches the front of the can.
Mellow spring walking on the Livermore Trail.
Trout Lilies!
A Perseverance Tree, as Daniel calls it.
An inviting curve in the trail above the junction with the trail to Tripyramid's North Slide. The upper several miles of Livermore Trail leading towards Livermore Pass were built as a good road during World War II using Federal funds, providing access to pulpwood needed for the war effort.
A nice cluster of Trout Lilies, aka Yellow Dogtooth Violets or Adder's Tongues.
Looking back at North and South Tripyramid.
Above the Scaur Ridge Trail junction we bushwhacked up the slope and began our ascent using a series of five logging roads.
We made a short side trip to admire this gnarled old maple.
Though partly obstructed by beech saplings, hobblebush and blowdown, these roads (probably dating back to the 1940s or early 1950s) were well-built and are easy to follow.
One of the older beech trees on the slope.
One road had an especially nice view down a slope of open hardwoods and out to Sandwich Dome.
We decided that this was a good place to take a break in the sun.
Springtime, and the livin' is easy (and bug-free)...
A hobblebush tangle. Luckily it didn't last long.
Daniel emerges from a thicker section along the uppermost road.
Back in there he found and photographed some unusual mushrooms.
Lotsa moose poop up here, and the hobblebush was heavily browsed.
One spot opened an imposing view of Tripyramid's North Slide. Still snow and ice lingering on the steep, narrow "tail."
We bushwhacked up to a series of open fern glades on the crest of the ridge. I had visited these a couple times in recent years, having spotted them on Google Earth, and wanted to show them to Daniel.
A tree graveyard, with the fallen trunks smothered in a blanket of dried ferns.
A happy camper!
Moose hair.
A great bushwhack - wild, open woods, moderate grades and no snow!
The snow-free whacking continued all the way to a point just below the summit of Scaur Peak, and even there the snow was patchy and shallow.
Daniel signs in the summit register.
A new Waterville peak for the Sylvan Rambler!
After a short, steep drop off the peak, we meandered along the saddle between Scaur Peak and North Tripyramid. There were a few large balsam firs along the way.
A wildly gnarled yellow birch, the "Creature of Scaur Ridge."
Snow-free on the Pine Bend Brook Trail, too.
We did encounter a bit of monorail just before the Scaur Ridge Trail junction.
For some views, we dropped down through spring snow into an open glade on the slope north of the junction.
Mount Carrigain, Signal Ridge, Mount Willey and Mount Lowell.
A vista all the way out to Mount Washington, the Wildcats and the Carters, with Green's Cliff and Mount Tremont closer in.
Heading down Scaur Ridge Trail, a route we both count as a favorite.
This, too, was snow-free save for a few isolated bits of monorail in the upper 0.3 mile. As we headed down towards a small brook crossing the ridge of Scaur Peak loomed above.
Old yellow birches against a bluebird sky.
Evening sun on North Tripyramid.
A mellow trail indeed, following another of those old logging roads. The trail was opened in the mid-1950s.
Farewell to the Wilderness.
Golden hour on Livermore Trail.
After bidding adieu to Daniel by his campsite, homeward bound.
