North and Middle Tripyramid

Great hike up Pine Bend and down Sabbaday brook. Had a newbie with me, inspite of the magnificient day, he retired after North Tri, descending without us, claiming, " I'm not a hiker, its no fun". Anywho, we went on to Middle, then went down Sabb brook. My dog Buddy was in doggy heaven with all the water. The crossings were great, alot of the rocks I used were 2 inches below water, because I'm super lazy at water crossings and my boots are waterproof. The Blazes on both trails could use a new coat of yellow paint. The Sabb brook trail is littered with blowdowns, I wont even guess how many, but if you know the maintainer pass this along. There are step overs, duck unders, complete trailblockers including all the branches, causing detours around. Besides that, the trails are clear, we did find some very small patches of snow, just enough to hold Buddy over till next winter. P.S. My knee is almost 100% healed going into the summer!!! Thanks God.

sierra said:

The Blazes on both trails could use a new coat of yellow paint.

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Most of the route is in the Sandwich Range Wilderness, and (as has been discussed ad nauseum), the WMNF forest plan calls for no blazes in designated Wilderness.

It's still useful to know that route-finding is becoming more challenging, though!

jniehof said:

Most of the route is in the Sandwich Range Wilderness, and (as has been discussed ad nauseum), the WMNF forest plan calls for no blazes in designated Wilderness.

It's still useful to know that route-finding is becoming more challenging, though!

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Really, I was not aware of that.

jniehof said:

Most of the route is in the Sandwich Range Wilderness, and (as has been discussed ad nauseum), the WMNF forest plan calls for no blazes in designated Wilderness.

It's still useful to know that route-finding is becoming more challenging, though!

Click to expand...

I think it would help people out if AMC marked their maps so that trails in the Wilderness were a different color so people would look at the key and see it's a wilderness trail - perhaps with a quick explanation of what that means. I hiked a lot before I realized that Wilderness wasn't just about camping rules and machines.

Of course, if the Sabbaday Brook Trail is anything like it was last spring (several huge blow downs), that's beyond what my expectation of a wilderness trail was.

I did it after the big washout a few years ago and there were lots of small cairns that folks had placed to help guide folks past the washouts.

I usually wait until later in the year and a hot day as those last stream crossings can be cold.

TJsName said:

I think it would help people out if AMC marked their maps so that trails in the Wilderness were a different color so people would look at the key and see it's a wilderness trail - perhaps with a quick explanation of what that means.

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AMC uses a darker shade of green for Wilderness. The specifics can vary (Sandwich doesn't have the 200' rule for camping, IIRC, although it's still recommended.) The AMC maps don't have any rules/regs in general, I suppose relying on the "Use with White Mountain Guide." The WMG front matter (with stuff like camping regulations) doesn't have a Wilderness section that I could see. I will write up a paragraph and send it to Steve for consideration.

The wonderful WODC Amazing Technicolor Dream Map has much stronger contrast for the Wilderness area and has a brief note about what it means on the back.

jniehof said:

AMC uses a darker shade of green for Wilderness. The specifics can vary (Sandwich doesn't have the 200' rule for camping, IIRC, although it's still recommended.) The AMC maps don't have any rules/regs in general, I suppose relying on the "Use with White Mountain Guide." The WMG front matter (with stuff like camping regulations) doesn't have a Wilderness section that I could see. I will write up a paragraph and send it to Steve for consideration.

The wonderful WODC Amazing Technicolor Dream Map has much stronger contrast for the Wilderness area and has a brief note about what it means on the back.

Click to expand...

Yeah, the darker green for wilderness areas definitely stands out (and is what made me recognize the distinction in the first place). The trail maintenance was a subtlety I missed since the line colors didn't change. Maybe making them purple would queue people in to something being different. Thanks for taking the initiative to send a write-up to Steve! Feel free to share it with me if you want any feedback.

I haven't seen the WODC map actually - good for them for including what the wilderness means on the back. In my experience on WODC trails, even the wilderness parts are still very well maintained (which is awesome and much appreciated).

TJsName said:

I think it would help people out if AMC marked their maps so that trails in the Wilderness were a different color so people would look at the key and see it's a wilderness trail - perhaps with a quick explanation of what that means. I hiked a lot before I realized that Wilderness wasn't just about camping rules and machines.

Of course, if the Sabbaday Brook Trail is anything like it was last spring (several huge blow downs), that's beyond what my expectation of a wilderness trail was.

Click to expand...

It really had a wilderness feel to it for sure, in fact, it was refreshing to have to look for the trail now and then. That being said, it might be challenging for beginner hikers in some spots.

I will put in a bit of experience from a so-called wilderness area in the Southern Appalachians, the "Shining Rock Wilderness." Because of wilderness rules, there are no trail signs. Result: a whole bunch of meandering and confusing herd paths especially around the most popular camping areas in the higher elevations. In my opinion, the wilderness rules have resulted in the opposite of wilderness.