This was my eighth consecutive year as the Middle Tripyramid peak coordinator for Flags on the 48. The size of the crew has varied a lot over the years, from just me in 2013 to a full crew of ten this year. Most of the crew started later and met us on the summit, though. It was three of us, myself, Bruce, and Matt, starting first, carrying the gear up, and waiting until the end to carry the gear back down.
We went up Pine Bend Brook Trail. It rained a lot at first. It also was thundering, so much so that we stopped on the trail a little below the Scaur Ridge intersection and waited about fifteen minutes in the pouring rain for the thunderstorm to move on. It did, though, and soon after we passed Scaur Ridge Trail it stopped raining, and didn’t rain again all day.
Pine Bend Brook Trail is pretty tough in spots, but once you get to North Tripyramid the hike over to Middle is pretty easy. By the time we got to Middle much of the rest of the crew had caught up with us, so we had a lot of help setting up the flag.
There seemed to be fewer non-participant hikers showing up than most years, probably because of the weather, even though the weather improved slowly throughout the day. We did see the helicopter this year, but no other flags.
After two o’clock we dismantled the flag and returned the way we came, passing the North Tripyramid crew on the way down.
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Cumulus
2009-2016: Middle Tripyramid
“One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” – Francis Bellamy
