The Willey Range Trip Report

Trip Report: Ethan Pond Tr. was a good, easy start to this trip with an easy to moderate grade. Willey Range, however was Ethan Pond’s pissed off evil twin. What a trail! Most of the way up, Willey was very steep. So steep that when looking up the trail, sweat on the tip of my nose ran into my nostrils. The steep sections and ledges were made accessible by ladders and steps. Hats off to the builders, they did a phenomenal job on the trail work. There was an outlook into the notch just below Willey’s summit. The summit was anticlimactic, though. No view, just rocks and trees.

The walk to Field was gentle and very pleasant over an easy and beautiful trail that cut through a carpet of moss and clover. A quick view off the ridge west to Ethan Pond showed blow-down patches from last winter’s ice storms. Field was wooded with a restricted view to Bretton Woods. The walk to A-Z was easy going, as was the trail up Tom. On Tom, a recent summit blowdown yielded a an expansive view from Hancock to Zealand. A-Z was a fairly steep and rocky down to Crawford’s, and probably making for a tiring ascent.

Of note

• mostly sunny in the low 80s and breezy
• 6 hrs 30 min
• the walk up Willey was the most dangerous I’ve yet walked