Mt. Willey - 4285' (9/48)

Ethan Pond Trail-head

On Saturday, September 15th, Paloma, my father, and I decided to head back up to the Willey Range to summit Mt. Willey.  We chose this particular hike because it was relatively short, and Paloma and I had plans for the evening and I had a pretty nasty cold coming on.  We decided to get a much earlier start than usual, and were on the road by approximately 6:30AM.  The ride was fairly uneventful- the usual Dunkin' stop, and a quick bathroom break.  We arrived at the trail-head at 9:15AM, and were on the trail at 9:25AM.  The weather was gorgeous, a beautiful early fall day with temperatures in the low sixties.

First River Crossing

Our route had us take the Ethan Pond Trail, to the Willey Range Trail - a total of 5.4 miles roundtrip.  The beginning of the Ethan Pond Trail takes you across a set of train tracks, with the ruins of the Willey family house laying adjacent.  We took a quick peek at the ruins before continuing up the trail.  The first half mile or so climbed relatively steadily, and acted as a great warm up to the hike.  At the half mile mark the trail swings  to the right and levels out for a good mile or so.  This was nice and easy but aggravating, as we were not gaining any elevation.  Once we reached the Willey Range trail things began to get steep.  Very steep. 

"Stair-ladders"

The trail is very washed out in some areas, so you have to be careful to keep your footing.  Further up the Willey Range Trail we came to sets of man made "stair-ladders" that assisted us with climbing up a sheer rock face.  I call them "stair-ladders" because they were quite a bit steeper than stairs would normally be.  This was a nice feature of the trail and made me think about how grateful I was to not be the one responsible for constructing them - that must have been quite a job!  From the top of the stairs we got a great view down to Route 302 and the traintracks.  We had gained elevation fairly quickly.

Webster Cliffs

The weather began to get cooler as we approached the summit, and we could see that the blue skies were beginning to fill with clouds.  Luckily, we reached a lookout point just before the summit, and were able to capture some amazing views before the clouds socked us in.  The views of the Webster cliffs were absolutely stunning.  Seeing the weather deteriorate a bit, we pushed along the final hundred or so yards to the summit, reaching it at 11:50AM.  While we took a few snapshots and began searching for a place to sit and eat, it began to snow/sleet/rain lightly, so we decided to head back down the trail until we were covered a bit more. 

Summit of Mt. Willey

No more than two minutes after taking my sandwich out, two Canada Jays swooped in and landed on a tree about three feet to my left.  Paloma pointed them out to me, and I tore off a piece of my sandwich to see if they wanted to eat it.  I didn't even get my palm extended before one of the Jays swooped down and nabbed the food out of my hand.  "Well, I can't just feed one of them," I thought to myself, and reached out with another piece for the other Jay.  It landed on my hand, digested the food, and took off.  A few seconds later they were both back, ready for the second course.

I am used to feeding wild birds because as a child I was often brought to the Audobon in Ipswich, MA, where the chickadees would eat seed out of your hand.  Let me tell you, these were NOTHING like chickadees.  These Jays were huge!  Needless to say, they had quite the appetite, and less than ten minutes later I realized I had fed them my entire sandwich!  Whoops.  Oh well, I had plenty of other snacks with me.  We were able to capture some cool pictures of the birds eating out of our hands.  Paloma didn't partake in the feeding - which might explain why one of the Jays pooped no more than one eighth of an inch behind her.  My father wanted to see if they would eat a grape, and yes, they did.

Feeding the Canada Jays

After we felt we fed them enough, we packed up and began our descent.  The first mile or so of the descent was decently slow, as we were now climbing down the very steep sections that we had hiked up, and we had to be extra careful.  The "stair-ladders" were much more exciting going down, as you could see how steep they were as you walked forward.  Once we were past the stairs and back down to a lower elevation, the trail flattened out again and we were cruising to our car.  The final two miles went by very quickly.

Coming Down the Stairs

We began to pass quite a few backpackers at this point who were heading to camp at the Ethan Pond site.  I was impressed when I saw a boy who didn't look a day older than seven, carrying a massive backpack with his sleeping pad and sleeping bag attached to the outside.  The pack was bigger than him.  What a trooper!  I'd like to check out the camping situation at Ethan Pond some day - looked like fun!

We made it back to the car at 2:40PM, changed our clothes and were on our way home. 

 I will admit - I came into this hike with low expectations.  I kind of had the attitude that this was just "one step closer" to completing the 48, and something that I had to do.  I have now re-evaluated why I hike.  It is awesome.  No matter what the summit is like, or how the views compare to another mountain, it is the experience that counts.  It is an excuse to hang out with friends and family and accomplish something!

Hike Stats
Trails: Ethan Pond, Willey Range Trail
Total Time (Including Breaks): 5:20
Distance: 5.2 Miles
Elevation Gain: 2850'