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At
first, after branching off from the Ethan Pond Trail, the Willey Range Trail was relatively flat,
but after recrossing Kedron Brook, the trail began
to rise more sharply. Rough rocky sections alternated with log steps and a
couple of boulder scrambles.
Soon,
we arrived at a succession of recently-built ladders that spanned some steep smooth
ledges. The last time that I climbed Mt Willey, in the late fall of 2001,
the ladders were in really terrible shape, decaying and with several
missing rungs. These new ladders, which were also more step-like (the old
ladder rungs were round, these were flat), were a vast improvement over
the old ones, and quickly took us up one of the stepper sections of the
trail.
Although
the south side of Mt Willey is particularly steep, the trail is also
relatively short in mileage, so it doesn't take a long time to climb to
the top. When ascending, I usually prefer short steep trails over long
gradual ones. I enjoy gaining elevation quickly. Coming back down is
another matter.
Muffin
had no trouble scampering up the new ladders. In most cases, she prefers
to bypass ladders and often climbs up off to the side in the woods or on
the ledge faces. Of course, unlike me, she can squeeze through some fairly
small spots, under low-hanging branches or through narrow fissures in the
rock.
Above
the ladders, the trail still climbs steeply, but we soon scrambled up the
last boulder to arrive at the top. Immediately to the right is an open
ledge that overlooks Crawford Notch, the Webster Cliffs, and the Southern
Presidentials. |
Willey
Range Trail. The trail begins to get steep mot long after leaving
the Ethan Pond Trail. |
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