Mount Willey, Ethan Pond Trail November

Winnie-dog and I started hiking Ethan Pond Trail with the goal of hitting Willey, Field and Tom. One hour in I started thinking, maybe just Willey and Field. It was a gorgeous sunny day at 9am when we left the icy parking lot off 302 in Crawford Notch.

It was a tough trail especially once we hit the ladders. The first few were okay and Winnie was trying to figure out a path up them. She avoided actually using the ladders. At one point she jumped up to a rock and fell down. I watched her trying to figure out a way back up again and had to help her up. 

A few ladders later there was no route and it was steep. I was going slow and methodically plodding up but I couldn’t figure out a way to get her up the last set of ladders. So I turned around. It’s okay because it was such a great day and the trail was so nice until that point. I knew I would do it again. Several hikes in the last year I have turned around when Winnie wasn’t having fun anymore and I went back the next day by myself to summit the mountain. I also realized, later, that we could try the mountain from the north side too. 

We hiked down and then I turned on the Arethusa Falls and Frankenstein Cliff Trail in an effort to stay hiking in the woods; and just be in Crawford Notch a little longer to enjoy the sun. We stopped at the big river crossing and looked up to the Falls. Gorgeous! All the water and ice. 

As I look back at trail descriptions I read that there are other way to do the three peaks and will try it again another day. The point is to be in the White Mountains and to get to know all the trails and mountain peaks. It was a great day!