Outdoor Diversion: Gridding Out Mount Willey

Wednesday, March 9, 2022

Gridding Out Mount Willey

Summit: Mount Field (4,340'), Mount Willey (4,285')

Trail route: Avalon Trail, Willey Range Trail

Trail conditions: Solid trails with an inch of fresh snow and some drifting between Field and Willey

Weather: Cool temps and overcast sky

Total miles: 8.4

Total time: 5

Recent rain and warm weather followed by a deep freeze bode well for favorable hiking trails today. The usual hike on the Willey Range includes Mounts Tom, Field and Willey. I had already gridded out Tom and Field but still needed Willey since I had not done that yet for March. I made the decision to hike in from Crawford Depot and not the other end from the Ethan Pond Trail since I had not seen any recent trail reports for that approach.

I parked at the Crawford Depot and debated on whether or not to bring the snowshoes. I decided to leave them behind based on recent weather and trail reports. I started my hike in microspikes, the trail was frozen solid with a coating of fresh snow. The first water crossing had a solid snow/ice bridge. The second crossing was open water but shallow and there was one ice covered rock that I used to keep the boots dry.

As I started up the steep section of Avalon Trail I swapped to trail crampons. There was some ice that I was able to get around and the crampons worked well. Further up the trail there was a few more inches of loose snow but not a problem with traction.

I passed over Mount Field and continued on to Mount Willey. There was considerable wind blown snow and drifting on the trail between these two summits with a couple of places that I completely lost the trail and wandered off into very deep snow. I kept going in the general direction of where I thought the trail was and would eventually meet back up with solid trail again.

It was an interesting hike to Willey. There were sections of the trail that had what looked like recent footprints as though someone had just hiked there minutes before me and then the footprints were completely gone with the recent snow. It was clear that I was the first one across here today and I was occasionally breaking trail.

I reached the summit of Mount Willey and went to the outlook. I noticed only one set of footprints descending to the ladders on the other side and was glad that I had not come up that way. The cloud cover was high so I got some good views although there was a few clouds over the higher Presidential summits. This was my turn around point and I soon began the hike back to Crawford Depot.

Just as I was leaving the summit I met the first hiker of the day. On the hike back up to Mount Field I met a group of three hikers. I reached the summit of Field and it was all downhill from here. It was a good hike back and I saw two more hikers on the way out.

It was a good day for a hike to Mount Willey and I have now hiked to this summit in every month of the year. I now have two long hikes to grid out the month of March, Mount Carrigain and the Bonds. It does not look good for hiking this weekend with a big snowstorm in the forecast but there is still a lot of March remaining. I'm hopeful the weather and trail conditions will cooperate for completing these last two hikes.

Enjoy the photos and video!