| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Willey, Mt. Field, Mt. Tom, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Kedron Flume Trail, Ethan Pond Trail, Willey Range Trail, A-Z Trail, Mt. Tom Spur, Avalon Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, February 25, 2024 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
At Kedron Flume Trailhead (Willey House Post Office), the parking on the west side of Rt. 302 is nonexistent (not plowed), so we parked in the large plowed lot on the other side of Rt. 302 - only one other vehicle there. At the other end, we parked in the line of cars on the west side of Rt. 302, south of Crawford Depot. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow/Ice - Postholes |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes, Light Traction, Traction, Ice Axe |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Snowbridges |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Four duck-under blowdowns on Willey Range Trail south of Willey: two below the ladders and two above. A few more along the rest of Willey Range Trail too. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
We saw a guy with two dogs on Kedron Flume Trail. Willey Range Trail on the south side of Mt. Willey is very steep, but maybe an energetic dog could walk up the steep snow. |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
We did a south-to-north traverse of the Willey Range, starting at Willey House and ending at Crawford Depot.
There is no snowshoe track on Kedron Flume Trail - someone made a lot of postholes on Kedron Flume Trail before it froze, but since it was frozen quite solidly this cold morning, we could do it in microspikes without making any more postholes (one of us opted to use snowshoes, which are also possible, but the trail was too frozen for them to do much to it). The warmer weather in the next few days may soften all this, so we recommend bringing snowshoes, even though most of us didn't use ours at all today. The short section of Ethan Pond Trail between its junctions with Kedron Flume Trail and Willey Range Trail did have a snowshoe track, with some postholes. Willey Range Trail up the south side of Mt. Willey also had a snowshoe track with many postholes - we switched from microspikes to crampons and ice axe when we reached the very steep sections - they were necessary. The ladders are filled in and nearly covered by snow, so they are not usable as ladders, but it is possible to walk up the steep snow on the sides with crampons (would be difficult with microspikes alone). North of Mt. Willey, all the trails were a solidly packed snowshoe track, with occasional avoidable postholes, solid enough that microspikes were fine - these trails are all very fast right now. Some of these trails (e.g., just north of Field, and on A-Z Trail below Mt. Tom Spur) had been butt-sledded down, but one could still walk down them in microspikes.
The views from the Willey Range Trail in winter are much better than in summer, underrated in my opinion - beautiful views on both sides of the ridge today, with Mt. Webster and the Presidentials (and Carrigain and Chocorua and ...) on one side, and the Bonds and the Twins (and Franconia Range and Moosilauke and ...) on the other. |
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 | Name: |
mathbp |
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 | E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2024-02-25 |
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 | Link: |
 https:// |
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Disclaimer: Reports are not verified - conditions may vary. Use at own risk. Always be prepared when hiking. Observe all signs. Trail conditions reports are not substitutes for weather reports or common sense. |
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