Mt Willey, Mt Field, Mt Tom 6-9-2013

[WeRmudfun]

We finally got a chance to get in the Willey, Field and Tom hike for the pup's 5th, 6th and 7th 4000 footers. We started out at the Willy House Site at 8:00AM, under cloudy skies and had about 11 miles to cover. We coated ourselves with bug spray, because the black flies at the Willey House were relentless and biting. We didn't know it at the time, but that was the only place they were going to be a problem. Oh and they were still there ready to bite when we got back to the vehicle.
We headed up Kedron Flume Trail. The trail isn't bad until you reach the Flume, then it gets steep and rough, it will get your heart rate up there. The flume itself is probably much more impressive with a lot of water coming down it, but still it looked nice. The rocks were a little bit on the slippery side due to being wet. Parts of this trail appeared to be getting washed out, the erosion is real evident. It was still manageable, but is going to need work in the near future.
Once we got to the Ethan Pond Trail, it was like night and day, the .3 miles we followed it seemed completely flat after the Kedron Flume Trail. That was fine until we got to the Willey Range Trail. Last time we did the summit of Mt Willey we went from the train station out and back, so we had no clue what the trail was like on the other side of Willey. Wow when the guidebook said that was the steep side it was not kidding. We figured we would do the two hardest trails in the morning and have it easy the rest of the day. We were sort of right, the rest of the day was easy, but we were beat. lol
The Willey Range trail has some unique features when it comes to stairs and ladders. The first set of stairs were very nice and not a bad climb. The 8 flights (I believe that is how many I counted) of stairs/ladders that came after it were really cool. Brandi made all of them with out a problem, once she figured out what she was suppose to do. It always amazes us the work that trail maintenance pulls off and we cannot thank them enough.
After we got the summit of Mt Willey it was off to Mt Field, the trail was a welcome relief, it had some down to it. There are a couple of areas, large areas, where it looks like a war zone. There were a ton of trees, knocked down and again trail maintenance has cleared the way, excellent job! Once we got to the summit of Mt Field, the Gray Jays made their appearance for their usual handout. We ate lunch, then headed down to Mt Tom.
The trip over to Mt Tom was uneventful, the trails were in fine shape, there was occasional muddy spots but nothing to really be concerned about. We were tired by then and were not even trying to avoid the mud (look at our username! lol). Up on Tom we went to the true summit, then over the other side for the view. The walk down the A-Z Trail and the Avalon Trail were just a walk out of the mountains and that put us at the train station, 3 miles from our truck.
Once we got to the train station the idea was to walk the trains tracks back to the Kedron Flume Trail, then down to the truck, so we didn't bother spotting a car. I had checked online to make sure the trains weren't running, so the tracks should be empty. We walked along the side them and when they veered to the right from RT 302, there was a no trespassing sign posted. Rule are rules, so we had to go with plan B, walk RT 302, not an easy task with a dog on the steep windy part. We made it , but as we got close to the parking lot, we had to start directing traffic to slow down as a mother fox was trying to get her babies across the street. They all made it safely, we crossed the street to give her space, plus Brandi thought she was another dog and wanted to play. As we past her on the other side of the street, she darted out at us, but then stopped and watched only. After we past she ran back to our side and got another baby to cross the road.
We got to the truck, started to drive up RT 302 and a moose decided to give us a candid video moment. Nice ending to a really long day.
We did post videos of our hike and the moose if anyone is interested in seeing what this hike was like...

Our Hike:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pbs_moJTv9A

The Moose:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRzE5dpD_cA

 

[John in NH]

Thanks for sharing. I must have been chatting with you at the willey house parking right before starting up the Kedron Flume. I was doing the bigger TFW loop. Glad you guys had a good day out and made it up the ladders with your dog. Nice wildlife sightings too. I had five minutes with a couple of pine martens at the Tom spur junction, I hope to post some photos of that when I can.

 

[sdways01]

I thought the same thing about the ladders when I did this hike. You gain a lot of elevation right on those without actually going very far. The hike from there up to Willey never seems to give you a break, but to me that made the view from there that much more of a reward.

 

[IQuest]

Nice post. Pretty cool about the fox. Glad she made it safely. Did you find out when the train does run? I did that loop in reverse in October and walked the tracks. The Willard Station House was pretty cool to see. The train was not running then.

 

[sdways01]

Nice post. Pretty cool about the fox. Glad she made it safely. Did you find out when the train does run? I did that loop in reverse in October and walked the tracks. The Willard Station House was pretty cool to see. The train was not running then.

The Conway Scenic RR has the schedule for the "notch train" posted on their site. I have found info about the timing of the train there before. It doesn't always break it down to exactly what time it will be at all locations, but you can get a pretty close idea. Looking at the site right now shows the notch train isn't currently running but will be starting on June 18th.

 

[WeRmudfun]

Thanks for sharing. I must have been chatting with you at the willey house parking right before starting up the Kedron Flume. I was doing the bigger TFW loop. Glad you guys had a good day out and made it up the ladders with your dog. Nice wildlife sightings too. I had five minutes with a couple of pine martens at the Tom spur junction, I hope to post some photos of that when I can.

That was us you were talking to. Brandi made the ladders without a problem, well once she figured out running up the side of them doesn't work. We didn't see the Pine Martens at the the Tom Spur, would have liked to though, we look forward to seeing your pictures. Glad you enjoyed your day too. How about those black flies at the parking lot? lol

I thought the same thing about the ladders when I did this hike. You gain a lot of elevation right on those without actually going very far. The hike from there up to Willey never seems to give you a break, but to me that made the view from there that much more of a reward.

We totally agree that the views are a great reward, but when we got to the outlook just before the summit, there were no views it was clouded in. Leaving Willey though we did get some views and there were worth it.

Nice post. Pretty cool about the fox. Glad she made it safely. Did you find out when the train does run? I did that loop in reverse in October and walked the tracks. The Willard Station House was pretty cool to see. The train was not running then.

As sdways01 mentioned the Notch train starts up in June 18th and only runs Tues, Wed, Thurs and Sat. so it wasn't running, but the No Trespassing sign stopped us. We know about the Willard House and know where the unmarked trail to get there is, probably head back up next week some time. The fox was cool, we did try to video her with the babies, but we were more concerned for their safety, people drive that road like it is a major highway.

 

[sdways01]

When I did this loop, I walked the tracks back. I didn't see a no trespassing sign at the time, but I probably would have walked them anyways. In particular, I wanted to see the Willey Brook Bridge up close. I have a friend that use to work for a railroad company, so I knew ahead of time that the tracks are considered private property and also some of the safety issues that could arise if a train were coming down the tracks while you are there(not just "move to the side"). I don't personally know if they conductor would report a person on the tracks so that someone might come out and talk to you or not. They aren't going to stop the train unless you create a big safety hazard, but it would probably take a while to find crew available that could hop in the hi-rail and come after you as well.