Since I was young, I have heard stories of the Willey family and the landslide that had killed all nine of them. I have stopped at the Willey House historic Site, hiked the trails around the pond, but never hiked the Willey Mountain. Guess I was afraid of what I might find. I have been told that there was a den up on the mountain that people believed was the devil's den. The den was found by Mr. Crawford back in the day, with bones of which he believed to be of humans. Hearing all these stories have keep me from hiking, but not this year! This year I decided to hike up and O, what I hike it turned out to be!
Parked in the lower parking lot on route 302, walked up the small road to the trail. The trail we hiked was Ethan Pond Trail, which we followed for 1.6 miles to a section where we connected to Willey Range Trail. This trail had some surprises! A small section of the trail was washed away, stairs were after, followed by NINE ladders! The ladders were fine going up, but I was nervous when coming back down them. This trail was was 1.1 miles to the top of Mt. Willey! Here are a few pics of what you will find as you head up to a beautiful view!
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| The sign near the tracks when you start the trail Ethan Pond |
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| The stairs after a mini wash away trail |
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| The ladders and there were nine! |
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| This is when you are on top of the ladders looking down! |
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| The view when you reach the top ladder! |
The ladders are safe, but if you afraid of heights, this could be a tough climb for you. Going down is tricky, the ladders are side by side, so you have to reach over to get to the next ladder. When you are on top, looking down, it's steep! Made me nervous since I was hiking with a 12 year old, who thought he was part ninja and part Batman. I had to keep on reminding him of safety as we stepped down the ladders.
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| The view from the top at a Look Out point |
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| Webster Cliffs and beyond! Would see more but clouds were low that day. |
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| Me and my wonderful hiking buddy! |
Over all the hike was 6 miles (when you park at the end of route 302) and took us about 6 hours.
Great views! Beautiful Day!
One Last Pic...
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| If you go to the back side of Mt. Willey, there is another view of Ethan Pond! It was just as gorgeous! | |
Happy Hiking EVERYONE!
BTW, never found any Den, though it still could be up there someplace! Be careful!
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