Hiking Mount Willey (4,285 ft)

Mount Willey ranks number 29 on the New Hampshire 48 4,000 footers list, at an elevation of 4,285 ft. Mount Willey has a vertical prominence of 256 ft and a peak isolation of 1 mile. Mount Field is the next highest peak.

Hiking Mount Willey as a starting point for a trek that included summiting both Mount Field and Mount Tom. The planning for this hike included spotting a car at the AMC Highland Center parking lot, which allowed us the opportunity to treat the hike as a true point-to-point.

A buddy and I entered the woods on the Kedron Flume Trailhead, just south of the AMC Highland Center. The Kedron Flume Trail intersects with the Ethan Pond Trail before pushing forward toward Mount Willey.

The trail offers a series of gradual switchbacks leading up to the Kedron Flume. A nice gradual way to get into the day ahead. Just before the trail opens up at the flume, some sections require minor scrambling up the eroded trail with large exposed roots.

The Kedron Flume

The Flume area was nice, but since it’s so early into the hike, it wasn’t refreshing to spend time there, so we took some pics, and off we went.

The first encounter with wildlife on this day started with this large frog; it was spotted sitting just off the trail, past the flume.

Willey Range Trail

The Willey Range Trail was interesting. A diverse mix of raw, rocky, and tough sections combined with well-maintained and perhaps too well at times, these sections included steps and even a series of ladders. I will say the ladders were pretty cool and required the use of both my hands to hoist myself up and over some parts.

Mount Willey Overlook Views

Mount Willey’s summit is unimpressive and wooded, but about .2 miles from the summit, there’s a spectacular overlook that I highly recommend venture down the short path to see. Here are a couple of pics and a short video.

Overall Impression Hiking Mount Willey

In general, I was not entirely impressed with this hike for a couple of reasons. The first being that once off the Kedron Flume Trail, the hiking wasn’t challenging. Sure, a few sections were on the final ascent toward the summit that got my pulse up, but they were short-lived. The second reason for my feeling of underwhelming hiking Mount Willey was the summit. If not for my hiking buddy announcing we had arrived, I would have missed it! A cairn just off the trail marked the summit. Now, don’t get me wrong, I have reasons for hiking beyond dramatic summit views, but Willey was unremarkable.

Canadian Grey Jays

If you’ve ever spent time at the tops of the White Mountains, you surely have met these pretty scavenger birds. I hadn’t experienced them until this hike where two were sitting on branches just above our heads for the whole time.

Two other hikers joined us and I learned that the reason the birds hang around is because people feed them. I don’t support feeding while life but I am not one to stop others from doing what they want to do…so, I took this cool pic!