INTRODUCTION:
Hiking
the Appalachian Trail in winter is a fun adventure! Hmm, but that statement can be a bit
misleading and it deserves some explanation, as follows. My destination for this wintertime adventure
was Ethan Pond. It involved hiking the
Ethan Pond Trail which is the local name for this short segment of the Appalachian
Trail, which I indeed hiked in the winter.😄
During
the winter, Ethan Pond does not see a lot of hiker traffic and so you can
pretty much be assured of a serene hike.
However, it’s a totally different story in summertime when the trail is
heavily-used by local folks as well as by those who are hiking this segment of
the Appalachian Trail.
During
the summer months, Ethan Pond is a round-trip hike of 5.4 miles, but in winter
it’s becomes a 6.0 mile trek since the 0.3 mile Willey House Station Road is
closed and you need to park at the bottom of the road and then walk the road to/from
the trailhead.
Ethan
Pond is estimated to be about 5 acres in size.
It was originally called Willey Pond due to its close proximity to Mt.
Willey, but was later renamed as Ethan Pond in honor of Ethan Allen Crawford who
discovered the pond around 1830.
PHOTOS:
2 comments:
Very nice, John! Looks like you had a great day for this trek. Did you see any wildlife?
I just returned from a trip to southeastern PA and they have had only a few inches of snow so far this winter.
You're lucky to have plenty of snow on the ground.
It's so nice to be the only one on a trail—that's what my husband and I like about winter hiking!
Hi Rita,
Nope! Neither people nor wildlife were seen on this trek. It was just me, and the trees, the snow, the sky and the wind. :-)
John
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