Well today my son Shane and I are heading for our first hike in the White Mountains. The objective is to do Mt Willard and if time permits hike to Areutha Falls. These hikes are both rated as easy and a about 2 -3 miles each. I have been up the Mt Willard trail 25 years ago on snowmobile with my parents and Carl Smith one of my best friends. I recall it afforded a wonderful view and felt like where my father was terminally sick it would be a great way to honor him as well as start a healthier chapter in my life.
We got on the trail early around 8:30 am and the walking was quite easy and the trail well marked and worn. I quickly found we needed to slow our pace if we were to remain steady walking without gassing out so we slowed back a bit. The trail guide said the hike was an hour and fifteen Shane and I hiked it in 45min. Shane said he wasn’t going to complain about hiking after we were passed by a couple that looked to be in there 80s near the summit

My Willard is only about 2900 feet high but the view were incredible and as wonderful as I remembered them to be. The ledge provides and unhampered view of the entire Crawford Notch. We had a bite to eat on the summit snapped some pictures and soaked in the view for about 45min before heading back down. It was a rather warm day for early may and the sky looked to be holding clear for us. Mt Washington still had a lot of snow on it and we did see a couple little patches in the woods on our hike up. We could hear a torrent of water coming down a mountain to our right which would have been Mt Field, but really couldn’t see anything other than a slight crack in the canopy a half mile away.

When we reached the car we were nearly out of water so we stopped at the stream near the Willey House lot and pumped some water from the river to replenish. We also relished in our achievement and took some pictures of where we had been. My new MSR pump worked great and in no time we were heading for Areutha Falls for part two of our hike.

We reached the parking lot for the Areutha Falls trail and headed in. This trail had several blow downs as we went that meant climbing over or crawling to navigate. Otherwise the trail is a very easy hike with a somewhat up and down grade.

We reached the falls and what a site. The Falls were pouring quite well, by the looks of things they could be much faster when there is high water. The photos below have Shane at the base so you can get a feel for the elevation, so look for him. We hung out snapped some photos and had another snack. There is a loop that would take a person to the top of the falls but we decided to leave that for another day, perhaps if we do the Frankenstein Cliff Trail we would work that in. The Aretha Falls are the tallest largest falls in the White Mountains and certainly worth the light effort and hour walk in to see them, particularly in the spring.

We headed back to the car which was weird, due to the up and down nature of the trail instead of the hike being mostly downhill all the way we somewhat had to hike back up to the car. We doubled back to the river to pump some more water for the ride home and headed on down the road.

I almost forgot, when Shane and I were heading to the Aretha Falls trail head we saw a small Moose beside the road. We pulled over and were about 12 feet from him. He didn’t seem to pay us no mind for quite a while then suddenly he took a step toward us, Shane yelled “Boot It Man”. I was so startled I nearly dumped the clutch, but the car lunged forward and we were out of there. I don’t know how i would have explained a Moose in the car to Rose.

We had a wonderful day hiking and it’s hooked me for good. The exercise, smells, views, chit chat all make for an amazing way to clear you’re head, rejuvenate you’re body and thoroughly enjoy nature. Here is a link to all the pictures from Mt Willard.