I had some time to kill before family arrived for the holiday so I decided to give Willey a try since it was a short hike and wouldn’t leave me too tired for the festivities ahead……oops.  Mount Willey is an absolute beast of a climb which I am still having nightmares about.

After crossing some train tracks, the trail lulls you into a peaceful state of mind before throwing the kitchen sink at you about a mile up.  Its around this part of the trail that things begin to incline rather steeply and leave you feeling like your rock climbing instead of hiking.

Apparently I wasn’t the first to think this as I eventually came to a spot that had ladder steps built into the rocks.  This made things a little easier but did introduce me to a whole new form of rubber legs from the constant climb up the stairs.

I finally got to the top of the stairs gasping for breath and pulled out my handy White Mountain Hiking Guide(ding, ding) to see how much further I had.  I almost fed my handy guide to the forest though after learning I still had a ways to go.

I trudged on……and on…….and on……until I finally reached the outlook that is right before the summit.  I decided I need to hit the actual summit first before taking a break since I wasn’t sure I would be able to move after so I did just that.  After visiting the summit, I retreated to my break promising outlook that was absolutely swarming with flies.  Because of all the buzzing, I did not stay very long before making my ultimate retreat from the summit and the long trek back to the car.  17 down, 31 to go!!!