The early weather reports showed clouds on either side of saturday, the day of our hike – so we were skeptical of the weather, but the day came, and with it, a cloudless sky.

We drove to the Highland center the night before, planning on staying the weekend and hiking the Willey range from south to north returning at the end of the day to the center. Up early, with a hearty breakfast, we hopped the AMC shuttle shortly after 9 and were at the Ethan Pond trailhead about 9:30.

While we didn’t make our plans that way – today was the 9th anniversary of the 9/11 disaster – and with it brought volunteers posting flags on each of the 4000′ from 12-2.

Our hike started at the Ethan Pond trailhead, continuing along it (the Appalachian Trail at this point) to the Willey Range trail. The WR trail brought us over Mts Willey and Field, to the Mt. Tom Spur. We reached Mt. Tom just as the flag was being lowered at 2pm. Retracing our tracks on the spur, we completed our loop, following the A-Z and Avalon trails back to the lodge.