East Pond Trail

Date: May 31, 2019
Trails: East Pond Trail, Little East Pond Trail, East Pond Loop
Miles: 8.2 redline miles, 9.4 total miles

Nancy’s Facebook Post:

I knew there would be a water crossing near the end of our hike on Friday. The White Mountain Guide book said that it may be difficult in high water. Pat and I don’t like water crossings in high water — there’s lots of stress trying to find a place to cross where we won’t get soaked. But we had a plan — just walk across the brook in our boots. Just walk across. Don’t stress about finding “the right” way. Just walk across. Get wet. Our boots will dry. We don’t melt. We got to the water crossing and saw that yes — it was going to be tough. We looked briefly for a safe place to cross, but then…we let it go! So freeing. We let it go and we walked across the brook in our boots! Do you know how freeing that is to just walk across? To enjoy the cold water seeping into your boots and all over your hot feet! If I can just remember that this is what letting go feels like! Letting go in life is refreshing, and so freeing! Ahhhhhh!

Sorry — no picture of the water crossing — we were having too much fun!

Pat’s trip Report:

Nancy and I hike East Pond Trail, with Little East Pond Trail and East Pond Loop thrown in. With temps in the 50s and hazy for most of the day, the trail shows signs of having been recently maintained and is wide and easy. We hike the first .3 before turning left on the Little East Pond Trail. We cross the East Pond Brook, which is a little sketchy for me and my anxiety is pretty high. Our next crossing is the Clear Brook, which is easy. Thank goodness. The trail is mostly dry and Ben’s is keeping the bugs at bay.

Nancy and I did not talk much on our last hike, too much frustration hovering over us and we chose not to try and break through. Today we talk about that hike and express our feelings. It helps me realize how intense my frustration and anger can be when I am unsure about where I am or where to go on our hikes. This happened when we were hiking in Waterville Valley last week. We came off the road and reached the top of an old chair lift, seeing the sign for Greeley Ledges and the ski sign for the Elephant Rock Trail. We didn’t take the time to look at the map and think through where we were, which was doubly hindered by the map not showing Elephant Rock Trail – probably too insignificant or too new, though she took a photo of the map that had all the trails but missed the key. Our combined behavior took us in another direction, which resulting in our missing the Elephant Rock Trail, which we must now come back for and capture another day.

Throughout this conversation, we finish the Little East Pond Trail and reach Little East Pond. The pond is pretty but not awe-inspiring. As we walk on the East Pond Loop Trail, Nancy asks me to tell her something about myself. I tell her that I’m doing well, not feeling deeply depressed, kind of floating along with small ebbs and flows based on the weather and exercise (doing yoga has brought me joy). I tell her that I’m trying to write again, to stay more connected to my inner life.

We pass a solo woman hiker who is scouting the area for camp sites. We reach the intersection of the East Pond Trail and walk the spur to take a look at East Pond, a bigger pond, with hills around it and the notch we will travel through later in the day. But first we have to hike down to the intersection of our left turn on the Little East Pond Trail to capture the trail section we miss when we did the loop. The change from deciduous forest to evergreens is gentle as we walk down and back.

I work up a good sweat on the way back up to East Pond. We stop for a snack, sitting on rocks, looking at the clear water and the notch beyond. Nancy begins to get cold so we pack up and move out along the edge of the pond. We hike steadily upward on a moderate grade. We talk amiably, interspersing our conversation with silence. I enjoy hearing the variety of bird songs that I can’t identify.

We cross Cheney Brook (easy) and eventually reach Pine Brook, which can be difficult to cross in high water. Nancy writes about this crossing in her Facebook post above.

A good hike, a good day, a good friend.