Greeley Ponds Hike

Thanks to Mike and Ron for joining our hike to Greeley Ponds today.    Joe and I have tried to lead this trip to Greeley Ponds the last couple months, but each time we would do it by ourselves first a few days before and each time we found an annoying amount of snow near the ponds, so we canceled and rescheduled several times.    We didn't have time to do the ponds by ourselves first this time, but we figured that it's Memorial Day weekend, so there shouldn't be any snow.    Fortunately, we're very happy to report that there was no snow at all on the trail!     Greeley Ponds is one of our favorite hikes as it's an easy 3.5 mile walk from Waterville Valley to the lower Greeley Pond, with an additional mile or so to the second pond.   The trail used to be easier than it is now, but in in 2011 the trail was damaged and closed for two years due to Hurricane Irene.   When the forest service opened the trail again, they rerouted the trail up higher and then down (undulation), so you don't go along the stream the whole way, but you do get more exercise.

We started at 10:30 and had nice easy walking and great conversation.  We started along Livermore Road and then got on the Greeley Ponds trail.    Thankfully the sign by the Greeley Ponds trailhead asking hikers "not to walk in the ski tracks" did not apply today, lol.    The stream was raging pretty well and was beautiful to look at.    The stream crossing that can be difficult at high water was indeed high water and difficult, but we all got across.   Yours truly was the only one that had a slight problem with crossing the stream, but it was a beautiful day and sunny so I just decided to put my feet right in the water and get my boots wet (note to self, having a pair of flip flops packed in my backpack might come in useful in the future!).   Since we were having so much fun and the weather was so beautiful, we decided to go on to the second pond to have lunch.   We encountered a fair amount of water and mud on the trail going to the second pond, which I enjoyed tromping right through as my boots were already wet, while the others were carefully trying to go along the edge of the trail to prevent getting their boots wet.   We enjoyed a nice lunch and conversation by the upper pond, and then retraced our route back to the parking lot.  Overall it ended up being 9 miles of walking instead of 7, but there couldn't have been a better way to spend a beautiful day on Memorial Day weekend!

Join us on a fairly easy walking hike to lower Greeley Ponds from Waterville Valley.   The hike is about 7.5 miles round trip, and about 700 feet of elevation gain.    The Greeley Ponds trail was rerrouted after severe damage to the original trail after Hurricane Irene in 2011.    The trail goes a little further up before descending to the Ponds than the original trail, but it's still pretty easy walking.

We are keeping the hike at 7 people to make it easier to practice the recommended social distancing of keeping at least 6 feet of distance between everyone.  Also, with the recommended guidance of hiking local during the pandemic, please be living in New Hampshire or within an hour or so drive of the hike in order to sign up.