Due to winter road closures we are flipping the schedule around over the next few weeks. Instead of hiking up Foss Mountain next Friday we are instead going to have dual hike again this coming Friday, Nov 6 climbing Black Cap off of Hurricane Rd. or Kearsage. this Friday, Foss Mountain will shift to,,Friday November 20th. The Zealand hike should be OK where it is.
Mt Willard Trip Report 10/30/2026
Dale Nelson
Eight hikers met at the Denmark church and the trailhead respectively this past Friday morning for our scheduled hike up Mt. Willard in Crawford Notch, NH. It was fairly mild with a brisk wind at the parking lot. Another more ambitious contingent of our hiking group met at the same trailhead for a hike up Mt. Avalon. Both hikes are similar in distance but the more difficult Avalon trail includes about 500 ft. more elevation gain and rougher footing. Hiking Willard today were Dale N, Jean M, Kathy H, Jeff S, Tom D, Carol, S, Jacob S and Tina E. After a group photo of both groups, we set out at approx. 10am.
At the .1 mile mark, we 8 turned left onto the Willard trail and the others proceeded straight on the Avalon trail. We stayed together fairly well with Tina leading and Jacob sweep. After a few short stops to catch our breaths and hydrate, we approached the welcome sight of the tunnel of spruce trees with the bright open summit ledges ahead.
It was 11:30am. We all admired the beautiful views of the valley below and summits above with a special treat of watching the Crawford Notch Express train rumbling southward way below.
At noon we recruited another hiker to take our group photo and then we headed down not stopping much arriving at the trailhead at 1pm. Much to our chagrin, the cafeteria at the Highland Center was closed as they had been overwhelmed by overnight guests that morning and the crew was on a break. Our bowls of porridge will have to wait for another day.
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