I’ve just returned home from yet another wonderful weekend of hiking in the White Mountains! The last hike we did was the Presidential Traverse over a month ago, so I was long overdue to get my butt back up there and get some hiking in. We’ve had a lot going on this summer so we’ve done far less hiking than I would like. I know this may shock you, but it’s actually pretty difficult to start a blog focused partially on hiking when we haven’t been able to get out much -_- luckily that did seem to change a bit, this weekend anyway.

We all had to work a full day this past Friday, so we hit the road as soon as we were free from our day job desk prisons around 5:30 pm. We don’t usually, but this trip in particular we decided to get a hotel on Friday night so that we would be closer to the trailhead on Saturday morning. There was a total of three of us on Friday night. We stayed in Franconia, NH at the Stonybrook Motel and Lodge. As we started our hike on Saturday morning at Crawford Notch, Stonybrook was a good choice because we were only about a half hour from the trailhead on Saturday morning. I was pleasantly surprised with the motel for the price that we paid. Our room was immaculately clean and fit the three of us just fine for one night. They offer a complimentary continental breakfast every morning as well so we were able to fuel up a bit before starting our hike.

We arrived at the trailhead around 9:15 am. As we chose the Avalon Trail route, we parked near the AMC Highland Center on Route 302. Parking can fill up quite quickly here on the weekends, but luckily there is plenty of parking along Route 302. Parking is free. Just a word of advice…be careful where you park. I’d hate to see you end up doing what these city slickers from Boston did…straight into a ditch. As the other half of our group was running behind schedule, we tried to keep the owners of this vehicle calm and entertained until AAA arrived.

The car was gone when we returned to our vehicles after our hike, so hopefully they made it back to Boston safely after this incident.

The other half of our group finally rolled in around 10:45 am. We got a much later start to our hike than I would have liked, but it’s all good. It’s just how it goes sometimes (okay, most of the time) when you choose to hike as a larger group.

We picked up the Avalon Trail which is located behind the information center, pictured here on the right, and across the train tracks. We followed the Avalon Trail for 1.2 miles until we came to a junction. To the left was the Avalon Trail which takes you up and over Mount Avalon, a summit at 3,442′. As we were interested in summiting Mount Tom, we stayed right on the A-Z Trail. After a mile we came to a junction with the Mount Tom Spur trail to the right, which takes you to the summit of Mount Tom at 4,051′ after a short .6 mile hike. The hike to the summit of Mount Tom went rather quick. The views from Mount Tom are really nothing to write home about, BUT Mount Tom does house just about the coolest pine cones I’ve ever seen.

After I finished obsessing over these pine cones, we retraced our steps back .6 miles to the same junction. The junction is a bit cooler and offers protection from sun and bugs, so we decided that it was an ideal place to have a quick lunch. There is also plenty of seating in the form of downed (and very smooth) trees. After a few minutes of rest we were back up and on our way to the Willey Range Trail.

From the junction it is just under a mile to the summit of Mount Field at 4,340′. Mount Field is the second view-less summit of the day, but there is a nice viewpoint trail off to the left that offers nice views of some of the sights along Route 302 far below. If you look close enough, you can see the signature red roof of the Omni Mount Washington Resort.

After summiting Mount Field, we continued along the Willey Range Trail another 1.4 miles to the summit of Mount Willey. In my opinion, this was not a pleasant 1.4 miles. The trail was extremely narrow and overgrown at times making foot placement difficult. This is something that we see often, however, so it wasn’t exactly news to me. This section of the trail was also particularly buggy.

We reached the summit of Mount Willey at 4,285′. It was our third view-less summit of the day. If you continue along the Willey Range Trail past the summit cairn just a few hundred feet or so, there is a viewpoint that offers nice views of the mountains to the east. This was particularly exciting to Mike and I as we were able to see the entire Presidential Traverse that we had completed a few weeks ago. There was also a nice view down Route 302.

At the summit of Mount Willey, we debated tracing our steps and going over Mount Avalon back to the car, or continuing along the Willey Range Trail heading toward the Appalachian Trail to pick up Route 302 and walk the road back to our vehicles. Two members of our group voted for Route 302 and the other four (myself included) were indifferent. It was getting somewhat late at that point as we had a very late start so we decided to head for Route 302. After about 1.4 miles of pretty steep terrain and several ladders, we reached the Kedron Flume Trail and we took a left heading toward Route 302.

Kedron Flume proved to be a nice place for a short rest. The air was cooler coming off the water as it rushed down the waterfall and the area was calm and peaceful. After about five minutes, we continued along the Kedron Flume Trail. We crossed over some active train tracks and continued our descent to Route 302.

We reached the Willey House site and picnic area around 6:00 pm. We all washed up a bit in the open restrooms and it appears as though there is some sort of restaurant there as well however that was closed by the time we got there. Mike offered to run back to Crawford Notch to get the car so that we all wouldn’t have to walk the road back. Route 302 would be a bit dangerous for a group of six to walk on as the road is curvy and the speed limit is high. We were also pretty tired from the hike, so Mike took one for the team and ran the almost three miles uphill to the car. What a guy!

After we had our vehicles (a total of two for the six of us) we made our way to the Lincoln area. Mike’s friend booked us a bed at the Notch Hostel in North Woodstock, New Hampshire. We arrived around 8:00 pm. We checked in and took a quick shower before heading out to dinner at The Common Man in Lincoln. Whenever I’m in Lincoln, The Common Man is really the only place I’m ever interested in eating. The food is just so SO good, the atmosphere is amazing, and the people are so nice. We arrived around 8:50 pm. The kitchen was open until 9:30 pm. We asked if they were comfortable seating a party of six so late, but they welcomed us right in, insisted on hosting us, and served us a fantastic meal. I had the BBQ ribs that came with mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables on the side. As always, the meal was excellent and I can’t wait until my next Common Man meal.

All in all, another terrific weekend of hiking in the Whites. As an added bonus, I was able to cross three more 4,000 footers off my list, all in the same hike! I’m always a fan of grabbing doubles or triples in the same day, and that’s exactly what we were able to accomplish here. To date I’ve hiked 24 4,000 footers. I’m exactly halfway done! I’m excited to see what the rest of the summer brings. Stay tuned for more hiking adventures!