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Mount Flume Nh3/17/2021
The trail continued flat for a bit and then turned right and ascended steadily.Thats Route 302 running through the center and the railroad tracks are to the right of the road.
![]() The hike starts off in the White Mountain National Forest, and then enters Crawford Notch State Park. Mount Willard Trail has some faded blue paint blazes but you wont need them to follow the trail. There isnt a sign on the main trail, but once you get up to the junction and look to the right, you will be able to see a sign for Centennial Pool. If you wish, walk down the rock steps to reach the shore of the pool and to get a better look at the small waterfall spilling into it. You need to keep your eyes on the well-defined footway in order to follow this trail because branches close it in tightly from both sides. Before embarking on this little adventure, you should close all your pockets and secure everything on your person and your pack since youll be brushing against branches and blowdowns for most of the length of this 0.2-mile spur. Bear left to stay on Mount Willard Trail, while an abandoned trail continues straightright. Turn left and descend down to the edge of the brook which provides a pretty spot from which to enjoy the water and mini cascades. Please use extreme caution around water as drownings have already occured. Check out the Forest Services Current Conditions for the latest information about water dangers as well as trail closures in the White Mountains. I had never been that far west on Route 302 before but the scenery of Crawford Notch definitely made the drive worthwhile. The plan was to get to the trailhead before the crowds arrived, hike to the summit of Mount Willard (which we heard had incredible views of the notch that were second to none for the effort of the hike), and finally, drop down a spur trail near the summit to a viewpoint over Hitchcock Flume. The trailhead is located at Crawford Notch Depot behind the Macomber Family Information Center. We made it there around 10 a.m. I got the last space in the parking lot. This lot was certainly much nicer then the gravel parking areas I was used to at trailheads. We hopped the railroad tracks behind the building and found what looked like a beaten down path. This soon entered the woods and some signage indicated that we were at the beginning of Avalon Trail, which is where we wanted to be. ![]() We were heading up Mount Willard Trail, which is a large spur off from Avalon Trail. It contained the WMNF (White Mountain National Forest) information kiosk as many trailheads do, which displayed a detailed map of the trail networks. Also, I noticed a sign on this kiosk informing people that this was Bear Country. At this point, Avalon Trail continued straight and Mount Willard Trail ran left.
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