Bear Notch XC Touring Center

If there’s snow on the ground, I guess I’ll keep skiing. I decided to take an early trip up north towards Bartlett, New Hampshire and check out a place called Bear Notch XC Touring Center.

My trip up there took me through some crazy weather in Franconia Notch and Crawford Notch. Weather in Bartlett was a little cloudy but overall it was pretty darn nice.

Bear Notch XC Center is only about a mile or two from the west end of Crawford Notch.

When I arrived, I pulled into the driveway. This place is kind of cool and has a lot of history. The white house I was told is about 222 years old. That itself is kind of cool.

A women came out on the porch and said she would sell me a ticket. So, I purchased a ticket which was $23. She gave me a map and showed me which trails were open and groomed.

She then directed me to the parking lot in behind their giant warming hut. She also told me that around 12:30 PM they put out some homemade freshly baked bread that is complementary to the skiers. And there is soup that is available for five dollars a bowl. This was already sounding like it is going to be a great day.

The parking lot was much larger than I thought. Probably holds about 20 to 30 cars. It was a little muddy, but that was fine. I got my boots on grabbed my skis and poles and started towards the hut to check it out first. I just wanted to take a peek inside and see what it looks like.

After that, I walked over through a small, covered bridge where the trail started. I started up trail #2 which follows a river for quite a way.

A little ways in I came across a small camp next to a water fall. Very pretty and lucky are the ones who get to use it.

The trail was well groomed for both classic and skate skiing and there was a good 2 – 3 foot base. The snow was a little soft and wet, which did slow down some of the gliding. Temps were in the mid to high 30s.

When I got to the top the trail meets up with an old logging Road. Once on the logging road, there was a nice downhill glide over a small Brooke, and from here I jumped onto Trail #5.

 This trail also went through the woods and was very scenic. From here I kind of waved around a bit onto 5A and 5B and 6A. I kind of even got a little turned around at one point.

I finally made it back towards the road on 5a then crossed the road onto Trail 20. From here, the trails were a little flatter and rated green, but very scenic.

Before long, I made it to the railroad tracks. The trail dips down towards the Glen Ellis river, and followed it for a ways. This is a very  scenic part of the trail.

I skied out to the beginning of the loop of Trail 30 before heading back towards the cabin. At the junction there was a lot of mud.

On my way back, I crossed a small railroad trestle. They had warned me I may have to take my skis off, but there was enough snow to ski over it.

At this point, I jumped off the track and onto Trail 13 and looped around the lower field area. Towards the end of this loop, you end back up near the road and across the street from the parking lot.

By this time it was just about 12:30pm so I put my skis in the car and headed over to the warming hut. a few skiers I had talked with earlier.

 bought myself a bowl of creamy tomato, pesto soup. And shortly after the host brought out some freshly baked bread. I grabbed a nice piece because those are my favorite.

Cross country ski center is definitely on my favorite list. I’ve always heard great things about it and it was awesome to finaly ski it.

This is very different than big resort cross country skiing. Most of the people here are local or families or friends out for a few hours of exercise and beautiful scenery. Met lots of great people on the trail, can’t wait to see more of it.