Rainy Road Trip Through Crawford Notch and Hattie’s Garden in Bloom
| Date: | 5-10-2025 |
| Location: | Crawford Notch, NH |
| Distance: | 8.81 mi |
| Elevation Gain: | 1006′ |
| Total Time: | 5 hr 50 min |
| Parking: | 20+ cars |
It was a pretty rainy damp day. I figured I would take a walk to Arethusa Falls to see how the flow was. But I changed my plans after my mother called and said she needed to go get a National Park Pass up in Lincoln.
So, I invited her to to go for a ride with me to check out some waterfalls in Crawford Notch. Our first stop was the White Mountain Visitors Center in Lincoln so she could get her National Park Pass. I need a parking pass for the whites as well. After we finished our business, we continued our ride.
It was very cloudy, and the rain was coming down pretty hard when we went through Franconia Notch. So, we didn’t stop and see any of the falls in this area and we kept going north.
When we arrived in Crawford Notch there was still a light rain coming down. As we passed Saco Lake, we could see the train coming slowly through the Gate Way to the Notch. So we pulled over and took a few pics.
We then drove thorough the gateway where there are two cascades that were flowing well. We first stopped at Silver Cascade at the bottom of the hill and took a few pics. Then we drove back up to Flume Cascade for a few more pictures.
At this point, I wanted to take a quick walk up to the Willard Section House to see if Hattie’s Memorial Garden was in bloom. This is about a 20 minute walk up to the section house. My mom was ok with waiting in the car while I ventured up.
The path to the section house is steep in some spots and the rocks are slippery when wet. So I took my time and stepped carefully. Toward the top near the tracks there has been a lot of tree cutting and a lot of slash to step around but it is passable.
Once I was up on the tracks I could see the upper section of Silver Cascade out in the distance. I could also see that the daffodils were blooming and the yellow flowers stood out against the gray misty background.
I walked around the site a bit and took some pictures. I also took some pics of the carvings in the stone along the tracks. I didn’t stay to long because my mom was waiting back at the car but it was nice to visit the site and see the garden doing well.
On the way back down I was again careful with my footing. I got back to the car safely and we continued our drive through Crawford Notch.
From here we went across bear notch road toward the Kancamagus Highway. Many of the lookouts on Bear Notch were socked in with clouds so we didn’t stop. Once on the Kanc, we headed east back toward Lincoln.
On our way back we stopped at Lincoln Woods and walked across the suspension bridge to stretch our legs. This is always a fun little stop. From here we made one more stop at Mad River Café. This is a favorite stop of mine. They have great coffee and I love their cannoli’s.
The sun was starting to come out now that we were heading home but that was fine. I think we both had a good time.
