Jacks Last Hike In The White Mountains
| Date: | 2-22-2026 |
| Location: | Crawford Notch, NH |
| Distance: | 3.56 mi |
| Elevation Gain: | 930′ |
| Total Time: | 2 hr 30 min |
| Parking: | 20+ cars |
Weather and time worked out for one more hike with Jack Straw from Wichita before he moves to Florida.
We decided Mt. Willard would be a good choice for the hike. It was somewhat short and offers the best views for the least amount of energy.
When we got there many of the lots were full or not plowed. The new snow limited parking but we were able to find a spot on the street near the Depot.
We knew the trail would be packed but after last week we decided to wear our snowshoes on the hike just in case. The temps were in the twenty’s, but it was supposed to get up to the 40’s later in the day.
The trail up was a well packed monorail with some high trenches along the side. It was well traveled and snowshoes were not necessary, but we kept them on and contused to waddle up the hill.
As on most hikes we laughed a lot and told stories. The few water crossings at the bottom were frozen solid and easy to cross. When we made it up to Centennial Pool it was frozen and covered with snow.
On the way up there were lots of cool snow formations. The mountain landscape was beautiful with all the marshmallow covered trees.
When we reached the top, the clouds had lifted and we were greeted to a beautiful view of the Crawford Notch.
There were a few people up there already, but it was not too crowed… yet. We took some pics but did not go down to the snow-covered rocks that others did. Looked a little too sketchy to me.
We walked up the trail along the cliff over to view the Willard Brook trestle. Then we followed an old snow track to the high point of Mt. Willard. I had never been there and thought there would be a logbook of some sort. But there was nothing.
When we got back to the cliffs, there was noticeably more people there. So we just kept continuing down the trail.
On the way down there were lots of people going up. We kept saying that we timed this right.
It wasn’t long after that we were close the bottom and could hear the cars driving through the notch.
To finish out the day, we drove over to Rek•lis Brewery in Bethlehem, NH. Neither of us had ever been there before, and it was great. Good food, good beer and good all-around atmosphere. This must be really cool in the summer evenings with all the outsides lit up.
