Mt. Willard

Mt. Willard is located in the Crawford's Notch State Park, New Hampshire. This park sits in the White Mountains, which is a Jack Russell Paradise. This trail is less than three miles round trip, but it gives a big bang for the one hour climb to the open ledges that look down over the historic Crawford's Notch. The trailhead starts at the train depot near the north entrance to the notch. We saw a moose feeding near the parking area the night before our hike. The JRT's were more than curious. After carefully crossing the active railroad tracks, you can unleash your dogs. The trail heads steadily up, and soon comes to a small waterfall which forms Centineal Pool. This is a nice resting area, and a great place for your Jack Russell Terrier to cool off in the pool. You're half way up at this point, and the trail becomes quite rocky from here to the top.

When reaching the summit, you stand at 2804 feet, and have a great view of the notch, the Presidential Range, and Mt. Washington. This is probally the best view for an hours hike that you can find anywhere. We rested from the quick climb and lingered for over an hour as the JRT's played on the ledges. We needed head nets to keep the black flies from biting us to death. If you hike in June you will need them too! Our hike took about three and a half hours, but you could complete it in two hours. The White Mountains are a very special place, and this was one of our favorite hikes.