Hiking Mt Avalon, Mt Field, Mt Willey and Mt Tom

A post about my hike to four mountains to the west of Crawford Notch in March 2026.

Mountains to the South of Crawford Notch

Toward the end of March 2026, I realized I still had time to squeeze in one last trip of my 2025–2026 winter outdoor season. With that in mind, I returned to a place I had come to know well over the previous months: Crawford Notch. This time, I headed west of the notch, where four neighboring peaks, Mount Avalon, Mount Field, Mount Willey, and Mount Tom, offered the enticing possibility of summiting all of them in a single day.

As for the weather, winter was clearly on its way out. A few days of thaw had been followed by rain before my trip. Fortunately, the snowpack on the trail held together well, and shortly before I arrived, temperatures dropped below freezing again, firming everything up. As a result, the entire hike was still blanketed in snow.

Crawford Notch Train Station
Crawford Notch Train Station
Crawford Notch Train Station
Crawford Notch Train Station

For these mountains west of Crawford Notch, the nearest parking area was at Crawford Notch Train Station. Parking was free, with donations suggested. I reached the trailhead at 11am, but decided to eat lunch first before setting out at 11:30am.
Here’s GPS tracking:

Trail
Trail
Trail
Trail
Trail
Trail
Trail
Trail

The trail began as an unremarkable walk through the woods, running alongside a creek to the soothing sound of flowing water, with occasional glimpses of it threading between islands of snow. About 1.2km (0.75mi) into the hike, I came to a major water crossing (p6–7 below), likely the most technical I had encountered in the past year, as the footholds were small and spaced far apart. Even so, with the help of my hiking poles, I managed to keep my feet dry.

Creek
Creek
Creek
Creek
Creek
Water Crossing
Water Crossing

The trail began to climb more steeply just before the junction of the Avalon Trail and the A–Z Trail. At the intersection, I turned left toward Mt Avalon. The stretch immediately beyond the junction was likely the steepest of the entire day. Even so, the snow was textured enough to provide good traction, so I didn’t put on my microspikes until I reached Mount Avalon.

Steep Trail
Steep Trail
Steep Trail
Trail in Woods
Steep Trail to Mount Avalon

At 12:40pm, 70 minutes after leaving the trailhead, I reached Mount Avalon. The summit was partly wooded, but an opening to the east offered a front-row view of the Presidential Range. Through my previous outings from Crawford Notch, several of the peaks were already familiar to me; among them, snow-clad Mount Washington stood gorgeously at center stage.

Presidential Range
Northern Presidential Range
Mt Washington
Mt Jefferson
Mt Pierce and Mt Eisenhower
Summit Area of Mount Avalon
Cliffs of Mount Webster
Mount Willey

Beyond the eastern vista, a walk around Mount Avalon’s summit revealed glimpses in other directions, though most were partially screened by trees. I had some snacks at Mount Avalon, stayed about 20 minutes before continuing on toward Mount Field.

Trail
Trail
Trail
Steep Trail to Mt Field
Steep Trail to Mt Field

From Mount Avalon to Mount Field, the walk felt easy and unhurried, save for a short stretch beyond the junction with the Willey Range Trail, where the path grew somewhat steep.
Compared with Mount Avalon, Mount Field’s summit was heavily wooded, with only two narrow openings affording views to the north and west, where the mountains were less striking. Rather than an open-air amphitheater, Mount Field’s summit felt like a tiny cabin, its two windows unfortunately facing the wrong way.

Hills to the North
Mt Washington Hotel
Twin Range Mountains
Franconia Ridge in the Background
Distant Loon Mountain Resort
Summit Area of Mount Field
Very inconspicuous.

After a 10-minute snack break atop Mount Field, I continued on toward Mount Willey. From the moment I left Field, it was clear that the trail saw fewer travelers: in places it narrowed noticeably, and some sections had already begun to take on the familiar character of an early-season monorail. Fortunately, the snow remained well packed throughout.

Trail
Trail
Narrow Trail
Steep Trail
Trail
Trail
Obstacle along Trail
Trail
Trail
Narrow Packed Trail

For Mount Willey, the viewpoint lay a short distance beyond the official summit, where a break in the trees opened southward onto the winding Saco River, carving its way through mountains and extending as far as the imagination could follow. Across Crawford Notch rose Mount Webster, its towering cliffs displayed directly ahead in full relief.
This inadvertently led me to compare the two cliffs that define two of the region’s notches: Webster Cliff above Crawford Notch and Cannon Cliff above Franconia Notch. Cannon Cliff consisted more of imposing granite, but from Mount Willey I felt that Webster Cliff was observed at closer range. If it lacked some measure of grandeur, it compensated in detail.

Summit Vista on Mount Willey
Presidential Range
Mt Washington
Cliffs of Mt Webster
Mountains to the South
Stairs Mountain and Mount Resolution
Distant Mount Chocorua
Attitash Mountain Resort

View of Mountains from Mount Willey

I spent about 30 minutes at Mount Willey before starting to head back at 3:15pm. After passing Mount Field, I turned left onto Willey Range Trail, a pleasant walk through the woods where the trail was in much better condition than the traverse between Mount Field and Mount Willey. Shortly after rejoining A-Z Trail, I turned again onto the spur trail to Mount Tom.

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Trail
Trail
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Trail

Summit Area of Mount Tom

The spur to Mount Tom was about 0.7km long with 100m of elevation gain (0.4mi, 330ft). It turned out that Mount Tom’s summit was so wooded that it offered literally no views. On this note, I wouldn’t regret skipping Mount Tom altogether.

Leaving the spur to Mount Tom, there was a short steep section along A-Z Trail, amid an otherwise unremarkable walk in the woods that was occasionally interrupted by snow-covered creeks.

Trail
Trail
Creek
Creek
Snow-Covered Creek along Trail
Trail
Trail

In the end, I was back at the trailhead at 6:30pm, concluding this hike in 7 hours.

On my drive back to Boston, I stopped at the “Scenic View” across from the Mount Washington Hotel. On my previous two trips to Crawford Notch, it had either been too late, or I had been too mentally exhausted to stop. But this time, with the sun casting a golden light over the historic hotel and the snowy peaks of the Presidential Range rising behind it, I couldn’t have asked for a better conclusion to my 2025–26 winter outdoor season.