Mount Willey is located in Crawford Notch, and is often hiked in combination with Mount Tom and Mount Field. The steep trail, allows hikers to ascend quickly to the top of the Notch, and look north towards Webster Cliff, Mount Jackson and Mount Washington. In under 9 miles, hikers can summit three NH 4000 footers from the Avalon Trailhead.
Height: 4,285 feet (1306.07 meters)
Distance: 5.4 miles (8.69 km)
Difficulty: Intermediate
Elevation Gain: 2,828 feet (861.97 meters)
Hike Time: 2-4 hours
Trails (Directions to each trailhead are below)
There are three main options for summiting Mount Willey, all three of which are great routes to combine Mount Field (and often mount Tom) into your day hike.
Avalon Trail
This trail begins by the railroad station in Crawford Notch. The shortest route to the summit of Willey from this trail will be 3.7 to the summit over Mount Field (4,340 feet). You can also choose to include Mount Tom (4,051 feet), which will make the trip to the summit 4.4 miles. A common loop will be a total of 8.1 miles to summit all three 4,000 footers. This is the most common trail to summit all 3 peaks due to the higher starting elevation.
Kedron Flume Trail
The Kedron Flume Trail parking area is located at the Willey House in Crawford Notch. This is a 5.4 mile round trip hike (8.4 with Tom & Field). This trail is strenuous and steep, but relatively quick to the summit.
Ethan Pond Trail
The Ethan Pond Trail parking is located at the Willey House Station site a short distance away from Willey House. This trail is also 5.4 miles round trip (8.4 with Tom & Field). Both Kedron Flume and Ethan pond feature the same second half (steep half) of the hike.
Trail Map
Directions
To Avalon Trailhead
To Kedron Flume Trailhead (Willey House)
To Ethan Pond Trailhead
Nearby Hikes
Crawford Notch has some incredible hikes, some nearby trailheads allow you to summit Mount Crawford, Mount Willard, Arethusa and Ripley Falls, and Mount Jackson.
Weather Forecast
Bartlett, NH
Tonight
Scattered rain showers before 5am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 37. Northwest wind 15 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 35 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.
Monday
Partly sunny, with a high near 53. North wind 15 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 35 mph. New rainfall amounts less than a tenth of an inch possible.
Monday Night
A slight chance of rain showers after 3am. Partly cloudy, with a low around 37. Northeast wind 5 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Tuesday
Rain showers likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 51. Southwest wind around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
Tuesday Night
Rain showers likely. Cloudy, with a low around 38. South wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%.
Wednesday
A chance of rain showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 51. Chance of precipitation is 40%.
Wednesday Night
A slight chance of rain showers before 8pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 39.
Views from Mount Willey
Max DesMarais is the founder of hikingandfishing.com. He has a passion for the outdoors and making outdoor education and adventure more accessible. Max is a published author for various outdoor adventure, travel, and marketing websites. He is an experienced hiker, backpacker, fly fisherman, backcountry skier, trail runner, and spends his free time in the outdoors. These adventures allow him to test gear, learn new skills, and experience new places so that he can educate others. Max grew up hiking all around New Hampshire and New England. He became obsessed with the New Hampshire mountains, and the NH 48, where he guided hikes and trail runs in the White Mountains. Since moving out west, Max has continued climbed all of the Colorado 14ers, is always testing gear, learning skills, gaining experience, and building his endurance for outdoor sports. You can read more about his experience here: hikingandfishing/about
Trail Conditions A Bit Wet, but great day
Trail was a bit wet, so extra caution was needed on the step portions! Overall, great day.