Mount Avalon
Mount Avalon – White Mountains, NH
Elevation: 3,442′
The way we did this trip was with two cars and we parked one at the end of the A-Z trail, specifically at the Saco Lake parking section which, is near the AMC Highland Center. Then we drove the second car to the trailhead on Willey Station Road (look for signs for the AT and Ripley Falls). We started on the Ethan Pond Trail which is also the Appalachian Trail and headed toward the Willey Range Trail.
Avalon
A mile down the A-Z trail you will see a split for Mount Avalon. It’s worth the effort to catch Avalon, the views were the best we saw all day! The trail is very steep though, probably the hardest .5 of the entire hike. It took us about 30minutes to reach the summit but the views were awesome and it had giant rocks you could rest on.
Making Avalon into a Loop
The first mile wasn’t too hard but the last mile was pretty steep to Mount Willey. After the summit of Willey (which is marked by a giant Cairn, no views at the summit) we Continued on the Willey Range Trail to Mount Field. The section in between wasn’t too difficult but, definitely steep getting up to Mount Field. Mount Field didn’t have views at the summit but did have a lookout off to the side. From Mount Field, we continued on the Willey Range Trail to Mount Tom. Just like Mount Willey and Mount Field, no views at the summit but some nice outlook spots nearby.
Note: Mount Tom was a little confusing where the summit was but if you hang left on the trail you’ll see the cairn and if you go right it’s an outlook. Also, there is another outlook if you continue straight after reaching the summit.
From Mount Tom, we went back down the Willey Range trail for .6 and turned left onto the A-Z trail. A mile down the A-Z trail you will see a split for Mount Avalon. Then we headed back down and got back on the A-Z trail until we hit our car!
We saw lots of pups on the hike and was pretty dog-friendly. It didn’t require much climbing of boulders and I never had to help Java up any of the climbs. There were rocky sections so be mindful of your pup’s paws!
