On a very warm spring afternoon Carol and I headed over to Crawford Notch State Park for some easy walking along trails on the floor of the notch. Along the way we made the obligatory stop for the classic view of the Mount Washington Hotel and the Presidentials.
We parked at the Willey House site and looked across at the location of the notorious 1826 Willey Slide.
The seasonal Willey Pond had not yet been dammed up, but the view of the Webster Cliffs was as good as ever looking across the flowing Saco River.
A sign at the start of the Sam Willey Trail gives you the rundown.
Heading onto the gentle Sam Willey Trail.
Near the start the Sam Willey Trail crosses the gravelly and rubbly outwash from the slide in Landslide Gully, which was reactivated by the big rainstorm in December 2023.
A short spur path opens a beautiful view downstream along the Saco River.
One of the smoothest trails in the White Mountains.
The western side of the short loop on the south end of Sam Willey Trail passes this beautiful wetland view of the notch.
A serene section of the Saco.
On to the Saco River Trail, which makes a 2.4 mile traverse along the floor of the notch to the Dry River Trail.
More views of the river.
A trailside bear tree.
Where the trail turns right at a boulder, there appeared to be fairly fresh landslide deposits up to the left.
I climbed up a little way to investigate. It appeared that the narrow slide track in Shoestring Gully had been reactivated, perhaps by the same December 2023 storm that flushed out Landslide Gully.
Farther along the trail passes by a scenic wetland.
A nice view of Mount Willey.
Enjoying the spring sunshine.
Where the Saco River Trail meets the Webster Cliff Trail/AT, Carol turned back and generously agreed to pick me up at the Dry River trailhead so I could complete the traverse.
After climbing 0.1 mile along Webster Cliff Trail, the Saco River Trail descends through wild coniferous woods to the floor of the valley and then leads through an area of rock rubble to a crossing of Webster Brook.
Though this brook can sometimes be dry in late summer, the crossing was a little awkward this day.
Looking up Webster Brook towards the south end of Mt. Webster.
The rest of the Saco River Trail passes through a predominantly hardwood forest, but along the way it weaves through this attractive glade of hemlocks.
Farther along it skirts a large beaver wetland. A short bushwhack through open woods revealed this view of lower spurs of Montalban Ridge.
A beautiful open hardwood glade here.
A profile of Frankenstein Cliff through the trees.
As it approaches the Dry River Trail, the Saco River Trail passes through an area of old growth hardwood that was identified by ecologist Tom Wessels a few years ago. From the junction there was an easy half-mile exit on Dry River Trail to Route 302.
On the way home I made the short climb to the observation platform above the Willey House site for a good look at the fresh scar in Landslide Gully.
