At the very top of Crawford Notch, where Route 302 squeezes through the Gate of the Notch beside Saco Lake and the old railroad depot, two trails leave within a few hundred yards of each other and could not be more different. On the east side of the road, a spur off the Webster-Jackson Trail climbs 0.3 mile and a hundred-odd feet to Elephant Head, the gray ledge with white quartz veins that looks like an elephant's head and trunk and forms the eastern gatepost of the notch. From the top of it you look down the whole length of Crawford Notch, and it takes 10 min.
On the west side, behind the 1891 Crawford Depot, the Avalon Trail climbs to Mount Avalon, a 3,442-foot peak with a small, sharp, ledgy summit that stands directly above the notch and gives the classic view of it: Webster's cliffs, the Presidentials beyond, the road and the railroad threading the floor far below. It is 3.7 miles round trip with about 1,550 feet of climbing, passes two waterfalls near the start, and is the natural next step for anyone who has done Mount Willard and wants a real mountain.
This guide treats them as a pair, because that is how our guests do them: Elephant Head as the warm-up or the cool-down, Avalon as the day's work. It covers both trails, the Beecher and Pearl Cascades loop, the depot with its visitor center, the parking situation at the top of the notch, the fee question, the loop option over to Mount Field, and how to do all of it safely in each season. The depot is about 40 min from the lodge.
The numbers
Elephant Head: about 0.3 mile each way and roughly 120 feet of climbing from the Webster-Jackson trailhead on Route 302, 10 to 15 min each way. It is the easiest real view in the White Mountains, though the ledge is unfenced.
Mount Avalon: about 3.7 miles round trip and 1,550 feet of gain from the Crawford Depot on the Avalon Trail, with the summit at 3,442 feet. The Cascade Loop past Beecher and Pearl Cascades adds a few hundred yards near the bottom. Allow two and a half to three and a half hours. The last hundred yards to the summit are a steep scramble on rock.
Parking at the top of the notch: the depot lot and the roadside
Both trailheads use the small area around the Crawford Depot and Saco Lake at the height of the notch. The depot lot beside the tracks is the trailhead for Avalon, Willard and the A-Z Trail, and it is small and fills early on clear and foliage days. The Webster-Jackson trailhead for Elephant Head is a few hundred yards east on the other side of the road, just past Saco Lake, with roadside parking along 302 and the depot lot across the way. The AMC Highland Center's own lot up the hill is for its guests; hikers should use the depot area or the Forest Service's Crawford Connector lot nearby.
The fee situation here has changed over the years and the immediate area mixes state park, Forest Service and AMC land. Read the signs at the lot you use as of your visit, and carry a White Mountain National Forest recreation pass, about five dollars a day or thirty a year, so you are covered either way. Do not park on the narrow road shoulders through the Gate of the Notch itself.
Elephant Head: the Gate of the Notch in 10 min
The Webster-Jackson Trail leaves Route 302 just south of Saco Lake, the tiny pond that is the source of the Saco River, and climbs gently into the woods. Within a couple of hundred yards a signed spur turns right for Elephant Head, and a short, steep-ish climb of about 0.3 mile brings you out onto the top of the ledge. The rock is broad and flat, with room to sit, and the view is straight down the notch: Route 302 and the railroad curving away below you, Mount Willard's cliffs on the right, the Webster Cliffs on the left, and the valley fading south toward the Willey House.
The Gate of the Notch is the narrow gap in the ridge that Elephant Head forms one side of. When Timothy Nash came upon the notch in 1771 the opening was barely twenty feet wide, a slot between the rocks that the Crawfords and the road builders later widened for the turnpike and then the railroad. Standing on the elephant's head you are on the original gatepost. The ledge is unfenced and drops sheer on the notch side; keep back from the edge, especially in wind or when the rock is wet.
Mount Avalon: the trail from the depot
Cross the active railroad tracks behind the Crawford Depot and the Avalon Trail heads into the woods. At about 0.1 mile the Mount Willard Trail branches left; stay right for Avalon. Shortly after, the Cascade Loop splits off toward the brook and rejoins the main trail a few hundred yards later, passing Beecher Cascade and then Pearl Cascade, two pretty falls on Crawford Brook that are at their best in June and after rain. Take the loop on the way up; it costs almost nothing.
Above the cascades the trail climbs steadily through birch and spruce, crossing the brook and steepening. At about 1.3 miles the A-Z Trail leaves right for Mount Tom and the Zealand valley; the Avalon Trail continues left and climbs harder. A little below the top, a spur turns off for the summit, and the final hundred yards are a steep scramble over rock and roots to a tiny, ledgy top with views on three sides. The main trail carries on past the spur toward Mount Field and the Willey Range.
The view from Avalon
Avalon is small and it stands in exactly the right place. From the summit ledges you look east across the notch to the long wall of the Webster Cliffs and Mount Jackson, north over the Crawford Depot and Bretton Woods to Mount Washington and the southern Presidentials, and down into the notch itself, with Willard's cliff below you on the near side. It is the same view as Willard's, from higher and with more of the range in it, and on a clear autumn morning it is one of the best sights in the White Mountains for the effort.
The summit is cramped, rocky and unfenced. On a busy day you will wait your turn for the best rock; on a windy day the ledges just below the scramble are a safer place to eat.
The loop option: Avalon, Field and the A-Z Trail
Strong hikers turn Avalon into a loop by continuing on the Avalon Trail from the summit spur up to Mount Field, a 4,340-foot summit and one of the 48 four-thousand-footers, then descending the Willey Range Trail to the A-Z Trail and back down to the Avalon Trail and the depot. It is about seven miles with roughly 2,800 feet of climbing, and Field's wooded summit has a view north from a clearing. Our Mounts Tom, Field and Willey guide covers the full Willey Range traverse, which starts the same way.
The Crawford Depot and the Macomber Family Information Center
The trailhead building is worth 5 min. The Crawford Depot was built in 1891 by the Maine Central Railroad in Queen Anne style, one of the finest small railway stations left in northern New England, and the Conway Scenic Railroad's Notch Train still stops beside it in season. The Appalachian Mountain Club restored it and runs it in summer and fall as the Macomber Family Information Center, with trail information, interpretive displays, restrooms and a small shop that stocks maps, guidebooks and the hiker supplies you forgot. Across the road is Saco Lake, and up the hill the AMC's Highland Center lodge, which serves meals to the public.
Seasons
Elephant Head is a year-round walk; in winter the short spur is icy and the ledge is snow-loaded and needs microspikes and care at the edge. Avalon is best from late May to mid-October. June has the cascades running full; late September into the first week of October has the notch below in color and the depot lot full by eight. Winter Avalon is popular and doable with microspikes and snowshoes, but the summit scramble ices and the top is exposed; treat it as a real winter climb.
Mud season, April into early May, is the time to skip both. The Avalon Trail runs with water, the cascades loop is a stream, and the trail takes damage.
Who these hikes are for
Elephant Head is for everyone who passes through the notch: a 10 min stretch with a view on any drive to Bretton Woods or the Cog, and the right first ledge for a nervous hiker. Avalon is for anyone who has done Willard and wants a mountain with a scramble at the top and a bigger view, and for couples who want a half-day summit with lunch at a lodge afterward. Together they fill a day at the top of the notch.
Avalon is not for anyone uneasy on steep rock; the last hundred yards are a genuine scramble. Willard, from the same depot, is the gentler alternative.
What to carry
For Elephant Head, nothing beyond good shoes and a jacket; for Avalon, water for a half day, food, a layer for the exposed summit, rain gear, and boots or grippy shoes for the rocky scramble. Poles help on the descent. From October on, microspikes; in winter, snowshoes and full winter kit. Bug protection for June along the cascades.
Cell service at the height of the notch is patchy. Download the map before leaving Lincoln, leave your plan with someone or at the depot, and consider the $25 hikeSafe card; New Hampshire can bill for a rescue caused by negligence under RSA 206:26-bb.
Safety & conditions
- Elephant Head is an unfenced ledge that drops sheer on the notch side. Keep well back from the edge, do not back up for photographs, and stay off it in high wind or when the rock is wet or iced.
- The last hundred yards to Avalon's summit are a steep scramble on rock and roots that is slick when wet and iced from October into May. Use your hands, take it slowly, and skip the scramble in ice unless you have traction and experience; the ledges just below give most of the view.
- You cross active railroad tracks behind the Crawford Depot. Look both ways; the Notch Train runs in season and freight can move at any time.
- The depot area is a hazard of its own on busy days: a narrow highway, cars pulling in and out, and hikers crossing. Cross 302 with care and never park on the shoulders through the Gate of the Notch.
- Avalon's summit is exposed to wind and weather. Check the Mount Washington Observatory's higher-summits forecast, carry a layer, and eat below the scramble on a windy day.
- The cascades on the Cascade Loop have slick, mossy rock beside them. Enjoy them from the trail; do not climb on the falls.
- Cell service is patchy at the height of the notch. Download a map before leaving Lincoln, leave your plan with someone, and consider the $25 hikeSafe card; New Hampshire can bill for a rescue caused by negligence under RSA 206:26-bb.
Where to stay for it
The drive is our standard run to Crawford Notch and one of the prettiest in the region. From 191 Pollard Road take I-93 North through the Franconia Notch Parkway to Exit 35, US Route 3 north about ten miles to Twin Mountain, and US Route 302 east past the Bretton Woods hotel and the Cog Railway turn to the top of the notch. The Crawford Depot is on the right at the height of land with Saco Lake beside the road; allow 40 min.
Our guests usually do Avalon first, while the depot lot has space and the light is on the Webster Cliffs, then eat at the Highland Center or drive back toward Bretton Woods for lunch, and finish with the 10 min walk to Elephant Head in the afternoon before the drive home. The Cog Railway base station is 15 min back up Route 302 if the day has room in it, and the roadside Silver and Flume Cascades are a mile down into the notch.
On foliage weekends, be at the depot by eight or plan on the roadside parking and a walk.
Useful links
- Crawford Notch State Park
The park below the Gate of the Notch, with the Willey House site and the roadside cascades. - AMC Highland Center at Crawford Notch
Meals open to the public up the hill from the depot, and the current word on the Macomber Family Information Center's hours. - Mount Washington Observatory higher-summits forecast
Avalon's exposed summit shares the weather of the high peaks across the notch. - White Mountain National Forest: alerts and recreation passes
Trail alerts and pass prices; the depot area mixes Forest Service and state land. - hikeSafe: the code and the card
The six-point hiker responsibility code and the $25 / $35 voluntary card. - Our Mount Willard guide
The gentler ledge walk from the same depot, and the notch's most popular view. - Our Mounts Tom, Field and Willey guide
The full Willey Range day that begins on the Avalon Trail.
Sources & official info: nhfamilyhikes.com · nhstateparks.org · outdoors.org
— Launchpoint Lodge, From the lodge
