I’ve been trying to take the gym squad on their first winter hike for a while now. Schedules are always difficult, but weather needs to cooperate as well. For a good winter hike, you want full snow, not half snow, half rock. You want it to be cold, but not too cold. Hopefully you have sun and no wind, too. Most importantly, everyone needed the right gear. At a minimum, everyone needed the right boots, clothing, and microspikes.

We had planned earlier hikes, and even did a short, local (no snow) hike test of our clothing on a cold day. Finally, we were fully geared up and ready to go with the right trail conditions!

My favorite recommendation for your first winter hike in the White Mountains is Mt. Willard. It is short so if your gear isn’t right or your clothes, it’s not too far back to safety. It’s sheltered the whole way up by trees, so you aren’t exposed to the wind. It’s right next to the AMC Highland Center, so again you’re close to safety and warmth. It’s popular (but not crazy), so if you needed help, there would likely be someone on the trail, and being popular means it’s likely already packed down, so very unlikely that you’d need snowshoes. This would be my third time on Willard.

Bonus, since it’s a shorter hike, we didn’t have to get up before dawn. We arrived at the AMC Highland Center around 10:30. Stopped in for a bathroom break, and to pay for parking. You can park on the road for free, but it was nicer to park in the Highland Center lot and get geared up there rather than on a road with cars whizzing past. As we began putting on our gear… I pulled out my hiking boots. Only to discover, they had no shoelaces! I have several pairs of the same boots. Some time ago, I took the laces from this pair and put them in my pack as backups (useful in case your laces break and also just if something needs repair). So thankfully, that meant the laces were in my pack. Sometimes my preparedness means I’m too prepared? Like if I hadn’t tried to be prepared, I wouldn’t have been missing my laces.

We look a little wild in this photo. Ha! Let’s just say we were excited to start.

Conditions were perfect. Temperatures in the upper 20s, plenty of snow. A little cloudy, but hardly any wind. We donned our microspikes at the picnic tables by the trailhead and off we went!

Photo of me on the left (credit to The Bartender). Photo on the right of The Bartender, me, and Beth (credit to Awestruck).

We saw lots of people on the trail, but not too many. A “crowded” winter day is very different than a crowded summer day.

As I said, the conditions were just perfect.

Like I said, it’s a short hike, so it didn’t take us long to get to the summit.

For such a short hike, it really does give great bang for the buck! The clouds were beginning to part a little, so we could see into the notch.

True to her trailname, The Bartender provided us with a little summit libation.

Awestruck told people not to stand so close to the edge, she is one of my best students. On a serious note, it’s a fairly easy climb, but the viewpoint is a cliff and in the snow and ice, what seems like a safe point near the edge, can still be very dangerous. In 2022 an experienced hiker slipped and fell to his death from this summit. Always use caution when near the edge of any viewpoint.

After a break, we were on our way back down.

Beth told the ladies “act natural” so she could take some pictures. Which resulted in the least candid photos ever, which then cracked us all up, and led to very candid photos of laughter.

Awestruck and The Bartender, photo credit Beth

Beth and myself. Photo credit: Beth.

I do have to laugh when I see photos of myself. I am the overprepared hiker. And especially when I’m taking a group of less experienced hikers, I’m even more prepared than usual. It’s a 3-mile hike and I look like I’m summitting Everest.

Back to the trailhead! It was a great hike and I’m pleased to hear the ladies did well with their gear and have a few tweaks to make before our next adventure!

• Total distance: 3.2 miles
• Elevation gain: 900 feet
• Total time: 2 hours, 34 minutes
• Moving time: 1 hour, 55 minutes