July 30, 2019

Today we took a slow drive to the top  of Mt. Washington. At 6288 ft., this peak falls just outside the Top 10 elevations east of the Mississippi (the top 10 are all in North Carolina and Tennessee). We have been resisting the urge to pay high fees to see natural attractions, but in this case, we decided to pay the $40 fee to take the 8 mile toll road to the top.  One thing is for sure….the only way I was ever going to stand on top of that peak was to drive, take the “the Cog” train, or go by helicopter…. the drive was a cheaper option!

The Mount Washington Cog Railway was interesting. Per Wikipedia,

“The Mount Washington Cog Railway, also known as the Cog, is the world’s first mountain-climbing cog railway (rack-and-pinion railway)………..it is the second steepest rack railway in the world after the Pilatus Railway in Switzerland,^[2] with an average grade of over 25% and a maximum grade of 37.41%. The railway is approximately 3 miles (5 km) long and ascends Mount Washington’s western slope, beginning at an elevation of approximately 2,700 feet (820 m) above sea level and ending just short of the mountain’s summit peak of 6,288 feet (1,917 m). The train ascends the mountain at 2.8 miles per hour (4.5 km/h) and descends at 4.6 mph (7.4 km/h). Steam locomotives take approximately 65 minutes to ascend and 40 minutes to descend, while the biodiesel engines can go up in as little as 36 minutes.”

The cost for Nancy and I to take the Cog train to the top and back was $140…… we decided driving was just fine!

The drive to the top was pretty intimidating due to the narrowness and condition of the road….two cars passing each other was really tight. There were also very steep drop-offs on the outside edge of the road with no guard rails. The “Road to the Sun” in Glacier National Park Montana is a similar road except that it at least has 12-15 inch high guard rail to keep you from catching your wheels on the edge and falling off the mountain! This was more intimidating than Montana.  Nancy is particularly fearful of driving on high roads with steep drop-offs….so I took it slow and she just closed her eyes and tried to relax until we got to the top.  Once we were parked at the top, she was fine…..until she started thinking about the drive down! If you followed us last year, you may recall that when we drove the “Road to the Sun” last August, I had to turn back because Nancy and her son Phil were both too nervous to continue……both were actually getting a little sick.

It was a great weather day….at 89 degrees, it was a little warm at the bottom, but by the time we got to the top observation area, the temps had dropped 20 degrees (the high today up top was 69).  It was actually a little chilly with the wind. We looked around the observatory and museum, toured the old Tip Top House hotel, and walked around the observation decks.

Talking about weather, Mt. Washington is said to have some of the most severe weather on the planet. At the summit, there are hurricane force winds 110 days per year. It is also one of the top three coldest places on earth. In 2004, the summit weather observatory registered a temperature of −43.6 °F.  With sustained winds of 87.5 mph, the wind chill was −102.59!  All of the buildings were anchored in to the rock or chained down. The original building housing the observatory was designed to withstand 300 mph winds!  The record HIGH temp at the top is only 72 degrees.

Internet photo that helps illustrate just how cold it gets on top of Mt. Washington (Tip Top House Hotel)

The old Tip Top House hotel

Sleeping quarters, kitchen and dining room

The Raven returns…

Bretton Woods (New Hampshire’s largest ski resort)

The lady we met below did the southern 1/2 of the Appalachian Trail last year, and is doing the northern 1/2 this summer. She left on May 1st.

It was nice day…..and when we considered the effort it would take to build and maintain the road up to the summit of this mountain, and build a weather observatory and hotel there, it made the $40 fee seem a little more reasonable!

Sayonara….