a trip to the TOP

So this day was to be the best for visibility of the days we would be in NH - which meant it was definitely the day to head to the TOP of Mt Washington (6288 feet above sea level) AND we would do it- not once but twice in one day!

So we did it by car on the Auto Road and by cog railway from the other side of the mountain- but both times we ended up here-

but before we left Gorham we stopped for a quick breakfast at McDonald's and found that the LUCKY New Englanders have Lobster Rolls on the menu - wonder how they are? we didn't try them so can't report back...

the entrance was roughly a half hour down the road- and then we made the climb with virtually no one in front of us - one motorcycle pulled over to the side about a quarter of the way up -

some photos from this side of the trek to the TOP-

you can contrast the below photo with the one from our second trip up later that same day- many many more folks and the visibility had deteriorated - here we have clear skies at the top!

and here is part two of the two ascents of Mt Washington- on the COG RR-

compare this with our earlier visit that day to the summit house-

in this photo you can see the angle of the window in the corner - which gives and idea of how steep the grade of the cog railway...

the brakeman is 14 feet below us as we descend the mountain-

 

the base station above and the summit house below-

where we are playing in the last few days-

we spent the last night in Gorham (top right) and the train trip we followed "yesterday" was out of Conway (in the lower right area) - the Mt Washington routes are center just above half way up the map- and our route for "tomorrow" will be from N. Conway to Crawford Notch and back - a five hour round trip... then along the Kancamagus Scenic Byway... and in to White River Junction VT by the day's end... "miles to go before we sleep"

so stay tuned- tomorrow is Dome car on the Scenic RR.....