What busy beavers we have been since we arrived in NH. We are in a campground in Gorham, NH that is real woodsy, shaded, but really, really tight! We managed to squeeze both motorhomes into our sites, and only I dragged my rear end. Getting out should be another challenge, but we'll get to that tomorrow morning. I had a couple parts sent ahead and they happily arrived before we did so the first thing we did was replace our leaking parking brake valve, and set up the new remote for our cargo tray that I had managed to soak and ruin in the rain. Karen had been having trouble getting a hot shower so I took care of that as well. Simple fix as her shower mixing valve had been set too cold. Now we can play.
We are only 16 miles from Mt Washington, the highest mountain in the northeast at 6,288' and famous for its weather. The highest wind reported by man on earth was recorded on April 12, 1934 at 231mph!! They have an 7.6 mile auto road up to the top that averages 12% grade, damn steep I might add, that opened in 1861. We had driven up one time while we lived in NH with Vern and Viv, and remembered it was quite an experience. We read that 3 Sundays a year they open the road early to allow you to see the sunrise from the summit, so we figured since one of the Sundays was while we were here, we should give it a whirl. The problem is the view is entirely weather related and since Sunday was our last day, if we missed it we wouldn't be able to go back. Well the weather on Friday was spectacular, and forecast the same for Saturday so we decided to go up Saturday morning instead at 7:30am, instead of 4:30am on Sunday, rather than gamble on the weather. So we were first in line Saturday with an absolutely spectacular day, clear skies, little wind, visibility reported over 120 miles! So I've got a few pictures of our expedition.
I need to remind you that here in the east sunrise is about 6am, so by our departure time of 7am from the campground, it is fully light. As we approach the entrance road we notice 6 or 8 powered parachutes flying around. What a sight! We wonder where they are going and we get another view of them as we pull up number one at the gate. Wow, they are landing right at the entrance to the auto road right in front of us!
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| Descending |
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| Another one coming in for a landing |
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| Touchdown |
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| Final approach |
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| A little low? |
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| All parked for breakfast |
They all flew in for breakfast at a place just across the road. They mentioned they felt a lot better and safer in their machines than we would driving up and they also mentioned they were heading up after they ate. We weren't sure what that meant.
The gatekeeper showed up right on time and as we waited for her to open up we had built up to 5 cars.
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| The pretty entrance |
And an interesting welcome!?!
So I gathered my courage and so did Jan in the passenger seat and especially Karen in the back seat and off we went, numero uno.
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| Working above the trees |
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| Way way up |
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| A bit ominous |
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| The visitor center |
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| Made it! |
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| Looking north, you can see the cog railway track |
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| The entrance area far below |
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| Interesting angle looking down the final stairway |
They built a hotel, the Tip Top House in 1853 that is still here, all stone as you can see as the other wooden hotels all burnt down over the years.
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| Nice digs, huh? |
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| The stage office |
Karen prepared a gourmet breakfast which we enjoyed in the brisk but beautiful surroundings.
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| Fear causes hunger I guess:-) |
Then for a crowning event, just as we were getting ready to head down up came the cog railway!
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| Here it comes! |
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| Getting closer |
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| Interesting concept |
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| Quite a rig! |
The cog railway is quite something, so I copied some info that I found fascinating:
It is the second steepest rack railway in the world,[2] with an average grade of over 25% and a maximum grade of 37.41%. The railway is approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) long and ascends Mt. 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). It takes approximately 65 minutes to ascend and 40 minutes to descend although the diesel can go up in as little as 37 minutes.
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| A view of the cog railway from the bottom |
Then true to their word, our powered parachute friends showed up! Right above Mt Washington.
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| Way too high in my estimation |
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| But beautiful! |
Then back down we go. Take a deep breath.
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| Here we go |
Then as if that wasn't enough for one day, we grabbed a quick bite back at the motorhomes and took off again for a sightseeing loop. We headed east to Bethel, ME and then north to Grafton Notch State Park, and walked into Screw Auger Falls, Mother Walker Falls, and then Moose Cave. Pretty, but late in the summer means little water flow so although the short hikes were enjoyable and so were the woods, the falls were pretty meager.
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| Pretty walk |
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| Nice and peaceful |
Then since we were already up to Errol, ME on our loop and Dixville Notch was only 10 more miles, we decided to go get a view of the Balsams, a grand hotel that opened right after the Civil War. Quite a place, or I should say was. It was still beautiful looking across the lake, but it is in disrepair sadly, and the developers that were renovating it are having trouble with financing, so it may spell the end for a legendary resort.
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| Still majestic from this angle |
So back we came along the Androscoggin River back into Berlin, NH and on to Gorham. A great day!
PS: I don't know why the background in a couple places is white, and dumb me can't seem to figure out how to fix it, sorry.
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