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Published: July 23rd 2008
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High above the clouds
on Mt. Washington Auto Road going up to the summit. It was kind of hot. I was hoping to catch a sunrise at the summit early morning today. And by early I mean 3:30 am. That was when the gate was opened to visitors. This isn't a routine, it happens only 3 times a year and we just happened to be there on one of those days. Doug was kind of hoping the same but we both knew how we are like when it comes to getting up that early. Yeah, I guess you know we didn't make it. When I first opened my eyes that morning, I heard the rain. That gave us a reason to not feel bad for not making it.
We took our time a bit in the morning, got breakfast at our Inn before heading to Mt.Washington. We went north on 16 for about 20 minutes and there it was "Mt. Washington Auto Road" sign sitting to the left side of the road big and clear. You just can't miss it. We paid $20/vehicle+a driver and extra $7/passenger. We got a CD for audio guide, a general certificate stating you have climbed Mt. Washington, and a bumper sticker saying the same thing as earlier one. The audio gives information on
history and vegetation of the place. We were instructed to use low gear only due to the steepness of the road(12% grade). So we followed the instruction and speed limit. As we were going up, I noticed that the Auto Road shuttles weren't going that slow as they were supposed to.
At approximately 30 miles/hour, we slowly climbed up the mountain. The road was a bit narrow and bumpy in certain parts. The rain had stopped when we were having breakfast so it was nice and clear. We decided to take the car top off to enjoy the breeze. As we got higher and higher, we could see the clouds below. It was pretty cool. At 2/3 of the way, it was as though we had entered to a different world. It looked somewhat like what I had often seen in a movie when they portray a scene of a heaven. Everything was white, fuzzy, and misty except no angles. The visibility became poorer and poorer that we could see only up to 20-30 meters ahead. It was almost sudden when we reached that height. The temperature dropped fairly rapidly and I had to put on my jacket. We
The Vette on auto road
seems like the Vette is lighter than the clouds at this point. The Vette did just fine on this 12% grade(steepness of the road). it's pretty steep. were literally in the cloud land and stayed in that condition until we reached the summit. It didn't get any better up there.
On the summit, it was like we were almost blind. Things revealed themselves only when we got closer to them. As bad as the weather was, yet I discovered peacefulness and serenity in that moment. At the same time deeply excited with what I would see next . It was somewhat windy and starting to get too cold. No second thought about where we wanted to get to first, a visitor center. There's a small museum and a gift shop on the lower level. On the main level, there's a small cafe that Doug could find only 1 thing on his diet. I brought my leftover for lunch so I was good to go. As we were eating, Doug mentioned about heading down the mountain after lunch because of poor visibility. At that point, I was still enjoying the weather at least. Since I faced away from the windows(it was too bright to look outside), I looked back to check the weather every few minutes hoping it would clear up and we wouldn't have to leave
so soon. I finally caught a glimpse of a rock outside so I somewhat eagerly pointed it to Doug. He looked up, nodded, and went back to do what he was doing. We sat quietly eating, doing our own thing. A few minutes later, Doug said he could see more things outside the windows. I quickly looked back and it really seemed like the sky was clearing up. I suggested we wrap up our lunch and head out now before the weather changes again. Doug agreed.
The sky seemed to get clearer and clearer over time. I now could see the entire train track and things around the visitor center. I made a little hike up to an observatory deck and then I heard something so loud that I had to look for a source of the sound. I looked around and finally spotted a train coming up towards the summit. The white and black smoke released from the engine can be seen quite well. This railroad's called "Cog Railway" transporting tourists to-from the base and the summit.
At this point I had to unzip my jacket because it was getting hot. We were actually closer to the
getting foggy
as we got closer and closer to the summit. The visibility became poorer and poorer. This is how far we could see. The temperature also dropped pretty drastically. sun and the clouds weren't as dense as earlier to protect us. I noticed piles of rocks here and there and found out later they are "cairn" used as a trailblazer. On one side of the summit looking out I saw a flat mountain top nearby. It looked more like a dessert with large open space full of dirt and rocks. There were some greens to see also mostly algae growing on the rocks. The clouds drifted in and away one after another.
On the way down, we passed a few cars. Like I mentioned earlier that certain parts of the road are narrow. At one point we were on the cliff side and Doug wanted to make sure the other car had enough space to go up. I think I had a good reason for being nervous because I was closer to the cliff than he was. Almost the entire road is asphalt except about 1-2 miles close to the summit is gravels. Driving on those loose rocks didn't assure me any but after the first time on the way down was nothing.
Pinkham Notch just down south from Mt.Washington was our next stop. We didn't really
We made it
at the summit parking. we could barely see what was ahead of us. This stairs lead you to the observatory deck, museum, and shops on the summit. have a good idea on what to do there so we went to get suggestions from the visitor center. A few ideas were thrown out and we picked to hike Square Ledge trail where trail head is just across the street. It got pretty hot and my normal oh-my-god-i-am-gonna-get-tan made me feel uncomfortable to "hike at noon". A concept that never makes sense to me. If you know a Bangkokian you'll know what I mean. But I did it anyway.
The steepness emerges almost right from the start at the trail head but not undoable. We took a few short breaks to breathe and relieved ourselves from the heat. I noticed the biggest mosquitoes I had ever seen and got very alarmed. Doug told me there's no Malaria here so I won't die from a mosquito bite. The ascending got steeper and steeper and eventually we had to utilize all of our limbs to make sure we wouldn't fall off the cliff full of loose rocks big and small. It was a bad idea to bring a tripod with me on the trail because one of my arms was already being utilized. The family that was ahead of us
stopped at the hard ascending point before turning around. Doug and I step by step so carefully got up to the top. We got nice views of the mountains, the road, and the sky. The breeze helped cool us down nicely. We took pictures and enjoyed the views and the breeze for awhile before heading down.
We made our next stop at Ellis Falls, developed trail with stone steps descending to the falls. There's no official space for you to sit except climbing down the trail to sit by the creek. It was very muggy at that time even though the water sprays from the waterfalls were nice but it couldn't beat the humidity.
Doug was done with hiking for the day and so was I so we drove around to nearby attractions on the map and stumbled in to a nice looking restaurant and the most appetizing-looking one in the area, Magarita Grill. So we stopped off for dinner on the way back and we weren't disappointed. I didn't expect to run into a Mexican restaurant sitting in the middle of nowhere(almost) of New England, so that was a surprise but it was definitely a yummy one.
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Heather Kilpatrick
non-member comment
lots of fog!
Wow, that was a lot of fog! or clouds or whatever. Alx said he sure hoped the vet did well on the hills, with all that horsepower and all. Actually, he said with xyz horsepower, but that was not a number I kept in my head. anyhow, love teh slug photo.