World United States New Hampshire Mount Washington

Mike and Roxanne travel east

Mt. Washington Sep 24, 2007

Sep 24

The day is bright and clear with predicted temperatures at the top of the mountain in the low 50's and the wind in the mid 50's.

The mountain is Mt. Washington the tallest point east of the Mississippi River and the place know for the some of the worst weather in the continental U.S.

My aunt and uncle go with us while the others plan to take the Cog Railroad to the top. We are going to go up the Mt. Washington Auto Road. It is not for the faint of heart as it is steep and narrow with no guardrails. But we are ready for it.

We take a back route to get there through the National Forest. As we come out on Route 16 the trees are gorgeous. We are not at peak on the color but the trees are beautiful.

As we enter the park we are greeted at the toll house and when we pay our fees we are given a packet that includes a bumper sticker that declares "This car climbed Mt. Washington", a certificate of completion for the road, a CD with the history of the mountain and the road. We are told to pull over to the side and read the envelope before continuing.

The envelope explains all the dangers of driving the road, the possibility of bad weather, bad roads and all manner of things. We agree to the terms and off we go.

The ascent is at least a 12% grade and starts out through forests of hardwoods. As we climb higher and higher the trees become shorter and shorted due to the weather extremes on the mountain. Finally we are out of the t trees and there is only lichen, algae and mosses on the rocks.

As we near the top the wind has picked up considerably and it is an effort to open the car door to take pictures.

At the top Mike drops off Dud, Elaine and me and we hold onto each other to get into the building. Mike has to park in the lot about 30' below us and then walk up the stairs.

After he arrives we go downstairs and visit the museum. It tells the history of the mountain and especially the observatory on the top. The highest wind on record was recorded here in 1934 at 231 mph. Today the wind is blowing at around 54 mph with gusts up to 93 mph.

There is a video that plays constantly down here called "The Breakfast of Champions." It is a spoof on the winds up here but also an accurate depiction of how strong the wind can be. In the film a man comes to the mountain to dine. He is seated on the deck and first of all brought coffee. As it is being poured the wind is blowing the coffee away and none falls in the cup. When the toast pops out of the toaster it blows away. This continues with cereal and finally milk. We watch as an entire gallon of milk blows away with none going in the cup.

As decide to walk to the observation deck where I am greeted with wind blowing at 54mph. It is hard to walk in a straight line and if I attempt to walk into the wind it is like walking up a steep hill. If you turn around it will push across the deck.

While waiting for the others to get here on the Cog Railroad I explore other areas at the top like the Tip Top House.

The Tip Top House was the first hotel on the area. It was built in 1853 at a time when the only transportation up the mountain was by foot or horse. The walls of the house are from stones at the top and the other items were brought up on horseback.

The bunks are three high and three long. The mattresses were made with 15 lbs of lichen matted and tied to a 4" depth. Horses or men brought everything up the mountain that was here but the fare was said to be "plentiful, with good coffee and tea, milk, fresh eggs, new and well-made bread, generally fresh meats, excellent ham, and often trout." Meals cost $1.00 and three meals and a night's lodging was $4.00. Consider however, that wages were $.80-$.90 a day.

The others arrive and only have 15 minutes to spend at the top so we decide to start down. We want to drive slow and have no idea how many cars are coming up and how often we will have to stop.

We get to the meeting place before the others and decide to order lunch. The others make it just in time before the kitchen closed and after eating we head to Jackson Village. We find a cute country store and two covered bridges.

We get back to the B&B and rest a while before coming back to the RV. We will join the others for breakfast tomorrow before going our separate ways, the rest of the family back towards Connecticut and us on to Maine.