The Worst Weather in the World

Day 5
October 13, 2011
New Hampshire

This Morning we got up early, to make it to Mt Washington by 8 a.m. so that after we did that we could make good time and get on to Stowe without wasting another day in the car.

Today’s weather was not gorgeous like it has been. It’s cold, gloomy, and rainy.

At first we were kinda bummed because we would not be able to see very far off the top of Mt Washington due to all the clouds, but in the end we sorta loved it because we were able to experience what Mt Washington is known for

Before I tell you about our experience, here is a little history:

As you can read above Mt Washington is known for its erratic weather

I can’t remember the specifics, but something about the convergence of several storm tracks

The Mountain trail was cut out of the Mountain in the 1850’s for the sole purpose of being a tourist attraction.

It took them several years to completely cut the trail all the way up the Mountain, as they kept running out of money.

Once the trail was open to tourist, they gave tours using horses and carriages. There was a “halfway house” approximately halfway up to give the horses a chance to rest so that they could endure the trek up the Mt.

The incline is 6,288ft and the highest peak in the Northeastern United States

The highest wind observed by man at 231mph occurred here

I’m  not a history buff, and I left a lot out, but I found all of this quite interesting…

Now for more pictures

We arrived to Mt Washington about 9:30 a.m.

We had 2 options:

1) drive up the Mountain in our car

2) ride in a van and let the experienced people take care of it

We had initially planned on driving up the Mountain ourselves, but after several people telling us that it would not be a good idea as the road is very narrow and it is easy to drive off the side, we opted to be passengers and leave it to the pro’s.

The first tour left at 9a.m. We ended up being the only ones, so we got a private tour, AND I got to sit in the front seat, since I’m the birthday girl!

Kate was our tour guide

She was awesome, very knowledgeable on the history of the Mt and I can’t help but feel that she would be impressed by this post, since it reflects a lot of what I learned

As we ascended up the Mt we crossed through 4 different forests and climate zones:

 hardwood forest
 
Borealis forest

where a different type of “fall foliage” grows

can you tell which way the wind blows???

Sub-Alpine forest

the trees are shorter, because the strong wind the farther up the Mountain you go, do not allow the trees to grow tall

Alpine Forest

as you near the top of Mt Washington, trees are non-existent

but the moss is (Kate was a BIG fan of the moss)

Once we made it to the top, we got a little taste of what the Mountain was known for…

hello, cold, rain, and violent wind!

My how you make it hard to stand up straight…

look thru the fog….and behold- the Summit!

Kate offered to take our pic if we wanted to climb up there and stand by the sign…

we kindly declined

didn’t wanna follow in Lizzie’s footsteps

I mean who wants to ‘perish’ on their bday???

We spent about 45 min exploring the top of the Mountain, before descending

I really enjoyed the tour. I feel like the fact that we basically had a private tour really made the trip.

the appalachian trail also run through the mountain

as we started seeing ‘foliage’ again, we knew we were close to the bottom

We arrived back at the starting point, around 11a.m.

the day is already MUCH more productive than yesterday

on to Vermont to continue the birthday Celebration!!!