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Old 8 Jul 19, 03:09 PM  
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anji
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Road Trip round New England in the Spring, not the Fall! Day 6 Mt Washington snow, -24F, 82mph wind!

Day 6 – Mount Washington, White Mountains – snow -24 F and 82mph wind!

Today dawned bright and sunny – just right for our trip up Mount Washington. We had a great view from our windows today - top corner two windows in photo below.


We went down to breakfast and ate round a communal table and chatted to the other guests. We were shown some phone photos from the day before of bear cubs in a tree along the route we would be taking today – I got overly excited at the prospect!

We were booked on the noon journey of the Cog Railway, which is celebrating 150 years this year. It would take about 45 minutes to get there and we had to check in half an hour ahead of departure. We’d chosen this so that we could both see the sights and not worry about falling off the edge of the road, which I’d read was hairy to the extent that they give you an ‘I survived’ bumper sticker when you’ve got back down!

We went the same direction as yesterday and saw a better view of Cathedral Ledge. It certainly is a very high cliff. The carpark for Diana’s Baths was busy too.


We stopped off at the lake by the Willey House and watched some Canada Geese and their babies.

Along the road we passed the magnificent White Mountain Hotel and promised to stop by on the way back. Around this are was where the bear cubs had been seen too.
We could also see the clouds on top of the mountain!


We’d made good time so we stopped for a coffee at the Fabyan Gas Station before heading up to the Railway station.

The journey was to be an hour up the mountain, an hour at the top and almost an hour back down again. We knew that it was going to be cold up there and had bought suitable clothing. Will had brought his thermal top, gloves, woolly hat and scarf. I had my hat, gloves and scarf. For reasons best know to him he’d neglected to put on the thermal top and woolly hat and I had also not put my gloves in my bag! Mistake!

We checked in and looked around the exhibition and the gift shop. We’d booked well in advance and had front seats 1A and 1B. It was good that seats were allocated as there was no scrum for seats at all.
The train set off and we had commentary on the way up.


Mount Washington is at the joining point of 2 weather fronts and therefore has the worst weather in the world, more so than Mount Everest! The record wind was 210mph! They only have 60 clear days at the top a year and this wasn’t to be one of them!

We got higher and the snow appeared, lots of it. You could tell by the ice on the posts how had the wind blew and the constant direction of it.

We passed some hikers on their way up – it takes 5-6 hours to do.

As we got to the top we were told that the café at the top wasn’t open yet as the road was too bad to get supplies up because of the snow. BUT they had laid on FREE coffee and donuts for everyone, or you could make a donation. What a great idea.

We stepped out and the cold hit us! OMG it was cold. 24 degrees F (about -5C) and so windy that 82mph had been recorded that morning too! Oh yes – also a wind chill of 16F too !

We went out to the Observatory but couldn’t see anything because of the cloud. The ice formations were extraordinary.


It was howling a gale of near hurricane force and bitter cold, so we went inside and had some coffee and donuts.
I donated them $10 as I thought it was such a great idea and a generous act. There were lots of people around and many who had made the hike up to the top. There were even some dogs and I felt sorry for their poor feet as they must have been frozen. I think most people who hiked up took the train back down!

So after an hour of intermittently popping outside and looking at the weather information and having more coffee, it was time to go back down. Will was frozen to the bone by this time – he’s too skinny to keep warm!
My hands were very cold but other than that I wasn’t too bad as I had a few layers on and my duvet coat.
We all piled into the train and off we went.
The commentary was on what we could see on the way down ‘only you can’t see that’! Suddenly the clouds cleared and we were back in the sun 😊


Despite being frozen we both have agreed that this was one of the best things we did on this holiday. It was such a random morning – being in such extreme weather, the snow, the wind, the coffee and donuts and the train itself. Would definitely do it again! It reminded us of our overnight at Crater Lake 3 years ago – also random lots of snow, icicles and fun night (see trip report!)

So off we went, back towards North Conway. We stopped off at the Mount Washington Hotel but didn’t go in. A very grand building. We didn’t see any bears on the way back but did see a couple of wild turkeys run across the road!


We stopped at several waterfalls/rapids on both the way up and down. Over the course of the holiday we were to see a lot of these but I never tired of them at all. Each was different in it’s own way.


Back in North Conway we decided to go to the Mount Washington Observatory Weather Discovery Center (maybe we should have done this first!) which is all about the weather on Mount Washington. At this point the mountain was clearly to be seen at the end of Main Street, snow on top and I didn’t take a photo! Next day it was back in the cloud.

The Observation Center was really interesting with lots of information and a simulation of being in the mega-wind. We stayed about an hour and had a good chat with the guy on the desk.

We had a stroll along Main Street. Lots of independent shops, general store, souvenir shops and craft businesses. Lovely.

We went back to the Lodge and got changed, ready to go out.
We wanted to go to the Muddy Moose Restaurant, which was a drive rather than a walk. We were glad we didn’t walk as when we got there it was heaving and a long wait for tables. I guess with it being Saturday night a lot of families were out.

We drove on a bit to the Settlers Green Outlet Village and finished up in Friendlys. This was busy too but we were seated straight away. The server asked what we wanted to drink and we asked for 2 Bud Lights. They don’t serve alcohol! What?! OK Diet Coke and an Orange Juice then please. I had Lemon Pepper Fish with rice, which was lovely, and Will had a bacon and cheese burger. My meal included a free ice cream sundae, so we shared this.

We drove back to the Lodge, intending to walk back out again for a drink but we got settles and didn’t make it out again! Tomorrow we were riding the Kancamagus Highway!

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Edited at 03:13 PM.
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Old 8 Jul 19, 07:53 PM  
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Melbatb
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That looks cold! But what a fabulous experience!
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Old 12 Jul 19, 11:01 AM  
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Your photos are stunning! What a contrast in the weather but Mount Washington looks so worth the trip. Would rather follow your lead and catch the train rather than the hike though!
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Old 12 Jul 19, 11:05 PM  
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That looks soooo cold! But sounds like a great adventure
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Old 12 Jul 19, 11:33 PM  
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We’ve got an ‘I survived’ sticker! Was less cold when we were up there (around 0c) but it was a fab place to visit.
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Old 13 Jul 19, 08:40 AM  
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WileyCoyote
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What a fascinating day! Really interesting. Love your pics. Can feel that cold. Glad you did get dinner that night with it all being so busy .
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Old 13 Jul 19, 02:10 PM  
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My kids all love to hike Mt. Washington (my middle guy always takes his friends who come to visit) but generally if you hike up, you hike down. I am not sure you can get a one way ticket on the railway and my guess is it's usually booked, especially in the summer.

I am sorry you didn't see any bears. We have two families in the neighborhood and the babies are so cute. This is from a couple of weeks ago-the local TV station posted.
wmur/article/bear-sp...bD0_G4RLpaiZyc

I'm glad you enjoyed the wild turkeys. Years ago, they were a rare site. These days flocks can block the road. POersonally not a fan, especialluy when I have to wait for them to cross.

So glad you are enjoying this beautiful state. Come again.
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Old 13 Jul 19, 04:40 PM  
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anji
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Originally Posted by Ridersmom View Post
My kids all love to hike Mt. Washington (my middle guy always takes his friends who come to visit) but generally if you hike up, you hike down. I am not sure you can get a one way ticket on the railway and my guess is it's usually booked, especially in the summer.

I am sorry you didn't see any bears. We have two families in the neighborhood and the babies are so cute. This is from a couple of weeks ago-the local TV station posted.
wmur/article/bear-sp...bD0_G4RLpaiZyc

I'm glad you enjoyed the wild turkeys. Years ago, they were a rare site. These days flocks can block the road. POersonally not a fan, especialluy when I have to wait for them to cross.

So glad you are enjoying this beautiful state. Come again.
Lovely! We didn't see any bears at all, or moose, despite people showing us photos on their phones of what they'd seen - even an hour after we'd been there! Next time

We did see turkeys 3 times. Once they were very nearly turkey dinner but both just made it across the road between cars.

We just loved everything about New Hampshire and will be back one day for sure
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Old 13 Jul 19, 04:42 PM  
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anji
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Originally Posted by margyloveswdw View Post
We’ve got an ‘I survived’ sticker! Was less cold when we were up there (around 0c) but it was a fab place to visit.
Well done on the drive! The road hadn't opened for the summer when we were there at all, hence the cafe being closed.
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Canada/Pacific NW Road Trip 2022
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Old 13 Jul 19, 06:31 PM  
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Ridersmom
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Anji,

Come back soon. I long ago decided that you never see bears or moose if ytou are looking (having taken too many visitors on attempts to see them).

Both are most likely seen when least expected and often at dawn or dusk. We have reliably seen moose in Errol but have usually been there for a couple of days. Our neighborhood bears tend to pop out of the woods from time to time and as soon as they hear people, they take off. Everyone knows there are two families becuase a neighbor has video on their security camera. I have a photo of a baby bear outside my kitchen window my son took.

One good thing about not seeing them the first time, is you have to come again, maybe a different time of year. But also be out at dawn.
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