MONDAY 10.14/19 NEW HAMPSHIRE THE COG Part 1

So today we are going to take a train ride. However, before we could hit the road for our hour long drive to Bretton Woods, Boss had to be taken care of and that includes a nice walk. So off the two of them went. We have a train track right behind our campsite and they took a walk down the tracks.  This track is used for local sightseeing outfits. We saw an engine yesterday with four passenger cars.

This is our campsite.  As much as we like staying in resorts we also love being in the woods.

Boss settled for the day we took off. Now I have to say that I took lots of pictures BUT they were taken through a less than crystal clear windshield. The pictures do not do the colors we saw justice. At all.

As we climbed to higher elevations the colors became much more intense. Walt would pull over and we would just look,,,,in awe. At one point the colors were so brilliant that I had a lump in the my throat and tears in my eyes as I took in the incredible beauty that seem to go for miles. We were in a mountainous region with no buildings, no telephone poles and wires, just an occasional sign and thousands and thousands of tree in peak color!

We stopped for breakfast at a very busy mom and pop restaurant and had a delicious morning meal before heading on up the mountain.

When we got to the base of Mt. Washington we headed into the building to pick up our will call tickets.  On the way to the ticket counter we saw this world map.  It had push pins in it from so many counties all over the world!  Now this map is cleared every so often and all these pins were added just since April of this year.  No one had put a pin from northeast Arizona so now we too are represented.

We looked around the gift shop and saw some things we'll come back for after our train ride.  It was too nice to stay inside so we went out to look around and to enjoy the sunshine and of course the colors.

Now each of the three trains have an engine and a passenger car.  Two trains operate on bio-diesel fuel and the other by steam.  I had originally tried for the steam engine but the time period we wanted was sold out.  Just as well because I found out that the steam engine took longer to get up to the top of the mountain.  More about that later.

The Mount Washington Railway also known as the Cog, is the world's first mountain-climbing cog railway. (rack-and-pinion railway).  It is the second steepest rack railway in the world after the Pilatus Railway System in Switzerland with an  average grade of over 25% and a maximum grade of 37%.

The railway is approximately 3 miles long and ascends Mount Washington's western slope, beginning at an elevation of approximately 2,700 feet above sea level and ending just short of the mountain's summit peak of 6,288 feet.

Everyone was taking pictures and I took a picture of another couple for them in return they took ours.

Before long we heard the "All Aboard" for our train.  We sat on these horribly uncomfortable bench seats.  We sat three across and we were hoping our seatmate was a four year old because these seats were not big at all.  Luckily, a man of small stature sat next to us and it was tight!  The poor guys sitting in front of us were all but squished together.  Two of the fellows were "big" men.  The third, not nearly as big, couldn't move at all.

The steam engine on its way back.

We were on our way!  As I wrote earlier we are on a bio-diesel  powered train and we're glad!  The train goes up the mountain at 2.8 miles per hour and comes down at 4.6 mph Steam locomotives take approximately 65 minutes to ascend and 40 minutes to descend, while the bio-diesel engines can go up in as little as 36 minutes.  It took us longer than 36 minutes today because our conductor had a lot to say and I think the beautiful day had something to do with it too.

The scenery as we went up the mountain.

This is the track that the trains run on.

After about fifty minutes we reached the top of Mt. Washington and our first thought was "darn its cold up here!"

And windy!

Our first stop was the visitors center.  This is a large building, mostly windows for the view, that houses the visitor information desk, a snack bar, a museum, showers and changing facilities for the hikers and a post office for the mountain top that has its own zip code.

We're at 6228 feet above sea level here.  All that can be seen from this mountaintop, save for 60 acres of private land and a state park are part of the White Mountain National Forest.  Its ironic that back home we live in the White Mountains.

These pictures are views from different areas of the mountain top.

The color in the picture below is from the trees changing colors.

We could have driven up the mountain to get here, which we didn't know, but then we would have missed the train ride,,,,and those uncomfortable seats!

That white strip you see in the picture below are clouds that are below us.