New England Trip

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Today, we slept late, hoping that Steve would feel better after some rest.

The campground is quite “rustic” – the bathhouse’s electrical system consists of orange extension cords stapled to the walls. The showers are on timers – 5 minutes hot water for a quarter, but you can have all the cold water you want. We saw coin-operated showers out west, but this is the first time we’ve seen them around here.

Since a cold front with rain and storms is forecast for Thursday, we decided to drive down to the White Mountains today. We took a toll road (the “Auto Road”) to the top of Mount Washington (and the Mount Washington State Park) – about 7 miles long with an average grade of 12%. On the way up, we saw a small black bear crossing the road. At about 3,000 ft. elevation, the trees became stunted – gnarled conifers averaging about 3 ft. high.. According to a CD tour given to us at the start, some are over 100 years old. At about 4,500 feet, we reached the tree line. From there to the top, the mountain is just rocks covered with lichen interspersed with moss and grasses growing in gravelly soil.

At the top we saw the Tip Top House – a hostel built in 1853 consisting of a dining/sitting room, a bedroom with 9 curtained shelves stacked 3 high for sleeping – like Pullman berths. The berths did not appear to be over 6 feet long. The fee at that time was $4 per night but it amounted to a month’s wages for most folks.

At the weather station, we saw the summit forecast for tonight – low in the low 40s with winds becoming 35 to 50 mph. The highest recorded wind was around 230 mph in the 1930s. We saw the building John told us about that is chained to the ground so it won’t blow away. While we were there, the weather was pretty mild – alternating sun and fog with 15 – 20 mph winds and temperature around 55.

Wicket went with us and enjoyed his day out of kennel. We have had to leave him in the motor home for all of our previous excursions. When he goes along, he never fails to generate smiles from passers-by.

We saw many people who had hiked up the mountain. Our friend Sally Brooking probably could (or has) run up. (Have you, Sal?) The Acura required 1st gear both up and down.

We took a scenic drive back to the campground, where we fixed some left-over spaghetti and salad. Canada is picky about what food you can bring in so we are tying to empty our larder of fresh meat and vegetables.

The other campers here seem to mostly be local North Country folks. At dusk (around 9:30 pm), there are 8-10 swimmers in the lake, both children and adults. The air temperature is 63 degrees and the water temperature can’t be much higher.

Three pictures of Mount Washington follow – the stunted growth below the tree line, the rocky surface above the tree line, and a view from the summit: