August 7, 2008 – Mount Washington and the Cog Railway

The weather forecast today called for some breaks from the rain so even though it was cloudy, we headed to Mount Washington Cog Railway. We went thru the museum, had lunch, and watch the railcars go up and down the mountain. Around 1 PM, the clouds dissipated and there were the blue skies. So we took the 2 PM train to the top.

Pictures on the way to the top:







We are going into the fog:

The top:

The top of Mount Washington is in the fog about 300 days of the year and today was one of those days. We only had 20 minutes at the top so we just took a quick tour thru the building. The weather observatory was closed to the general public. There is a museum there but we did not have enough time. If the weather does clear out we may take the auto road to the top and check it out.

Interesting tidbits:

Mt. Washington holds the world record for wind speed: 231mph!
• This was recorded on April 12, 1934 atop the old Observatory.
• Hurricane-force winds occur, on average, 104 days per year.
• In winter, though, this typically occurs 3 out of every 4 days!
• Also in winter, 100mph winds usually occur every 3 days

How about that!

Pictures on the way down:



The whole trip was breathtaking – I am so glad that we did it.

Another historic site – The Mount Washington Hotel:

From the sign:
Bretton Woods Monetary Conference
In 1944, the United States government chose the Mount Washington Hotel as the site for a gathering of representatives from 44 countries. This was to be the famed Bretton Woods Monetary Conference. The Conference established the World Bank, set the gold standard at $35.00 an ounce, and chose the American dollar as the backbone of international exchange. The meeting provided the world with badly needed post war currency stability.

We learn something new every day…


As we headed back to camp, the rain started and continued so we picked up a pizza. I miss the campfires!!