Cog Trains, Mountain Vistas and Waterfalls

Thursday began bright and early with a trip to the Mt. Washington Cog Train for a journey up to the peak – well sort of! When I arrived at the base of Mt. Washington, the 2nd highest peak east of the Mississippi and the highest in the Northeast at 6288 Ft., I found out the Cog train would only be going up 3/4 of the way. They were doing some maintenance work at the top and wanted to avoid tourists. Oh well, not a problem. I would get to ride on the first cog train designed to climb a mountain. It was really a great experience and very interesting. Check it out at 

https://www.thecog.com/.

On the way, we passed the Appalachian Trail and saw the stone cairns marking the trail since at that altitude, there are no trees. Unlike the West where I usually roam, the treeline here is at around 5000 feet. This is due to the extreme weather that hits Mt. Washington. A wind gust of 231 mph was recorded at the summit in 1934 and was the world record until a typhoon hit Australia in 1996 with a gust of 253 mph. And it can get really could here. Earlier this year they recorded a temperature of minus 35 degrees with the windchill at 90 below zero! Needless to say, it was a balmy 40 degrees or so with very little wind as we reached just below the summit. Great views, an interesting trip and a piece of history experienced.

After departing Mt. Washington, I set out in search of waterfalls. After a short drive and fairly short yet definitely not flat trek, I arrived at Ripley Falls. This beautiful falls was well worth the hike. A wonderful relaxing place to spend the afternoon!