New Hampshire, in New England, is defined by its quaint towns and large regions of wilderness. In the north, White Mountain National Forest is known for its extensive hiking trails and winter sports. We stayed on Twin Mountain and we took the Cog Train up Mount Washington. Mount Washington, called Agiocochook by some of the Native American tribes here, this is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at 6,288.2 ft and it is part of a line of summits, called the Presidential Range because they are named after U.S. presidents.
Mount Washington Cog Railway is the worlds first mountain climbing train, it uses a marsh rack system (rack and pinion)! It takes you on quite a ride, invented and built by New Hampshire native, Sylvester Marsh, and after nine years of planning and three years of construction, this unique railway opened on July 3, 1869. It is very slow and it takes about 45 minutes to reach the top of the mountain....but...what a view, it extends all the way to Vermont and on a clear day you can see the Atlantic Ocean! At one point the clouds rolled in so we were literally... up in the clouds!
The Appalachian Trail also crosses this mountain....The Appalachian Trail starts in Springer Mountain in Georgia and extends all the way to Mount Katahdin in Maine. The trail is about 2,200 miles long, so that makes it the longest hiking trail in the world, we walked on it for a short while, now I can say I walked the Appalachian Trail..LOL
The next day Pierre and I set out to do some hiking in Franconia Notch State Park and see some sights along the way! Franconia Notch State Park is located in the heart of the White Mountain National Forest, it has a spectacular mountain pass, which extends from the Flume Gorge at the south to Echo Lake at the north between the high peaks of the Kinsman and Franconia mountain ranges. Our first stop was the gondolas on the ski sloops on Cannon Mountain, they operate in the summer to take people up, it's not all the way to the top of the mountain, you have to hike up to the top from the ski station, but at the top they
do have a observation tower..it was breathtakingly beautiful, I stood in awe at the surrounding mountains! What a view!!
There are so many different fir trees up on the mountain..I thought it smelled like Christmas! But the trees at these elevations are short and sparse, because they are subject to high winds, a short growing season, low temperatures, and mostly the soil is just to well drained and it drains away all the nutrients. They even grow on the boulders!
do have a observation tower..it was breathtakingly beautiful, I stood in awe at the surrounding mountains! What a view!!
Next we wanted to see the Flume Gorge, it's about a 2 mile hike and this stunning natural wonder will leave you speechless, it is a natural gorge extending 800 feet at the base and the towering moss covered granite walls rise to a spectacular height of over 90ft. You walk along a wooden walkway and you can touch the walls of the gorge! Just think how old they are! The walk takes you through covered bridges, by a glacier pool that is crystal clear and by some of the largest boulders I have ever seen.....glaciers carried these house size boulders here and when the glaciers retreated, they left them behind!
We hiked the Artist bluff, Bald Mountain and up to where the face used to be...( this was a series of five granite cliff ledges that appeared to be the jagged profile of a face, it collapsed in 2003 and it dismayed so many people that they left flowers at the base of the cliff!) overlooking Echo Pond! I have to tell you, you have to be part Mountain Goat to hike these trails! They were brutal! But the views at top....SO WORTH IT...
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