The Mt. Washington Auto Road

On our way home Monday morning, we decided to drive up the Mt. Washington Auto Road. This is the highest mountain east of the Mississippi and north of the Carolinas at 6, 288 ft. For over 60 years, Mount Washington held the world record for the fastest wind gust ever recorded on earth- 231 miles per hour, recorded April 12, 1934! The average wind speed for the month of June is 27.6 mph, which is just about what it was when we were up there. It was in the 80s (Fahrenheit) when we started up and 55 at the summit. 

But, when we arrived we found out that that day was one of two days in the year when the road is open only to motorcycles...just our luck! They did have some guided tours available though, so thankfully we were able to go up anyway.

I didn't manage to get a good picture of this sign as we drove past, but it reads: "The Mt. Washington Auto Road is a steep, narrow mountain road with no guardrails. At mid-mountain, there is one mile of gravel road before returning to cement. If you have a fear of heights, you may not appreciate this driving experience. Guided tours are available."  

We had over an hour to wait before our ride up the mountain, but there was plenty to do below as well. We enjoyed looking around the museum and seeing the old stage coaches that used to go up the mountain. They said it took about 4 hours to reach the summit in these, with 6 horses pulling.  I think it would have been much more fun than the vans they use now! 😁

Some beautiful Thyme-leaved Bluet (Houstonia serpyllifolia) growing outside the museum door. This was a common flower along the roadsides in many areas on our trip.

At last, we began the journey up! The road really wasn't as steep as we had anticipated. I enjoyed seeing the change in vegetation as we went up, from northern hardwood forest to boreal forest and finally to alpine. Our driver said there are some alpine flowers on Mt. Washington that grow nowhere else but in the Arctic. It was too early yet for many of them, but I did get glimpses of a few which I believe were Pincushion Plant (Diapensia lapponica) and Lapland Rosebay (Rhododendron lapponicum). Sadly, we weren't able to stop until we reached the summit because of the motorcycles so I couldn't see them closely or get pictures. 

The views were breathtaking all the way up! 

A nice view of Mt. Jefferson, the third highest mountain in NH at 5,712 ft. 

There were still quite a few patches of snow around in the higher elevations.

Near the treeline, all the trees were stunted and bent in one direction from the strong winds. 

We had an hour at the summit, which was all too short for me, even though it was a little chilly and I had forgotten my jacket. Here are some of the views from the top...it was hard to choose just a few to share! 😊 We could hardly have had a more perfect day! Notice the one building chained to the ground!