Our adventure was to ride a cog train up to the summit of Mt. Washington. A cog train is literally means cogs are under the passenger car (and engine!) and it fits, as it turns, into the cog track. An engine "pushes" it up at speeds of about 2 1/2 miles per hour with the average grades up to 25 % and the steepest about 37.5%!! Our brakeman/guide was quite knowledgeable and funny. He asked if we knew why the trees grew so crooked, and I was thinking it was because of the extreme wind, but the trees were growing fine, it was US that was that angled!! Someone asked if there are any moose and it fed right into his line, "Well, we do sometimes, and, Oh, My, there is one now!" Of course the entire car stands up and looks to the right (Cheryl is thinking, "NO, we'll flip off the track!" but the lure of moose was too great and she stood too!) and there it was!! A really big stuffed one! Too funny. He laughed too and said it had been "napping" yesterday, next to where it was standing today.
This cog train has been working and transporting tourists since 1868!! They have their own in-house crew for maintenance and even developing and building their own bio-diesel engines! The day was a good one as it was only 42 degrees on top and only 40 miles per hour winds! Yesterday apparently it was much colder, much foggier and 60 MPH wind gusts!! He said many days are really foggy so passengers don't really see as far as we did.
It was so pretty! It was really busy up there with earlier cars going up and the Appalachian Trail crossed over there so there were hikers resting and eating and shopping in the restaurant/gift shop. We wandered around carefully as it was really windy and even ventured up a precarious pile of rocks to get our picture taken at the summit. It was so windy (Did we mention how windy this was?) that it was hard to stand there while a young weekend camper took our picture. We, in turn, took his. He said it had taken him 3-4 hours to hike up. The guide "in training" on our car said the same, and it was "brutal" as he wasn't an experienced hiker. The guide also said this was a strenuous part of the Appalachian Trail due to the wind and rocks.
The mountain itself is part of the White Mountains and we learned it was due to the mica in all the rocks. All the rocks were really sparkly so we could see how it would look white!! Apparently there was a flooding "incident" this last fall which washed out the bridge but to luck the weather was warm enough in February to get a new one installed. It was so interesting. Riding down was weird as our legs "dangled" do the angle of the car! The car and engine aren't really connected except while parked. The engine "nudges" the car and the engine controls the descent as well.
After that excursion, we decided to head back and tackle the falls we didn't get to yesterday, Arethusa Falls. We had to figure out parking first and then hiked up an asphalt road to get to the trail head. Immediately it was obvious that the clothes we wore for the summit were too warm for this hike. Cheryl stripped off her jacket but Andrew made due.
It was a rocky, rooty, leafy hike but the falls at the end were amazing. They are in the Crawford Notch State Park and there were many people and dogs of various sizes and ages tackling this hike today. Babies snuggled in backpacks, little ones leaping ahead and even older than us folks doing what we do best, the "steady and slow" method. Some young 'uns were effortlessly leaping and running; Cheryl has never been able to leap and run in the woods. :( Andrew does a really good pace as he's much less klutzy but we kept a good pace. Up and over and around and up some more and up some more over boulders and rocks and roots and more, about 900 feet elevation UP in 1.5 miles. Then it levels out sort of and then we came upon a bridge that had been recently washed out. Hmm. what to do. We figured out one way around and kept on plugging on. Another bridge, this one intact, and more steps but these are wood and rocks. We then had to walk down the pretty steep path and ..... wow!! Lots of people but a waterfall that is 140 feet tall! The sun is just at the right angle for making it glisten and look magical as it falls and continues on its journey downstream.
We descended fairly quickly, faster than some, slower than most. Cheryl, due to her klutziness, has to watch each and every step but it was good. It's really hard to describe these falls, and the pictures really don't do it justice. We do have a video or two if you stop in once we are back.
When we came upon the washed out bridge, we looked it over and decided we could could step around the debris carefully enough. Andrew was on one side, and Cheryl the other. Andrew then lay himself on the debris, causing a momentary pause of some hikers happening by. Who knows what they thought!! :) It was all in good fun.
We stopped for a quick bowl of soup and lobster roll, this one a hot one. Little known facts about Andrew and Cheryl: Andrew likes his lobster roll cold whereas Cheryl likes hers hot. Interesting. The lobster bisque was amazing as all lobster bisque is.
Our destination was somewhere near Portland, Maine, state #48!! We found a large but wooded campground on a marsh near Kennebunkport. It is set up with a heated, saltwater pool, and different group camping areas. Some RVs looked hunkered down for longer stays but our site was good and had electricity and water. AND the bugs weren't too bad. You never know! It was not overly busy but the gentleman who checked us in said they were very busy over the weekend. We took the bikes out for a trip around the site. Good ride!
Interesting side note: As we drive, and our Google GPS tracks us into and out of many neighborhoods, we wonder about the beautiful houses. They are wooden, either siding or shingles but they all look really good! Do they paint every year? or do they have some really good paint? There were very few that needed attention of paint. The trim and everything, painted perfection. And the flowers, lovely!!
Tomorrow, Portland.
Nighty, night.
No comments:
Post a Comment