July 19 - Enjoying the Ride: Mount Washington
What a fantastic day! The wind in my face, the miles on the road, and the adventures I encountered breathed life into me. It really is true that “It’s about the ride, not the destination.” My destination today was Mount Washington, the highest peak in the northeast. I had hiked up that peak almost exactly 32 years ago and was hoping to see some spectacular mountain views from the top. Today there was a dense cloud cover and no views, but I ended up having a remarkable adventure anyway on my ride up and down the mountain.
From Hermon Maine I headed west on Highway 2 into New Hampshire. It was a gloriously blissful ride despite the rain because there were no sections with road construction, no toll booths, and no semis. Instead, the road wound its way across rivers, streams, and lakes and through one little picturesque town after another. There were tractors in front yards, chickens in the street, and numerous signs warning “Moose Crossing.” I think my favorite moment was when I passed a young Amish man driving his horse and buggy and he smiled at me and my bike and gave me a thumbs up.
I stopped for pizza in the town of Gorham, New Hampshire and then continued another 50 miles on backroads to the Mount Washington Cog Railway station. I had originally hoped to drive my bike up to the top of the mountain. But I decided to take the train instead since there was almost no visibility and the rain of the last two days may have wiped out significant portions of the dirt part of the road.
The funny thing is, the train ended up being the best part of the mountain experience. It’s kind of like when you buy your kids presents for Christmas and they end up having more fun playing with the boxes and wrapping paper. The train itself was a coal-powered steam engine! It was hard for me to believe that such a thing still existed, but I spoke with the man who shoveled the large pile of coal at the back of the train and he even opened the door to the oven to show me the burning embers (see photo above). As we took off up the mountain a girl sitting next to me was getting frustrated by the pieces of debris landing on her and I commented “well, at least you can say that none of your other friends have had coal dust landing on them today.” She and her mom both laughed.
The view through the door at the front of the train was spectacular. I could see the mountain looming above me, the cog railway itself, the vegetation surrounding it, and the small train in front of us. As we climbed over 3000 feet in the train built in the late 1800’s, the conductor regaled us with stories about the train and the mountain and the people who have experienced the extreme weather conditions present on Mount Washington. For instance, the world record for fastest recorded wind speed (over 200 miles an hour) was measured on Mount Washington.
When we got to the top, I took a picture of myself at the summit in the same place I stood over three decades ago after a day-long strenuous and dangerous hike. While we were all exploring the mountain top, the train staff was busy turning all of our seats around. So, whereas I was at the back of the train going up the hill, my seat going down the mountain was now at the front of the train. The trip down the mountain was in some ways more spell binding than the one going up with the conductor right in front of me vividly describing how he was manually applying the brakes to keep us from putting too much pressure on the engine.
As I left Mount Washington for the small town of Alton, New Hampshire and my next Bunk a Biker host the sky started to peak through the dense cloud cover and I began to see more of the mountainous terrain around me. What a day!
