White Mountain National Forest
The White Mountain National Forest is 750,852 acres of federally owned land. There is a difference between a National Park and a National Forest. Even though they are both owned by the federal government, are used for recreation such as hiking, biking, and skiing, everything in a National Park is protected, including the trees and land. So, if a tree falls in a National Park it can not be removed or even used for fire wood. The only time logs can be removed is if they are blocking a trail or road. In a National Forest, the trees can be sold for lumber and the land can be used for limited commercial use.
The White Mountain National Forest is primarily located in New Hampshire, with a small portion located in Maine. Land was being acquired and protected as early as 1914, but it wasn't established as a National Forest until 1918. It hosts the Highest Peak in New England- Mount Washington, and 100 miles of the Appalachian Trail.
Mount Washington Cog Railway and State Park
Founded and established by Sylvester Marsh, the Cog Railway made its first way to the top of Mount Washington on July 3, 1869. It was his dream to make an easier way for visitors to make it to the summit of Mount Washington. Today you can travel to the top of Mount Washington on the Cog Railway for $51 one way, which is what we did. A round trip ticket will cost you $72.
For us, we had the pleasure of sharing this experience with our college friend, Dave Mathies, and his kids Duncan and Ellery. We really missed seeing Dave's wife, Karen, but she couldn't make the trip from Vermont. "We'll plan a time to see you soon, Karen!"
Below I am sharing a stock photo of what the Cog Railway sometimes looks like going up Mount Washington. Below was our trip up the mountain, which is what the weather is actually like 90% of the time. Let's just say, I can now share first hand experience with my students what the inside of a cloud looks and feels like. ;-)
This is the stock picture of The Cog Railway and Mount Washington on a perfect day; 10% of the time you can find it this way. This was NOT our day...
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| Great day with good friends!! |
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| Doug and "Opie" go way back to Delta Chi days at Cal U. One of those relationships where we haven't seen each other in 4 years but picked up like it was yesterday! |
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| Heading up the mountain |
35 degree incline going up the mountain. The seats were actually tilted forward and hard to sit on until we started going up.
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| Half way there, still can't see the top |
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We made it to the top! Science Teacher observation, "It is very wet inside a cloud."
Mount Washington State Park is a 60 acre parcel at the top of Mount Washington, surrounded by the White Mountain National Forest. |
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| White Mountain is named for the white rocks that give the mountain caps a white appearance, on days you can actually see the top of the mountain. |
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Crossing the tracks on the Appalachian Trail! We hiked back down the mountain!
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Great view of the Cog Railway from our hike down the mountain.
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| Look we found a Moose! |
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| Say Cheese, Mr. Moose |
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| Ok- We've had our fun, it wasn't a real Moose. Just a stuffed one that the Cog Railway likes to use to fool its customers and the only moose we saw our whole entire trip. |
Chutters
The owners of the campsite told us we had to visit this little candy store called Chutters in Littleton, NH. It has the Guinness Book of World Record for the longest Candy Counter, which spans 112 feet but then they also have tables and tables of candy as well. We all had fun picking out our favorites.
The Flume Gorge
The Flume Gorge is part of the New Hampshire Park System and can be found at the base of Mount Liberty. Our goal for the day was to see waterfalls and covered bridges. We don't normally like to pay to hike but after our trip down Mount Washington we were tired and The Flume Gorge offered everything we were looking for.
We decided to buy a discovery pass, $30 a person, which included a day at The Flume Gorge. The walking tour was approximately 2 miles along paths, boardwalks, and stairs, but the park was a lot larger than that and we could have spent more time there. The Discovery Pass also includes a visit to Cannon Mountain Aerial Tramway (more of that later). I just have to say, it was worth the money!
The weather here was absolutely crazy, we ran our heat most nights and windows open during the day. After the cold rainy day on Mount Washington, we woke up to cool but sunny skies the next day (note jeans and sweat shirt) but as we hiked through The Flume the humidity and heat went up....
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| Into The Flume.... |
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| Pictures don't do it justice. |
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| Rainbow waterfall |
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| Mt. Liberty, Mt. Flume, Mt Osseo |
Cannon Mountain Aerial Tramway
Since we didn't see much from the top of Mount Washington, we felt a trip to the top of Cannon Mountain was a good investment. Turned out to be a beautiful day for it. We left The Flume, 75 degrees, and drove the 7 miles to the base of Cannon Mountain, 63 degrees, and arrived at the top of Cannon Mountain, 42 degrees.
Cannon Mountain is one of the premier places to ski in the winter, and is where Olympic Gold Medalist and World Cup Champion, Bode Miller, learned to ski.
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| And away we go... |
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| It was very windy and cold up at the observation tower. The man who took this for us was wearing a kilt, burrr. |
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| This is one of the Aerial Trams making its decent back down the mountain. |
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| An original Aerial Tram |
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| The view from the base but the tram goes over that ridge and keeps on climbing. |
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| Small museum at the base of the mountain, where Bode Miller donated his medals. |
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| Bode Miller's 2 silver from Salt Lake in 2002, and his Gold, Silver and Bronze from Vancouver 2010. |
Thus ends our time in the White Mountain National Forest. It was filled was good friends, great hiking, and wonderful memories.
Now onto Canada where we will visit Quebec and the 1000 Islands. Hope you have been enjoying our tour of New England.
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