Wednesday, June 14: Franconia Notch & Mt Washington Cog Railway
The first plan of the day was to walk through Franconia Notch. Kaylyn and I did this eleven years ago, and loved it. However, Lydia's current hobble/hop is not compatible with a walk through a gorge. I stayed "home" at the cottage with Lydia and Tobias; Greg, Kaylyn, Chris and Etta Grace took on the gorge.
Workers first built a walkway through the gorge in the 1860s. When I walked through it with Kaylyn, I tried to imagine how the men managed to hang a walkway off a sheer cliff face, with a gushing stream below. And in those days, the soles of shoes were leather. Think of how slippery that was compared to today's non-skid soles!
Kaylyn:
What started as a rainy and cold morning developed into perfect hiking weather - 60 and mostly cloudy with the sun making it's way through. While the path was well kept, wide, and gravel, the hike was fairly impressive! Chris relieved me of wearing Etta half way through, but Dad and I still lagged behind Chris' impressive stamina. We walked through dense forest and lush greenery with the sound of wind in the leaves and distant water. In 90 minutes we hiked 2.14 miles, climbed an elevation of 400 feet, and averaged a 36-minute-mile. The elevation added some extra challenge for our lungs!
Along the trail were various nooks and crannies, the "Bear Cave" (no bears; I checked), and streams of water. The park service had put considerable effort into diverting any small streams in piping under the path to prevent erosion. Dad judged the types of screws used for the wood fencing, and discussed the merits of stainless steel vs. the cost of labor when regular steel rusts and needs replaced. The power of water never ceases to amaze; the mighty river rushed over large rocks and boulders cutting it's ragged path, slowly ceasing to a calmer river over flat rocks. Next time we'll hike up the flume, instead of down, but we all enjoyed the peaceful hike, interrupted only minutes by the roar of the 5th graders as we crossed paths.
Mt. Washington Cog Railway by Lydia:
It was a nice temperature [around 60] when we got to the station and parked. The station had a small museum which had some history information. My ankle had healed enough that I could limp and not have to use the crutches.
They started boarding our train at about 1:45. All the trains were cog trains, which means that they had a gear which helped push the train up the steep mountain. The seats were tilted forward so that we were parallel to the ground as we went. The train engine pushed the car. [Note that conventional train tracks are ideally a 1.5% grade, never more than a 4% grade. The cog railway grade averages a 25% grade and is as steep as 38% grade.]
[In this photo you can see the track in the bottom left corner going up at a steep angle. The house is level. That is how steep the track is as it passes the half-way house.]
The further up the mountain we went the shorter the trees got. At the base of the mountain they were normal-size, but the higher and colder we got the shorter they were. At the top any trees that were growing were only three feet tall max and were 100 to 150 years old! There weren't very many; it was mostly rocks and tundra grass, but it was really pretty.
The sun was behind clouds, but when it peeked its face out the mica rock on the rocks shimmered and shined. That is why these mountains are called the White Mountains, because the mica shines and can be seen as a white light from far away!
There was also still snow on the mountain. We saw three patches on the way up and one really big one, too. At the peak we got off of the train into the cold, windy air and walked over to see the peak of Mt. Washington. On some rocks was a pile of man-stacked rocks to create the peak. It was surprisingly easy to climb the pile of rocks up to the stack with my sprained ankle!
Then we looked at the view. It was astonishing. We were so high (6,288 feet). There were mountains on all sides. All of them were covered in lush green tiny trees. There were layers and layers of peaks and beauty. The sunny sky touching the land was breathtaking as the rocks piled upon rocks with shining mica. No camera can capture the beauty of God's creation.
After admiring the breath-taking mountains, we headed inside and got some souvenirs, hot chocolate and a whoopie pie. Yummy!
On the way down the seats had been turned around and we were sitting back more so that on the way down we were parallel to the ground. I sat on the other side of the train. Past some mountains and a small lake was the state of Maine. It was an extremely steep drop, not for the faint of heart, but it was just as pretty. We saw a snow patch that last year didn't melt until after July 4th. That just tells you how cold it is up there. [The highest temperature ever recorded on Mt. Washington was 74. Just a few weeks ago there was still 14" of snow. Mt. Washington is famous for having the worst weather in the world.]
Children's Activity
The Appalachian Trail crosses the top of Mt. Washington. It runs 2,200 miles from Georgia to Maine passing through 14 states. Each year about 3,000 people attempt to hike the entire trail, only about 25% of those succeed.Where the trail cannot be laid out in an obvious manner because the terrain is so rocky, cairns are constructed. These are stone piles spaced along the trail to guide the hiker. We saw these on Mt. Washington.
The first woman to hike the trail the entire distance was Grandma Gatewood. She was 67 years old in 1955 when she decided to hike the trail. She wore sneakers, bought another pair when she wore each pair out, and carried a cloth bag with a change of clothes and a blanket. Most hikers have special hiking boots and equipment. Her hike is a remarkable story.
Please enjoy one of the two children's books about her, Grandma Gatewood Hikes the Appalachian Trail or When Grandma Gatewood Took a Hike. Both are in the Monarch Library system in Ozaukee County. Greg and I read the adult book of her story, and it is really remarkable - easy to read and an amazing tribute to setting a goal and achieving it.
I've been up Mount Washington, too! It was extremely windy the time I was there!
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