Last month, my son and I headed up to the White Mountains for a couple of days to celebrate Father's Day (I had been traveling in June). It's funny, I have lived in New England for 24 years but hadn't ever been to Mount Washington before and I am not sure why. We were planning to take the Mt. Washington Cog Railway the next day but, on a whim, decided to drive up the famed Mt. Washington Auto Road. I have driven quite the few mountain roads, but I never had to pay $29 to do so. Turns out that the auto road and the cog railroad are privately owned, or at least a 66-foot wide strip of land from the base of the mountain to its summit is. They were granted ownership in the mid-1850's. For the $29, you get a cd that you can listen to on your drive, a bumper sticker that reads "This car climbed Mount Washington", and some terrific views of the White Mountains.
The road climbs 4,618 feet to the summit, which is 6,145 feet above sea level. The average grade is somewhere around 11%. It was a really nice day and, when we got to the top, we got to watch some of the cog trains climb to the summit. I was a little surprised that the train consists of one car that is pushed by a locomotive up the mountain. To descend, they go backwards down the mountain. When the first one let off the passengers, I quickly got a few shots before different passengers hopped on for the ride back down.