![]() Climbing at an average gradient of 12 percent, the narrow road begins benignly through woodlands, with occasional valley views. Ascending more than 4,500 feet from the base to the summit, the 7.6-mile road is not for the faint of heart. Washington Auto Road is America's oldest continuously operating tourist attraction. Washington Auto RoadĬompleted in 1861, the Mt. Official site: Accommodation: Where to Stay in Franconiaģ. ![]() Franconia Notch has miles of hiking trails a campground and Echo Lake State Park, with a beautiful sandy beach and boat rentals. The short Rim Trail to the observation tower offers spectacular views straight down into the floor of the notch.Ī notch is a pass that was carved through a mountain range by retreating glaciers, and Franconia is one of the biggest notches in New Hampshire's White Mountains. On clear days, you can see New Hampshire's Presidential Range and mountains in Vermont, New York, and even Canada. The first aerial tramway in North America, the Cannon Mountain Aerial Tramway carried its first passengers to the 4,080-foot summit high above Franconia Notch in 1938. Follow signs to The Basin, where the now benign Pemigewasset River still continues the process begun 10,000 years ago. When the mile-high sheet of ice that formed the notch melted, torrents of water raged down this valley, carving a 20-foot smooth-bottomed depression into the solid granite of the mountain. Its walls rise 70 to 80 feet above the brook that flows through it, and you can follow it on a boardwalk just feet above the water. The Flume Gorge, in Franconia Notch State Park, is an 800-foot-long crack in the rock at the base of Mount Liberty. The Flume Gorge and Franconia Notch The Flume Gorge, Franconia Notch State Park Official site: Accommodation: Top Resorts in New HampshireĢ. There you can enjoy the sweeping views, and sip hot chocolate in the warming huts or around a fire pit.Īddress: 3168 Base Station Road, Marshfield Station, New Hampshire The Cog Railway only ascends to the summit between May and October, but in the winter, you can ride as far as the Waumbek Station, an Alpine meadow at 4,000 feet elevation. ![]() In 1934, the world record wind speed was recorded here. Those who long for the nostalgia of an authentic coal-fired steam engine train, can reserve the steamer special morning departures from late May through late October.Īt the top, the Sherman Adams Visitors Center houses a small museum a cafeteria and the Mount Washington Observatory, a research station that studies extreme weather conditions, for which the mountain is notorious. The easiest way to reach the top of Mount Washington, the highest elevation in the northern Appalachians at more than 6,000 feet, is on the steep Cog Railway that has been carrying tourists since it opened, the first of its kind in the world, in 1869. On a clear day, the view from the summit of Mount Washington spans four states on a cloudy day, you may be able to look down on the tops of clouds while the summit is in sunlight.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |