Mount Washington

Highest Peak In The Northeastern United States (6,288 Feet). The Summit Is Mount Washington State Park, Run By The New Hampshire Division Of Parks And Recreation, Inside The White Mountain National Forest; Reached By The Privately Operated Mount Washington Auto Road (1861) And The Mount Washington Cog Railway (1869). · Gorham, New Hampshire

The highest peak in the northeastern United States at 6,288 feet, and the mountain that made its name on weather. On April 12, 1934 the Mount Washington Observatory recorded a gust of 231 miles per hour on the summit - the fastest surface wind ever measured until 1996, and still the record for the Northern and Western Hemispheres. Storm tracks converge on the Presidential Range, the summit sits in cloud on most days, and hurricane-force winds blow on roughly a hundred days a year. Yet it is also one of the most visited summits in the country, because you do not have to climb it: the Mount Washington Auto Road has carried visitors 7.6 miles up the east side since 1861, and the Mount Washington Cog Railway, the first mountain-climbing cog railway in the world, has pushed trains up the west side since 1869. The top is a small state park with a visitor center, the 1853 Tip-Top House and the observatory, ringed by the alpine zone of the White Mountain National Forest. Hikers come for Tuckerman Ravine and the Crawford Path; spring skiers come for the ravine's headwall.

1 Mount Washington Auto Road, Route 16, Pinkham Notch, Gorham, New Hampshire, 03581, United States

Mount Washington Auto Road: usually open to private cars from mid-May to late October, weather permitting, roughly 8 am to 5 or 6 pm in high summer with shorter hours in spring and autumn; the last car is allowed up well before closing, and the upper half can close at any hour for wind, ice or fog while the lower half stays open. Guided van tours run through the same season. Cog Railway: trains to the summit roughly from late April or May through November on a fixed timetable, and shorter trips to a mid-mountain station in winter. Summit state park and the Sherman Adams Visitor Center: roughly late May to mid-October only; there are NO public services, no food and no open building on top in winter. Hiking trails are open all year, but winter above treeline is mountaineering, not hiking. Verify every date for the year you travel - all of them move with the weather.

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