The star attraction of the White Mountains’ Presidential Range, 6,288-foot Mt. Washington stands head and shoulders above every other peak in New England. East of the Mississippi, only Mt. Mitchell in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge and Clingman’s Dome in Tennessee’s Great Smokies are taller. Despite its natural defenses—such as notoriously fierce storms that arise without warning—Mt. Washington is accessible to an almost unfortunate degree. The Mount Washington Auto Road (daily, weather permitting, May to mid-Oct.; $18 car and driver, $7 each additional adult; 603/466-3988) was first opened for carriages in 1861, and still switchbacks up the eastern side, climbing some 4,700 feet in barely eight miles. A marvel of engineering, construction, and maintenance, the Mount Washington Auto Road offers a great variety of impressions of the mountain, and wonderful views from almost every turn.
If the weather’s clear, you can see the Atlantic Ocean from the top of the mountain; in summer, mornings tend to be clearer, and sunny afternoons turn cloudy and stormy on the summit, complete with lightning and thunder. At the top, be prepared for winter weather any time of year (it can and does snow here every month of the year), and be sure to have a look inside the Summit House, which has displays on the historic hotels and taverns that have graced the top over the years. Visited by hundreds of people every day throughout the summer, since the 1850s the summit of Mt. Washington has sprouted a series of restaurants and hotels—even a daily newspaper. The most evocative remnant of these is the tiny, recently restored Tip Top House, “the oldest mountaintop hostelry in the world,” still open for tours, if not food and drink (which is available, dully and expensively, in the Summit House cafeteria).
Cyclists and runners regularly race each other up the road to the summit, but there is another “easy” ride to the top: the Mount Washington Cog Railway, which climbs slowly but surely on its steam-powered, coal-fired way, straight up and down the mountain’s western slope from Bretton Woods (see below for more).
Along the northeast side of the White Mountains, between Grafton Notch and Mt. Washington, the Appalachian Trail parallels the Great Northern route of US-2.
