Hikers have many routes up Mount Washington, I have written reports of trips up the Ammonoosuc Ravine-Jewell Trail loop and the Great Gulf Trail, as well as a trip up Mt. Washington in winter.
For those who would rather not hike there are three ways up Mount Washington: the Mount Washington Cog Railway which climbs from the west, and the Mount Washington Auto Road from the east, where you can either drive up yourself or take a guided tour with the Summit Stage.
In late July 2003 the Appalachian Trail Conference (ATC) held its biennial conference in Waterville Valley, New Hampshire. There were a large number of workshops, hikes and sightseeing trips arranged, most of which were led by volunteers from the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC), the local host. As a trip leader with the Club I was asked, amongst other things, to lead a sightseeing tour up Mount Washington by the Summit Stage.
I am a hiker, and the idea of going up a mountain in a van did not appeal to me initially. But someone had to do it, it would be a novel experience, and would be free! So I signed up.
On Thursday, July 31st I met the two couples who were coming on the trip. One couple was from Florida, they were attending the Conference to prepare for a planned thru hike after they retired in a couple of years. The other couple, from Virginia, had been to several ATC Conferences. All of them had done a bit of hiking earlier in the week, but felt that Mount Washington was more of a hike than they wanted. The drive (we all fit in my car) was long, about 65 miles each way.
We reached the Auto Road base station around 9:30. There were high clouds, but the short range visibility was good, and we could see the whole northern Presidentials from the parking lot: Mounts Washington, Clay, Adams and Madison. After a short wait we were on our way up the mountain in the specially designed vans the company uses.
On our drive up the mountain the driver talked about the history of the Auto Road, its maintenance, and a bit of natural history, pointing out the different vegetation zones as we passed through them. He did not mention any of the hiking trails that intersect the road, but I was on the lookout for them.
Both the Auto Road and Cog Railway expect that you will go down with the same van or train that you went up with, and that leaves little time on the summit: half and hour with the Summit Stage and a mere twenty minutes with the Cog Railway. We did the usual things: went to the true summit for pictures beside the sign, then to the observation deck for the views. In spite of the clouds the visibility was adequate for the adjoining areas on New Hampshire. Then a quick trip to the Sherman Adams building, with rest rooms, cafeteria and gift shop.
The drive down was much the same as the drive up. We did not stop at any of the numerous scenic pullouts, our driver pointed out that one of their uses is to let overheated brakes cool down. Our van had a specially constructed engine, and most of the time the brakes were not needed, the gears kept the speed down.
My companions enjoyed the trip very much, and that was the
objective. The views from the top are the same whether you drive up
or hike up, but for me the satisfaction of having hiked up was
missing.