Trail Report - 4/1/10 - Mount Washington Auto Road - Pinkham Notch, New Hampshire

- Trailhead: Route 16, 2 miles north of Wildcat Ski Area

- Riders: Teri, OMMB

- Distance: 7.6 miles

- Weather: Clear & cool, wind speed 16 mph (luckily very low)

- Temp: 61 at base, 46 at summit

- Trail Conditions: tar...all the way up

- Technical Level: extreme hill climbing skills needed

- Climb: grade averages 12 percent, 22 percent in final yards before the 6288-foot summit (highest peak in Northeast)

- Wildlife: 2 mountain goats, a rare sight!

- Whoops, Yikes, and Oh Sheets: no issues climbing, luckily we were not allowed to descend

Notes: Last night we found out that the mountain road is open to bike riders each year on 1 April.  So, knowing that the sun was finally going to shine today, we drove up to Mt Washington this morning.  We arrived at the mountain around 10:30, checked in at the gate, and got ready to climb.  The ride took a brutal 3.5 hours but the views along the route and at the summit were unbelievable!!  Although a decent would have been wild, we were happy to ride back down on the cog railway (http://www.thecog.com/).

Tidbits: 

1) I recommend attempting this ride whenever possible, great way to prepare for the West Coast rides...be sure to bring PLENTY of water and high protein food source

2) The highest wind speed ever recorded was on Mount Washington (231 mph)

3) Be sure to stop at Flatbread's in North Conway on the way home...awesome brick oven pizza!

http://www.mountwashingtonautoroad.com/

Happy Trails,

OMMB

APRIL FOOLS !!!!!