Before leaving for work this morning I decided I would spend the bulk of the weekend in the White Mountains and quickly packed my backpack for a 2 night excursion.  I left work at noon and drove first to Franconia Notch where I stopped for a little photography at the Basin.

I continued on to the Mount Washington Cog Railway, the world’s first mountain-climbing rack-and-pinion railway and a National Historic Engineering Landmark. The three mile railway is the second steepest rack railway in the world with an average grade of over 25% and a maximum grade of 37.41%.  Unfortunately, I arrived too late for the last run and had to settle for photos of the descending trains.

I decided to treat myself to a nice dinner in advance of several camp site prepared meals (read dehydrated food) at the famous Mount Washington Resort.

As I was enjoying their strawberry-balsamic soup from the veranda, I was treated to a full moon rising over the mountains. My final stop for the evening was the Zealand campsite.