driving Mt Washington auto road (camping, dangerous, train)
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Hi everryone, I'm planning my anual camping trip to NH this summer. This year I was thinking about doing the Mt Washington auto road. Has anyone here done it before? Ive heard mixed reviews, but most say its dangerous and ruins your brakes and clutch. How true is that? I have no fear of hights, so thats not an issue. just worried about wear and tear on my car. Im not interested in the cog railway or the bus. I really want to drive it and go at my own pace. Im planning on going in late August. Any info you can give from your experience would be helpful . Thanks!
It's fine if you're a good driver. I've seen people wait to long to brake and smoke em up bad. Standards are best but you can use auto trans the same way. stay consistent and slow, you'll be fine.
I've been up and down with no problems. Alternate between using your brakes and downshifting (manual or automatic). Don't ride your brakes. Take your time. I think there's even a couple places you can stop (I recommend this).
I'm going to do the Cog Railway this year. To me that would be much more exciting than the auto road. Not cheap, but a unique experience for sure.
Mmmm, taken the bike on it twice, once during an all motorcycle event and the other with four wheeled traffic, it's not a hard road at all, low gear and common sense
Every two years, there is a hill climb race on Mt. Washington. There should be a race event this year. It's called Climb to the Clouds and it's sponsored by Subaru.
I have a 5 speed, so that should help .. but what is the grade like? is it steep all the way? I checked it out on Google Earth but I couldn't get a good representation of the grade. I did see a few pull offs though. And also .. what is the traffic like on it? will I be in a line of cars or will I have some room to breath? thanks
I have a 5 speed, so that should help .. but what is the grade like? is it steep all the way? I checked it out on Google Earth but I couldn't get a good representation of the grade. I did see a few pull offs though. And also .. what is the traffic like on it? will I be in a line of cars or will I have some room to breath? thanks
As to traffic, much of that depends on when you go It is steep in sections but not so much that there should be any issues, much of the road is gravel though so be prepared for that, there are no guard rails but as mountain roads go it has had extremely few fatalities or crashes in it's long history. I will admit I did have trouble the first time leaving a turn off, but that was with a Harley Sportster of 80's vintage, my Honda Shadow has both a torque and horsepower advantage over that bike. And I did both riding two up with my wife.
If you chicken out on the road, take the cog railway... It's awesome! Especially if you get the first one in the morning which pushes the train up the mountain with a steam engine.
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