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Showing posts from September 25, 2011

Worst Weather in the World

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I flew up to Maine to see my sister and cousins for a few days. As part of the trip we went up Mount Washington in NH. We went up on the Cogged Railway. It's A unique old vehicle system that only uses a large cog underneath the engine hooked into a ladder type of rack on the tracks all the way to the top. The modern engine uses a 600HP John Deere driving a hydraulic pump which in turn drives several hydraulic motors turning the large cog. Mt Washington is known for the extreme cold and highest wind in the world. Yes, the world. That was not the case when we went up. The winds were 3 MPH and the temp was 62 degrees. the highest ever temp ever recorded was 72 degrees and a 3 MPH wind is generally unheard of. So, the weather was quite kind for us.
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Another week gone. It is still getting into the low 80s in Duluth during the day. The leaves are just starting to change. I have been studying for my aviation tests (some I have to take again since they expired (sigh)). I hiked the next segment on the Appalachian trail. Some of the trees are absolutely spectacular. Some of these areas are old growth and the areas have never been logged. I found this interesting "h" tree. It was quite unique (and close enough to the trail) to ponder others who have seen the tree. Sure enough a google got the following result: The "h" tree. This tree is a few miles from anywhere. However, the uniqueness of it has brought it notoriety. The views are getting better as the trail gets into the taller mountains. I was on the trail about 6 hours. It felt like an hour or two, max.