Mount Washington Golf & The Cog Railway

by Amy Patenaude
Outdoor/Ski Writer

The Mount Washington Course at the Omni Mount Washington Resort in Bretton Woods hosted the New Hampshire Golf Associations Women’s Team Championship last week. The second annual championship was a two day, 36-hole best ball event.
Sharon, my golfing and hiking friend, and I decided to sign up. I knew we didn’t need any luck to have a great time playing golf. An added bonus was that we had friends playing in the event too.
We stayed in Franconia,some stayed at the Mount Washington Hotel and others rented condos near the other Bretton Woods golf course, the nine-hole Mount Pleasant Golf Course.
We were paired with friends for the first tee time at 8 am and the sky was cloudy. But it didn’t take long for the clouds to burn off and present the fabulous Presidential Mountain Range high above us that framed the lush green fairways. Sometimes I had a hard time focusing because I was daydreaming about being up on the mountaintops.
On the 5th hole, par 3, our team and the other pair in our foursome parred the hole. We were in a good mood as we made our way to the 6th tee past the back of the grand Mount Washington Hotel. This long par 5 fairway shares the big vista with the Hotel and points straight like a gun barrel right at Mount Washington. The day was clear and The Cog Railway was easy to see.

My mind wandered and thinking out loud I said, “We should take The Cog to the summit after golf today.” I was delighted that my friends agreed it might be a good idea. Then it was back to playing golf.
The fairways and greens were in good condition and there was no sign of moose taking a walk on the course but we did see wild turkeys.
Between holes I pointed out and named all the mountains that Sharon and I had hiked together. Sharon would recall a fun memory from each hike. Not our usual golf talk and the 18 holes went by quickly.
We ate a yummy lunch on the Clubhouse’s patio and watched the rest of the field putt out on the 18th green. I used the free wifi and my cellphone to study The Cog’s schedule and I was happy to see that there were still tickets left for the last excursion of the day leaving at 2:30. Advanced ticket purchases are strongly recommended and can be done right online at their website, TheCog.com.

We were doubly lucky to get tickets because the train did sell-out and that our assigned seats were all together. We had plenty of time to pick up our tickets and use the restrooms-there are no bathrooms on the train but there are restrooms in the visitor center on the summit – but not enough extra time to visit their museum, gift shop or to enjoy refreshments before boarding our train. Next time.
The train cars are heated in cold weather but it was sunny and hot. The conductor joked that he would turn on the air conditioning when the train was higher on the mountain. I am not sure how many people got the joke that nature would be cooling the train via the open windows.
This is the 150th anniversary of The Mountain Washington CogRailway. As the train pushed our car up the mountain the conductor narrated our ride, our adventure up the mountain. We learned about the history of The Cog and the White Mountains, all the while we enjoyed the view out the train car’s window.
I can’t remember who said that they now knew why Mount Washington was called “The Rock Pile.” we laughed that Captain Obvious would be proud, the mountain above treeline looks like a big pile of rocks.
The Cog adventure is an hour ride up and an hour to explore the summit and then another hour to ride back down. The trains run on a tight schedule and we were warned not to miss our ride back down.
We bought cold drinks in the The Mount Washington State Park Sherman Adams Summit Building and Visitor Center before we wandered around the summit.

An hour goes by very quickly on the summit. We stood on the roof of the building and took in the view of the Northern Presidential Mountains and watched the coal fired steam engine come up the tracks. We visited the stonewalled Tip Top House and wished we could spend the night in the cozy old building. We climbed on rocks and peered down on the Southern Presidentials and spied the Lakes of the Clouds Hut. Over the Auto Road parking lots we looked into Huntington Ravine. I suppose if it wasn’t a clear day the Museum would have been an attractive alternative.
From the summit we could also see the big green golf course alongside the Mount Washington Hotel.
Just before it was time to catch our train we noticed that the long line to stand on the high point of the summit of Mount Washington had disappeared. Since a couple of our group had never stood next to the summit sign we rushed to do it and I took their photos like the hundreds, maybe thousands of people that had done it earlier in the day.
When we boarded the first thing we noticed the seat backs had been flipped and we now would be facing down the mountain. We rode on a different train down and the conductor told us more stories and facts about the train, mountains and what we could see in the distance. He also made recommendations for dinner and other local fun things to do.
What a day! We’d been outside playing near and on Mount Washington for the whole time! And we played another wonderful round of golf the next day.
Have fun.

Amy Patenaude is an avid skier/outdoor enthusiast from Henniker, N.H. Readers are welcome to send comments or suggestions to her at: amy@weirs.com.