Jacob’s Ladder and the Summit Cone

As the train passes Profile Rock, the mountain’s true character begins to reveal itself. Suddenly, the dense and rocky forest on either side drops away, the air freshens and the wind picks up, and if the weather is clear, you realize that the train has been following a narrow ridge between two deep chasms- Burt’s Ravine on the left, and the Ammonoosuc Ravine on the right. And then just as suddenly, you’re nearly 25 feet above the surface of the mountain.

Welcome to Jacob’s Ladder!

From an engineering standpoint, Jacob’s is impressive indeed. 300 feet long and curving to the left, your train is now climbing at a 37.41% grade- that’s a 37 foot elevation change for every 100 feet of forward movement. Jacob’s is the steepest section of the Cog Railway, and the steepest railroad trestle anywhere in the world.

From the center of the trestle, look to your right across the ravine and you’ll see the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Lakes of the Clouds hut, high in the saddle between Mount Washington and Mount Monroe. One of eight similar hiker shelters sprinkled throughout the White Mountains, Lakes is the largest and can accommodate 90 overnight guests.

Once across the trestle you’ll pass Frog Rock, a brightly painted boulder used by train crews as a location marker in bad weather. You’re now at tree line, roughly 5000’ above sea level, and climbing along the side of the summit cone toward an area known as Skyline. As the tracks turn to the southeast and begin to level out, on the left you’ll see the magnificent Northern Presidentials: Mounts Clay, Jefferson, Adams and Madison, and beyond, the mountains of western Maine.

Hiking is a popular pastime in the White Mountains, and on either side of the train you’ll see pyramid shaped piles of rocks, or cairns, marking various trails. Running parallel to the tracks on the left is the Gulfside Trail, the local stretch of a much longer trail system known as the Appalachian Trail. The AT runs nearly 2200 miles up the east coast from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in northern Maine. Most through hikers on the AT agree that the trails that run through the White Mountains are the most challenging portion of the entire 2200 mile route.

Ahead on the right but still several hundred feet higher is your destination: the Sherman Adams Visitor Center on the summit of Mount Washington.