White Mountains Dressed in Blue
A beautiful day atop Mt Washington is when you can see for miles. When the conditions are right, the White Mountains will look blue even with autumn foliage coloring the trees below. This is the view looking south southwest.
The path you see at the bottom center is the Appalachian Trail taking you to the Lakes of the Clouds. The Lakes of the Clouds Hut is to the right of the frozen, snow covered lakes perched on the ledge overlooking the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail. At the Hut, this trail splits into three. The right will take you up and over Mt Monroe, the closest pointed peak. The center trail continues on the Appalachian Trail and takes you around Mt Monroe, re-connecting again on the other side. Here the trail continues along the steep ridge to Mt Franklin, then down and back up to Mt Eisenhower. Mt Pierce is next, then Mt Jackson and then Mt Webster where you will be looking down upon Rte 302 in Crawford Notch. The left leg of the split will take you down into the valley, this is the Dry River Trail, as it travels along the Dry River all the way to Rte 302.
The mountains are blue due to an Atmospheric phenomenon, known as Rayleigh Scattering. It requires certain weather conditions, but it is when the air is full of particles, and the filtered sunlight is scattered while passing through these particles painting everything in the distance with a blue haze.
