Clear views from the Alpine Garden

2006-08-07 08:13:39.000 – Jim Salge,  Observer

Distant views from the garden…

The weather doesn’t get much better on Mount Washington than it was this past weekend. Cool temperatures, light winds and INCREDIBLE visibility, and perhaps even a few hints of fall ( as Tim alluded to yesterday) all combined for a fantastic and busy weekend. The museum had its best weekend of the summer, and the interns and observers gave tours of the weather room to Observatory members and guests just about every hour that the building was open.

Over the last few years, I’ve developed a great ability to ignore the views out the window and get work done up here, but yesterday I was drawn to the binoculars a few times trying to spot the distant peaks of the Dacks, usually hidden by haze in the summer. And at 4:30 at the end of shift I was out the door! Destination…Alpine Garden, desperately trying to complete my attempt to photograph all of the alpine flowers this year.

Harebells (bluebells) were just about all that remained of the common ones, but when I arrived the wind had picked up and they refused to sit still. Oh well, it was a beautiful day in the garden, and I still managed quite a few nice shots during my stroll across the flat lands above 5000 feet. I also found that the blueberries were ripe, and the cranberries beginning to turn red, leaving them deliciously tart…so I snacked as I strolled! I arrived back just before sunset, which was marred by the approaching storm to the west, which we sit in this morning…

Jim Salge,  Observer