Did You Know You Can Actually Live on the Summit of New Hampshire’s Mount Washington?

New Hampshire Attractions

We're beyond lucky to have it all here in New England -- four different seasons, beaches, lakes, professional sports teams, nature trails, beautiful coastal views, family amusement parks -- you name it, we have it. But one of our most popular and infamous attractions, especially in New Hampshire -- the 6,288-foot beast known as Mount Washington.

One of the greatest things about Mount Washington is it's not just a one-trick pony. You can hike up the mountain yourself, take a guided tour up the Mount Washington Auto Road, take a trip up to the summit via the Mount Washington Cog Railway, hop on an e-bike and fly around numerous trails on and around the mountain, kayak on the Androscoggin River where you actually cross over into Maine while on the water, and a ton more.

You can live on the summit for a week at a time as a volunteer

In a recent post in the Mount Washington Observatory Supporters group on Facebook, a man named Allan Demarest chronicled the ability to actually live on the summit of Mount Washington for a week at a time.

As a member of the observatory, you can volunteer to live on the summit for a week at a time and help the observers by cooking and cleaning since they work 12 hour shifts. You do get a lot of time to explore and enjoy the view and the extreme weather.

There's just one catch, which isn't necessarily a catch per se, but just a requirement of the mountain in order to volunteer and stay live at the summit. Like Allan mentioned, you have to become a member of the Observatory. The only downside right now is that, according to a member of the Facebook group, Donna French Dunn, the volunteer program is on hold due to the pandemic.

The good news, though? Also according to Donna, the Observatory is reviewing the volunteer program and expected to resume it starting sometime in 2022. As a heads up, though -- if you are interested in volunteering at the Observatory, according to Allan, "you need to volunteer for a summer week first to ensure you're capable before doing a winter week where transportation is very limited."