I was heading back from an event in NY state, and decided to take the more scenic route home, with a diversion to hike up Mt. Greylock. Hitherto I had only driven up its auto-road, but this day looked like a promising one to get up there under my own power and on my own flesh. |
[Small images are linked to larger copies.]
A little online research at the DCR site found me not only trail maps, but descriptions of most routes. This was really handy since I had no idea what the best starting point might be. The trails up the eastern side looked a little shorter in general, implying that they might be a little steeper and thus more interesting. By complete guesswork I decided to head for a small trailhead parking area off West Mountain Road [indistinct pink circle at lower right, use the big pic], a little confusingly named since it's on the eastern side of the hill, and cross over to another main trail up so I could make a loop out of the whole thing. The resulting track is shown here, in a projection looking north. Note the two little diversions marked by pink arrows -- to be explained later. |
The bullwheel head looks like some kind of weird creature.
Apparently the wheel and its supporting hardware was never installed, as this lift line and the entire intended resort around it was a failed construction effort from the seventies that was never finished. This website has more of that story and why these silent structures are here. There is a rich history of the Thunderbolt race trail itself, whose users over the years evidently never had the luxury of a chairlift at all. |
Farther up is the Bellows Pipe shelter; I guess the idea is to pitch your tent completely inside it under cover. Nice big fire pit. |
Bellows Pipe continued in a somewhat wandering manner up the hill, fairly
steep in spots.
This section is listed as "aggressive" in the trail guide, but seems
well-traveled, including some spots where people clearly shortcut straight
up and down instead of following the intended switchback.
It is precisely this that leads to more erosion problems, when people
hike the natural water gullies thinking that's the trail, and it all
just gets worse over time.
There's only so much ditch-digging and drainage diversion that DCR trail
maintainers can get to.
After a while I emerged onto the Appalachian Trail, still a ways from the summit. |
As I passed by the upper end of Thunderbolt, it was clear that it's *not* really closed, but is still a fairly popular "straight-up" route regardless of what the DCR map shows. |
Having summited Greylock, I then did so again on the bronze model. |
View northeastward from the tower, over North Adams. One of the larger bumps way out there is Mt. Snow; I was vaguely trying to find Monadnock but was looking too far north. |
Near the tower, though, is a nice panoramic-photo sign with all the notable peaks pointed out, so here's Monadnock visible twice. Just trying to see out to where I'd been on Mem Day weekend... |
The obligatory survey marker, this one of the magnetic class. The six-pointed star has nothing to do with Judaism, I learned from a history document that explains all the different USGS marker types. |
I hung out on the summit for a short time, resting and refilling my water bottle in the Bascom lodge. They were having some sort of jazz concert on the lawn out back, and there were people wandering around clearly *not* dressed for hiking. One woman in heels expressed interest in going up the tower and wondered aloud if she should just do it barefoot; I offered that the staircase inside feels really nice and that it would probably be the best way. More than one group of guys on those massive "retirement present" road-sofa motorcycles arrived and departed, taking obligatory selfies in between. Well, I suppose we've all got our different standards of accomplishment. |
They can't get to everything, of course, so fixing this sad little bridge would probably have to wait a while. Not that this particular one is really needed, at least until high water. |
Farther down, this Hobbit found a big old Ent to befriend.
Many other people have played in here too, such as in this couple's winter hike video. |