A Walk in the Woods
Wednesday, May 28th, 2008
Memorial Day weekend was well spent, in that two other avid hikers and I set out to conquer the summit of Mt. Greylock.
On Saturday, we parked at the end of Hopper Road and took the Money Brook trail to the junction of the Prospect Mountain trail. The trail is rated as strenuous and was somewhat of a workout. We then climbed Prospect Mountain to the summit, which was a distance of 1 mile. However, the climb in elevation is 1590′! That part was rated as aggressive, and I could definitely tell by how it impacted my legs. After enjoying the sun and scenery at the top, we joined the Appalachian Trail and then descended to Wilbur Clearing, our first campsite of the weekend.
On Sunday, we took our time getting up and back on the trail. After doubling back on the trail to the AT, we headed up Mt. Williams, across Fitch, and to the summit of Greylock. The last stretch to Greylock was very steep and also rated aggressive. It was a fantastic view at the top, and all of us took time to visit the war memorial tower and sprawl out on the grass. From the summit, we took the Gould Trail down to the Peck’s Brook shelter. Since I had brought my nifty new tent, which is actually a hammock bivy, I had an easy time setting it up only 30 yards from a waterfall! The other two hikers shared the leanto with a local couple who had hiked in to enjoy the weather and scenery. We had a great time talking and playing cards. At night, I opened the rainfly over my tent and lay staring at the thousands of points of starlight before drifting comfortably to sleep from the roar and gurgle of the waterfall.
On Monday, we hiked back up and over the shoulder of Greylock, picking up the Hopper Trail, again, which lead us down to Sperry Road campgrounds. We walked out Sperry Road to the Stony Ledge overlook which was a beautiful view of Greylock and all the other mountains we had hiked. The view allowed us to pause and reflect on God’s creation, and the areas we had covered in our loop. We took the Haley Farm trail down from Stony Ledge to the parking lot, and a descent of 1460′.
Overall, we covered a distance of 14.7 miles on some strenuous to aggressive trails. It is one experience that I won’t soon forget… nor will my legs!
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