Day 1.303: Mass-adventure

This morning I drove over to Massachusetts to do a hike with some colleagues. In the end there were only four of us, but we had a very nice day-hike up Mount Greylock, the highest point in Massachusetts at 3491 ft. You can see our route by rolling your mouse over the picture (or clicking). I've marked it on the relief model installed at the summit. The stretch nearest the summit was along a part of the Appalachian Trail - the highest part between Virginia and Vermont apparently.

The hike was only a little over six miles in total, but was advertised as taking approximately five hours. The climb is over 2000 ft. Including our detour and our lunch stop we were almost exactly that long, so they either allow for stops or for slightly slower hikers than us.

At the top is a war memorial - a rather nice tower built in 1931 and some impressive views.

On the way down we took a relatively poorly travelled and marked trail to cut across from one well-used trail to another. This was a little more exciting than we expected - being a steep descent into a stream valley, a fording of the stream and then a significant climb up the other side. In the end we rejoined the trail we had ascended and, as they say, it was all downhill from there.

I managed to get back in time for us to be only slightly late for our church gathering feeling a little heavy-legged and tired, but with the warm glow of physical achievement.

Here are some pictures from the summit.