I was up and out of the house just as the sun came up this morning for a hike up Mt. Greylock in Massachusetts. Arriving at the Cheshire Harbor trailhead at 8:30am it was bright and sunny with temperatures in the upper teens and low 20's. The trail climbs steadily up but in a fairly gradual way. There were no real steep sections at all today. The challenge in hiking today was the ice and snow on the trail that grew more abundant the farther up you went.
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| Starting to see ice |
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| Typical higher in elevation |
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| Snow |
From about the 2800ft range and up there was around 12" of snow and thick ice covering the trail. It was the perfect time to try out the microspikes. They performed great. I did not slip at any time climbing or on the way down. I took the AT north where Cheshire Harbor trail leaves off and made it to the summit in short order. It is about 3.5 miles one way to reach the summit taking this route. As I approached the summit I finally caught sight of the beacon and knew I was close.
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| Getting close |
It was pretty windy and cold at the summit. The wind was blowing somewhere between 20-25mph and the wind chills must have been in the single digits, because it was cold. I took in the views to the east and a few pictures and then sought shelter on the south side of Bascom Lodge. I had a light snack and sat in the sun out of the wind for a little while, but soon I was cold again and needed to get moving.
The trip back down was uneventful. I met a few hikers on their way up, but was surprised there were not more people out today. I was back at the car about 1:00pm having covered about 7 miles. It was a nice way to start the year and I would like to hike this trail when the leaves are out.
