Date: 2015-06-24
From: Dalton, MA

To: Bascom Lodge (Mt. Greylock)
Miles today: 17.2

Yesterday was a busy day, so busy that I'm a day late in summarizing the day's events. We started off from the Shamrock Motel in Dalton really early, 6:00 and the trail is about a block from the motel so we got a great start. Our target for the day was Bascom Lodge, 16+ miles away at the summit of Greylock Mountain. Princess and Spartacus had worked out a great support plan for us with the assistance of Spartacus' wife, Janelle. Currently we're not too far from Spartacus' home and he was looking for an opportunity for them to visit. And his daughter, Amanda, wanted to hike with him for a day or so. When everything got worked out, Janelle drove into Dalton this morning, dropped off Amanda to hike with Spartacus, and picked up all of our backpacks to ferry them on to Bascom Lodge. Janelle and Amanda didn't arrive until a couple of hours later in the morning, so Spartacus waited on them at the Shamrock while Princess, Focus and I got a head start on the trail. The hike consisted of 2 parts. The first part was a hike up and over North Mountain and then down into Cheshire. The first mile was a road walk through Dalton to the forest. Then the trail turned up for about 1,000 ft. to the top of North Mountain. From there we descended slowly to The Cobbles, outcroppings with good valley views, and then dropped more rapidly down to a RR track and into Cheshire. We had a road walk through Cheshire and passed a cheese monument, but bypassed the downtown area and then turned sharply upward through meadows and farms and into the forest again as we moved into the 2nd part of the hike. We had been eyeing the high ridge in front of us as we went through town, but now it was reality as we started the Greylock climb. Overall, the climb wasn't quite as tough as I remembered. After about 2 miles the slope decreased a bit and some stretches were almost level. After about 5 miles we reached the ridge and then had small ups and downs for a couple of miles. The final push to the summit was more aggressive and we passed a small pond with a cabin - a great photo op. Mt. Greylock is the highest peak in MA, and Bascom Lodge is just downhill from the monument at the summit. We had reservations for a room at the lodge and for dinner. Janelle had already delivered our backpacks to the lodge and we checked in and proceeded to get cleaned up. A couple hours later, Spartacus and Amanda hiked in and introduced us to Spartacus' brother and his wife who had also driven in and were joining us for dinner. Amanda has plenty of outdoor experience and had no trouble with the hike - and Spartacus is a fast hiker in spite of 2 metal knees. In fact she was so comfortable with it that she hiked in sandals. Ah, youth is great.Later as we assembled for cocktails, we had a special treat. Alec Gillman, Superintendant of Mt. Greylock State Reservation gave a presentation about the Civilian Conservation Corp and the construction of Bascom Lodge. It was fascinating to learn the heritage of the building we were in and the surrounding roads and trails. And I had never realized the role of the CCC in forest management, mitigating invasive insects, fire prevention, etc. Dinner at the lodge was wonderful as well, and as I mentioned yesterday, we were joined by Jess Treat who was taking her mother, Mary Lou out to dinner and also Happy Camper who had hiked previously with Spartacus. So we had a sizable group of good friends and thoroughly the setting and the evening.