Date: 2016-06-22
From: Nowhere today

To: Bennington, VT-- tomorrow!
Miles today: 0.0

The pace of an AT hike is not fast, but now that there're only two more states to hike through, Box Turtle is getting a feeling of acceleration, as well as--I have to admit--an interest in finishing this thing! I should probably add "ascension" to "acceleration," as that's what'll happen as the hike nears its end. Turtle ankles are evidently tough and resilient, because BT's-- nearly unwalkable nine days ago--are just fine now. I'm zeroing in Williamstown, MA today, not because I have to but because it's been a goal to visit the Clark Art Institute and its new enlargement by architect Tadeo Ando. (OK, I also want to eat an Indian meal!) The art collection can certainly stand on its own, but so can the architecture and landscape around it! The single best feature--for me, visiting now-- was the architectural installation on a hillside above the museum by the German artist Thomas Schutte, called "Crystal." It's, in fact, a modern shelter, which would be fun to see along the AT. (I hope Mr. Boxy will add my photo of it so there's something to look at.) The work's description says, in part, that it "provides visitors the opportunity to reflect on how landscapes and places...are constructed and preserved." The same could, of course, be said of a hike of the Appalachian Trail, replacing the word "visitors" with "hikers." Two days ago, I was on top of Mt. Greylock, Massachusetts' highest point. On the summit is a stone tower built in the '30s as a memorial to the state's war dead. There's a big, glass globe on the top, suggesting a lighthouse. (NJ has one of these too, on its highest point, but it imitates the Washington Memorial and, as I recall, simply marks NJ's highest point...so that's underwhelming.) The severe wind and weather conditions on Mt. Greylock's summit cause the monument to need repeated restoration, and it's under scaffolding now, and inaccessible. (A view from its top would have been terrific; another one of those AT experiences that may or may not work out, depending on luck and timing.) Beside the monument is Bascom Lodge, a historic structure begun in the 19th century to shelter adventurous tourists (among the first of their kind) and later expanded in the CCC-era to accomodate tourists driving cars to the summit. The AT was also routed over the Greylock summit. All three things--the war memorial, the lodge, and the AT--offer different ways to reflect on landscapes and how we protect and preserve them. So many of the things you pass hiking the Trail--the changing forest composition, the relationship of the woods to the developed surroundings(with sometimes frequent background noise of trains/planes/automobiles/the occasional backyard swimming pool), and the remnants of former settlements, like the many old stone walls snaking through the woods here in New England--provide reason to think about, as the Clark said of Thomas Schutte's shelter, "how landscapes and places..are constructed and preserved." And back to the Clark Art Institute more generally--unlike a typical, urban art museum, the Clark prominently includes its natural surroundings as an explicit part of its inspirational attraction, inviting us to explore the woods and fields around the museum (with interpretive trail guides)in the same way as we would wander through the museum galleries. It's a recognition of the power of beauty, created in different ways and times (not to mention by different artist/"creators"!)to stimulate and inspire, and I am just delighted with the various associations of Art and Science, Man and Nature, that my visit to the Clark--and my AT hike--provokes.Something tells me I may have lost most of you, so I am heading off for some Indian cuisine! I'm not sure when I may next have town time to write a post. So you may or may not be pleased to read the more focused entries of Mr. Boxy.