| Summary | None |
| Owner | Matthew Gilbertson |
| Creation Date | 2011-03-02 22:29:44 UTC-0500 |
| Description | Mount Greylock (3489ft)
Highest Point in Massachusetts Matthew, Eric, & Jacob Gilbertson and Garrett P. Marino Feb 26-27, 2011 Our quest for the 50 state high points: http://web.mit.edu/matthewg/Public/high_points/ Author: Matthew Eric and I had some unfinished business with Mount Greylock. Our first ascent while hiking the Appalachian Trail in 2006 had been successful, but there were a few critical summit souvenirs that we had failed to capture. First: some jumping photos. Sometime in the 28 intervening state high points between #13 Massachusetts and #41 Georgia we had begun the tradition of taking a jumping photo on each summit. We needed one for Mount Greylock. Second: a photo of Eric juggling. Taken with Eric’s camera, Eric’s official 2006 juggling summit photo had been erased when his camera got wet. So he needed another one. And third: a summit rock. Atop #27 Indiana we had started collecting a pebble from every summit, and lacked one from Greylock. There were two other important reasons for climbing Mt Greylock. Our younger brother Jacob was in town and Garrett was free. Garrett and Jacob were both hot on the state high point trail and eager to taste the crisp summit air from the roof of the Bay State. For the four of us the journey to Mt Greylock began that day in Garrett’s shiny new Clubman Mini Cooper outside of the Alewife T Station. You might ask: how do you fit four people + four large backpacks + four winter sleeping bags + four pairs of snowshoes into a Mini Cooper? Answer: very carefully. After driving west on the MassPike we passed through the Appalachian Trail town of Adams, MA and wound our way up the mountain towards the trailhead. The parking lot was unplowed but fortunately just minutes after we arrived a nice woman with a plow excavated it out for us. This was Jacob’s and Garrett’s first opportunity to use snowshoes but they wielded them like experts. After a short 1.5 miles we ditched the heavy overnight gear at Peck’s Brook Shelter and continued on up the Gould Trail. The plan was to spend the night at the shelter. After dodging some snowmobiles and hiking another 1.5 miles we were on top of Massachusetts. A very cool War Memorial tower christens the summit and in the summer you can see five states from the observatory. Unfortunately it was cloudy today so we could only see the town of Adams below us. But that wasn’t a big deal, the summit itself was a spectacular sight. Half of the summit tower was plastered in rime ice, which really brought out the “MASSACHVSETTS” carved into the granite. Replacing the “U” with a “V” must be a Massachusetts thing, we figured, because that’s also how it’s spelled below MIT’s Great Dome. If they replace the U with a V because it’s too hard to carve the curve, we wondered, then what about the S? On the summit we went through our checklist: Genuine summit photo – check. Jumping photo – check. Shirts-off summit photo – check. Summit rock – uh oh, no check. We couldn’t head down before finding a rock. Unfortunately though finding a rock proved extremely difficult because everything was covered in snow. We scoured the summit but couldn’t find anything better than a miniscule pebble. It was getting desperate. But finally we came upon a little rock wall and found the perfect little stone waiting for us on top. Whew. We breathed a sigh of relief. With plenty of summit photos along with an official summit rock, our climbing objective was satisfied and it was time to head down. When we arrived back at the shelter we began the important task of collecting wood for a big campfire. I’m always amazed at how it’s possible to have a campfire when there are two feet of snow on the ground. I’ve learned that one effective strategy is to place some big logs on top of the snow, forming a platform on which to build the fire. Everyone had an important job. Old “one-match” Matthew got the campfire roaring in about ten minutes. Meanwhile “eager-to-eat” Eric worked on dinner. “I-just-lost-my-gloves” Jacob thawed his hands over the fire. And “meteorologist-man” Marino (a.k.a. Garrett), exercising his meteorology black-belt skills, gave us an updated snowfall forecast based on the wind direction and speed. We were an efficient team. The first dinner course was cheddar + broccoli pasta, followed by couscous + mashed potatoes. Sometimes you might have a little excess water when making couscous but we learned during our A.T. days that you can absorb some of the water by mixing in some powdered mashed potatoes. I don’t think any of us actually knows exactly how couscous + powdered mashed potatoes tastes indoors. But we do know that it’s one of the most compact meals you can get for backpacking. We (well, some of us) slept peacefully in our subzero-rated sleeping bags. Some of us had a Nalgene full of boiling water to keep our toes warm during the night. We awoke the next morning to 3 inches of fresh snow on the ground outside the shelter. Eric won the bet because he had guessed 2.00001” while Jacob had guessed only 2”. Hiking back down was like walking on a big soft pillow. The fluffy snow grew deeper as we descended and cushioned every step. Soon we arrived back at the parking lot where Garrett’s trusty olive-colored steed awaited us. It was time to head to Dunkin Donuts for a celebration. It was rumored that it was possible to obtain the elusive powered-sugar jelly doughnut at Dunkin Donuts locations in western MA. This wonder of modern food engineering was too radical to be found in Cambridge. Garrett was yearning to find out for himself if the legends were true. We did indeed find the powdered-sugar jelly doughnuts he sought, a fitting end to noble quest to climb the highest point in Massachusetts. |