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View Full Version : no services @ greylock summit



Willyo
06-26-2007, 00:15
Just want to make sure everyone who may care knows that there are no services of any kind (not even a working water spigot) at the summit of Mt. Greylock until Spring 2009-- Also the Thunderbolt shelter at the top which has always been "unofficial" (it's supposed to be for emergency use only) is talked about as being the place to stay by some folks - They pretty much ran us out of there in the middle of the night on a sunday so i would definitely not make plans on staying there --

There is a good shelter in the greylock reservation that will not appear on any atc type maps -- The peck brook shelter off the gould trail - from the south when approaching greylock summit there will be a pond on your left -- you'll then come out to a T shaped road intersection -- head right across the road coming at you rather than crossing the road to follow the A.T. uphill/north and you'll see a gravel parking area where the two roads meet with a sign saying gould trail and mentioning the shelter -- about 1.5 miles downhill on the blue blazed trail and they'll be a spur to your right leading the the shelter and an outstanding water source (water is scarce in the 8 miles south of the summit and nonexistant 6+ miles north of the summit) --

peck brook from the north -- go over summit/tower area on a.t. south -- there is a short section that will basically force a less than .1 mile road walk on the summit road then left on a road leading to garage area and privies -- trail heads south into woods downhill just to right of privies -- you'll come out to the road at an intersection -- cross the road you come out on rather than the other road you'd have to cross to continue sobo on the trail to the parking area and about 1.5 miles downhill on the blue blazed gould trail and they'll be a spur to your right leading the the shelter and an outstanding water source (water is scarce in the 8 miles south of the summit and 6+ miles north of the summit) --

map @ http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/mtGreylock/images/Mt.Grey-Summer.gif

hope this helps someone -- will

Kneegrinder
06-26-2007, 17:27
You mention no water for a distance both south and north. We were planning to pass through at the beginning of August and have read there are water sources at the Mark Noepel Shelter and at the Wilbur clearing Shelter. Can anyone comment on the presence of water at those locations?
Kneegrinder

Quoddy
06-26-2007, 18:00
It's my local area and I've never seen the Wilbur Lean-To area without water. If for some reason it did go dry there, it's just a short distance to Money Brook falls.

Willyo
06-26-2007, 22:36
I heard from a NoBounder I met up with that there was no water @ mark k. but he didn't speak of walking downstream as I've heard the water can be intermittant there (I like to walk upstream personally)-- I stopped by wilbur clearing but did not actively seek out the water source I must admit --- it is .5 miles off the trail so i didn't look around too much after finding it empty and pathetic looking @ 5PMish -the fact that i had some water with me still didn't encourage me to seek out the water there .. I try to keep my water specific trips below 1 mile round trip if possible.

I'm not trying to be negative or scare anyone i just wanted to share my experience in that area --

when I said water was scarce i meant along the trail itself -- that combined with my shelter difficulties that evening is what led me to provide the advice/info i did in my post -- I'll look out for the falls you mentioned if in the area - but they are not anything on an ATC map -- is that the .6 miles RT toward notch road mentioned in signage between greylock and williams?

-will

JoeHiker
06-27-2007, 18:33
Who ran you out of there?

Quoddy
06-27-2007, 19:51
I'll look out for the falls you mentioned if in the area - but they are not anything on an ATC map -- is that the .6 miles RT toward notch road mentioned in signage between greylock and williams?

-will
That's the one. About half way between Mt. Fitch and Mt. Williams make a left (NOBO) toward and across Notch Rd. It's about 1/3 mile past Notch Rd.

Willyo
06-27-2007, 22:21
Who ran you out of there?


Me and another hiker I met on the trail were cooking dinner in there, probably a little before nine, when we were visited by a really nice DCR employee. We all chatted for a quite a while about "where we were headed after dinner", backcountry snowboarding, and a bunch of other topics -- the guy was really cool so we couldn't decide if he was giving us the high sign and just doing his job by making sure we knew we technically weren't supposed to be staying there -or what --- After we finished eating we packed all of our stuff (to make sure it looked like we were leaving) and put our food in an inaccessible spot and went for a walk around the summit --- then we saw the headlights coming up the road --- It was past ten at this point and it was flashlight wielding park ranger this time .. definitely less menacing than a cop but was basically like "You're sure your ok hiking out of here in the dark?" - We figured if this guy was going to drive up the greylock auto road @ 10pm on a sunday he'd probably check again - The first guy had given us a map of the reservation which is how we decided on the peck brook shelter. The guy i was with was headed NOBO but we figured we should probably stick together if headlamping around - Ended up being a nicer place to stay anyway with great water and the sound of the small waterfall right in front of the shelter ---

-will

Kneegrinder
06-28-2007, 13:36
Thanks, We appreciate the information. We'll just be sure to camel-up and carry some extra just in case.
Kneegrinder