Hiking Mass portion of AT in March

[Kgalnk]

Hi my friends and I are planning on hiking the AT portion of Masschussets in mid March. We are wondering where to start and where to end, we plan to hike for 6 days. We have heard about memorable spots such as Jug End and Mt. Greylock. Does anyone have any useful information for us regarding where to start, where to end, and anything else they can think of?

Thanks

[Blissful]

You'll have snow. But seeing you're from NH probably used to that.

[mikec]

MA is 90 miles. Possible but tough to do in 6 days. From what I remember, Greylock, The Cobbles, Upper Goose Pond, Race Mountain and Sages Ravine were highlights.

[johnnyblisters]

It really depends on the condition of the hikers and the trail. You should be able to make it from the Rt. 7 crossing near Sheffield to North Adams in 6 days.
Notable sights: Upper Goose Pond, The Ledges, Ice Gulch, Greylock, every step is a nice sight!
Its a really nice hike, have fun and be safe!

[joeboxer]

I did the same hike last summer, I went from North Adams to Salisbury, CT which is basically the border. From the southern border of MA to Salisbury there's a stretch about 5 miles long that includes Race mountain and Bear mountain which are worth seeing if your planning to hike all of MA anyway. Plus, you'd get to hang out with Maria McCabe in Salisbury, get some food and have a hot shower, which would be nice after a hike that took me about a week and a half :D

[Slo-go'en]

I'd think twice, no three times about doing anything in Mass in mid March. With all the snow we're suppost to get in the next few days, there will be pleanty of it left in 3 weeks or so. The Berkshires are right in that heavy snow band. There's no telling how many other big, late season storms we will get and I wouldn't be suprised if we keep getting them straight into April.

Or you can get lucky and it will warm up a lot real quick and all you'll have to deal with is knee deep mud...

[jamarshall]

How about late April? Trying to find the sweet spot between the mud and the black flies...

[Cosmo]

There is about 2' of heavy wet snow up there right now. In March it will still likely be there. The trail will also be full of blowdowns and mud (if the snow melts). Your feet will be wet every day.

The black flies are typically not a huge problem ('tho it varies from year to year). They aren't distributed uniformly along the trail, and they go away when it gets dark.

April would certainly be better than Feb for snow, and May for blackflies, but you will still see plenty of mud and downed trees/tree limbs. We won't get out to start clearing trail until mid April at the earliest.

I think 6 days is pretty reasonable, unless there is still lots of snow. FYI, Glen Brook Shelter leads pretty badly, use Hemlocks if it is raining. We'll get the roof fixed in June.

Cosmo

[coss]

I just got back from a 6 mile section hike, extending from Kellegg Road in Great Barrington to Lake Buell Road.

There is an 8" consolidated snowpack in the woods. It was firm and fast but slippery when we started, at temps just below 30F. Later in the day it got up to the low 40s, and the snow turned to mashed potatoes. Snowshoes were necessary. There were nearly no blowdown. About half the trail had been broken out by boot hikers, complete with postholes. The Tom Leonard shelter had no snow in it.

If we get the predicted week of 40F days, this may be the last weekend in March without the dreaded "too much snow for boot hiking but not enough for snowshoes".

Hope this helps.

[Migrating Bird]

I agree with Cosmo . I also hiked today, up Alander Mt. due west of Mt. Everett/Sages Ravine. There is more than 2 feet of snow at elevations above 1500 Ft. March is a tough month, while it was 48 this afternoon, it was 16 this morning. Mid April gets my vote, no bugs, less snow, mud will be there also the trees will not have leafed out yet so views will be better.

[Quoddy]

In March, Greylock is going to be tough. I'm sure, based on other mountains in this area, that you'll hit at least two or three feet of snow and even more at the summit. Above 3300' mountains in this area usually still have two feet of snow at the top during the first week in May. During spring through fall I regularly head up the west side of Greylock on the Money Brook trail, but would fully expect it to be very, very tough to get to the top on that trail right now. As far north as Cheshire should be doable.

[Cookerhiker]

How about late April? Trying to find the sweet spot between the mud and the black flies...

I hiked the southern half of MA (http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=94197) in late April - from Rt. 20/Lee to Sages Ravine - and had an absolutely delightful time. I was blessed with warm sunny weather. It was too early for the black flies so everything turned out perfect. It's not to say that April couldn't bring cold rain but I think you're better off deferring your start by a month.

Unless you have snow or heavy rain to hamper you, I think MA is viable in 6 days, or at least up to Rt. 2, the last road crossing. IMHO, MA is the easiest of the 5 New England states.

I echo some of the highlights, especially Upper Goose Pond (and for that matter, Buell Lake and Benedict Pond), Greylock, Sages Ravine, and Race Mountain. Note that no one mentioned Mt. Everett; despite being the 2nd highest point on the MA AT, it's not all that scenic.

[Snowleopard]

I like the Taconics on the AT in SW Mass and NW Conn.

Note that no one mentioned Mt. Everett; despite being the 2nd highest point on the MA AT, it's not all that scenic.
There's not much of a view from the top; the old fire tower is long gone. The trees are just barely tall enough to block the view. But, those little trees are hundreds of years old. There's a bunch of old growth forest on the top of Everett (up to 170 years old) and Race (up to 250 years old), primarily pitch pine a couple of feet high, bear oak.

... few sites in the northeastern United
States have experienced such limited disturbance by
human activity over the past few centuries, with no
documented history of cutting, grazing, or agriculture.
This unusual history stems from the harsh and rocky
conditions of the summit and has resulted in a relatively
intact natural area with little evidence of alteration of
vegetation or ecological process by historical land use.
http://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/publications/pdfs/everett.pdf
http://www.primalnature.org/ogeast/ma.pdf
I took a trip out there this summer to take a look at the old growth on the summit of Everett, and it's pretty neat if you know what you're looking at.

[Deb]

Here is a trail report for the Riga Plateau area of the AT from 2/28:

Bear Mountain AT and Undermountain Trails

2010/02/28

Trail Conditions:
Parking lot at Undermountain - there was about 5 inches of fresh wet snow.

Hiked up Undermountain Trail then took the AT to top of Bear Mtn. There is more than 1 foot of snow at the Riga Junction 2000ft elevation and as much as 2 or 3 feet of snow near the summit of Bear Mountain and the areas west of the AT

Special Equipment Required:
We used snowshoes for the whole hike.. the trail is well broken out now but will be icy. I would recommend bareboot or microspikes for most of the hike.. but plan to use snowshoes at the higher elevations or on unbroken trails. Plan for crampons for the north side of Bear Mountain