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GoldenBear

Over Mount Bascom, thanks to Shuttle

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For wimpy backpackers like me, one of the problems of hiking the A.T. are the long climbs up (and down!) the mountains. In particular, those parts of the Trail that deliberately go to the top of the highest mountain around. And most specifically, places like Mount Greylock in Massachusetts – going from elevations of 990 feet to 3491 feet to 900 feet, all in a distance of thirteen miles. Real backpackers generally have no problem with these kinds of elevation changes, but I do!

For places where there’s a road to near the top of such a place, backpackers who are as blessed as I am – knowing someone like Shuttle – an easy solution exists. We drive to the top of this mountain, I hike down one side, she picks me up at the bottom; repeat other side. This pretty much describes the hiking part of our hiking vacation to the Berkshires last month.

Because local responsibilities make it difficult for me to leave home for even a week, I find I must arrange to get to the Trail, hike from one end to another, and then return; all in about six days. Because I hike alone, my start point and end point must be reachable by mass transit and not too much shuttling. Because hiking more than ten miles a day is problematic for me, this means I have to find two termini about fifty miles apart; both of which meet the criterion noted in the last sentence. With these restrictions, it’s no surprise that there exists several gaps in the parts of the Trail that I have managed to walk upon. North of Dalton MA just happens to be one of them.

As anyone could imagine, I did not want to simply start in Dalton and head north – getting to Adams would be easy; beyond that is Mount Greylock. There's no way I could get over and beyond that mountain, with enough energy to get much beyond there.

Shuttle to the rescue! In addition to the hikes I noted earlier, we spent delightful days exploring the wonders of the Berkshires.
The only downer was that I simply can’t seem to hike in 2013 without coming across rain. Dspite my hopes and plans to hike in clear, dry weather; it rained as I went down the mountain. Not a deluge, and not all day; but still annoying. The major saving grace was that I managed to enjoy time with Shuttle this place:
http://www.bascomlodge.net/Home_Page.html
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=bascom+lodge
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Comments

  1. HighLiner's Avatar
    Then don't even consider the Whites. In comparison, Greylock was a breeze.