Hike Mount Greylock - Saturday May 4th

Hike Mount Greylock – Saturday, May 4th, 2013
Rain Date – Saturday, May 11th

IMPORTANT NOTE: There is a campground located 2.2 miles along the trail. People who want to try the hike, but feel they may not make the summit, can rest/eat at the campground and either return to the parking lot or wait for those who continue for the trip back to the cars.

Join a group of people – some you may know, some not – hiking Mt. Greylock on Saturday, May 4th, leaving the Worcester area at 7 a.m. in order to start the hike at 9 a.m. leaving from the base on Hopper Road. This hike is being coordinated by Lothar Franke – he can be reached at RJLark@aol.com. He can take two additional passengers and will try to coordinate rides.

We will be hiking the Hopper trail to the summit. It’s an 8 mile round trip and takes ~ 6 hours. We will stop for lunch on the summit and return to the base at ~ 4 pm.

The website describes the trail as strenuous, although Lothar would describe it more as moderate.

The weather is extremely variable from year to year. In the past there has been snow/ice on the trail and windy/cold at the summit; another time it was so hot that we wanted shorts. We will be checking the forecast towards the end of the week to determine if there is a significant chance of rain – if so, we will need to change the date to May 11th.

You will need:
Cold weather clothing – hats, gloves, windbreaker, hiking boots. YakTrax or Microspikes if you have them – ice is usually minimal.
Trail Map – can be printed from the website
Food & Water
Sunscreen – in the past, the leaves are not out on the trees and the sun can be intense

Link to The Mount Greylock website, which has maps and trail lengths as well as a weather link:
http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/mtGreylock/