Mohawk Trail

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Greenfield Massachusetts

   Greenfield is a river town of about twenty thousand in the north-west of Massachusetts, where the Deerfield and Connecticut rivers wander through a wide, farmed valley, and it is the eastern gateway of the Mohawk Trail. It is a practical, red-brick kind of place, with a long main street, a common, a good selection of diners, and shops that serve the farms of the area. Fuel, food and supplies are all easy here, so it makes a natural start.

   Read the complete Greenfield Massachusetts write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Greenfield Massachusetts is where the day begins. Next is Shelburne Falls.

2. 2. Shelburne Falls

   Shelburne Falls is really two villages, Shelburne on one side of the Deerfield River and Buckland on the other, tied together by an iron bridge and a curious flower garden. The garden is on a former trolley bridge, a concrete arch built in 1908 for an electric railway that closed in the 1920s. Local women planted it in 1929, and the Bridge of Flowers now blooms from spring bulbs through the autumn, a long ribbon of colour over the river. It is a true village, with about two thousand people, some pottery and glass studios, a good bakery and a couple of cafes, and the whole thing is small enough to walk in an hour.

   Read the complete Shelburne Falls write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Shelburne Falls comes up about 17 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hairpin Turn.

3. 3. Hairpin Turn

   The Hairpin Turn on the Mohawk Trail is exactly what it says, and it has been catching bikers' attention since the days of Model Ts. Route 2 climbs the western face of the Hoosac Range out of North Adams in a switchback so tight that the road seems to double back on itself, with a stone wall on the outside edge and a deep view over the town and the Hoosac Valley on the other. At the apex there is a small pull-off, a gift shop and a few restaurants, and a lookout where you can see for miles.

   Read the complete Hairpin Turn write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 54 km into the recorded legs you reach Hairpin Turn. Next is North Adams.

4. 4. North Adams

   North Adams lies in a bowl of mountains in the far northwest corner of Massachusetts, in the Berkshires, with Mount Greylock, the state's highest peak at about 1,060 metres, rising just to the south. For most of the twentieth century it was a mill town, and the vast brick factory complex on the edge of downtown, once the home of an electrical equipment company, was converted into MASS MoCA, one of the largest contemporary art museums in the country. The town has the slightly worn, determined look of a place that has reinvented itself, and the old brick storefronts have cafes and galleries.

   Read the complete Near North Adams write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   North Adams closes the day.