Mount Greylock Scenic Byway

Up the highest ground in Massachusetts from one side and down the other.

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Why this ride

From Lanesborough it runs 26 km to North Adams; allow about 30 min of riding. It goes by way of Rockwell Road and Notch Road. Greylock summit is the high point. It tops out at 1,063 m. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.

Roadbook

1. Lanesborough start · 350 m

   Lanesborough sits at the foot of the Berkshire Hills in the far west of Massachusetts, at about 350 metres, in the broad valley of the Hoosic River, with the great bulk of Mount Greylock to the east. At 1,064 metres, Greylock is the highest peak in the state, a broad, forested massif that dominates the skyline for miles, and a ride to its summit is the main reason for coming here. The town itself is a quiet, rural place of farms, old white houses and a lake, Pontoosuc, that fills with boats in summer.

   The mountain has a literary pedigree. Herman Melville lived at a farm near Pittsfield, and he wrote Moby-Dick in a study that looked out toward Greylock, whose long, humped outline is said to have suggested the shape of the white whale. He dedicated a later book to the mountain. The summit is crowned by the Veterans War Memorial Tower, a tall granite lighthouse-like structure built in the 1930s, and the view from the top on a clear day reaches into five states, with the Catskills, the Green Mountains and the Taconics laid out below.

   The road to the top, the Mount Greylock Scenic Byway, is a narrow, winding mountain road with fine surfaces, tight bends and long climbs, and it takes about forty minutes to ride at a leisurely pace. It passes through forests of northern hardwood and spruce, with the smell of balsam and damp earth, and the temperature at the summit can be fifteen degrees cooler than in the valley. The road is closed in winter, usually from late autumn to mid-May, so check before you set out. In October, the maples blaze and the road is crowded.

   Fuel is available in Lanesborough, a small town, and in Pittsfield, a few kilometres south, which has a full range of services, and in Dalton, whose paper mill has made the paper for American banknotes for generations. Bring a layer for the summit, and expect fog and wind. Black bears live on the mountain, and so do moose, so keep an eye on the verges. The Appalachian Trail passes over the summit, and hikers with huge packs are a common sight. A cup of tea in the lodge at the top, with the whole of the Berkshires below, is a quiet pleasure.

2. Rockwell Road scenic · 800 m

   Rockwell Road is the way up Mount Greylock from the south, a paved lane that leaves Lanesborough, in the Berkshires, and climbs into the highest ground in Massachusetts. At the top, the summit stands a little over a thousand metres above sea level, which is not high by Western standards, but it feels like a real mountain here, because the forest changes as you climb, from northern hardwoods to red spruce and balsam fir, the dark, cold woods of the far north. The air at the summit can be ten degrees colder than at the base, and often shrouded in cloud.

   The road was built and improved in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Depression-era work programme that employed young men to build trails, roads and lodges across the country, and the stonework, the guard walls and the craftsmanship of the work show it. It rises through the forest in broad curves and tighter bends, with a continuous steady grade, and no barriers in places, though the edges are well marked. It is narrow, so you meet cars and cyclists at close quarters, and the surface can be wet and covered in leaves. A cloud can drop in without warning, reducing visibility to a few metres, so go slowly.

   In the nineteenth century Greylock was already a destination. Thoreau climbed it in 1844, camping on the summit, and Herman Melville, who lived at the foot of the mountain in Pittsfield and wrote Moby-Dick there, was said to have seen the whale in the long, humped shape of the ridge from his study window. The mountain's reputation for inspiring writers is as strong as its reputation for hikers, and the Appalachian Trail passes over the top.

   Rockwell Road is closed in winter, usually from late autumn through spring, when the summit is deep in snow, so check the dates before planning. A few facilities at the top, including a lodge, are open in the season. The best time is early autumn, when the maples on the lower slopes turn red and the sky is clear, though even on a hot day in July the summit is a cool relief.

3. Greylock summit pass · 1063 m

   At the summit of Greylock, you stand on the highest point in Massachusetts, at a little over a thousand metres, and the first thing you see is a tower. The Veterans War Memorial Tower, a tall granite lighthouse-shaped shaft topped by a beacon, was built in the 1930s to honour the state's war dead, and it dominates the summit. On a clear day, climbing it gives a view that people say reaches five states, over the Berkshires, the Taconic Range, the Green Mountains of Vermont and the distant Catskills. When the cloud comes down, as it often does, you see nothing at all, and the tower disappears into the mist.

   Beside it stands Bascom Lodge, a stone and timber building put up by the Civilian Conservation Corps and still operating as a hikers' lodge, with a cafe and rooms in the season. The summit area is a small, wind-scoured plateau of rock, grass and stunted spruce, and the weather can change in minutes. Temperatures are lower than in the valleys, and the wind can be sharp even in July, so a jacket is a sensible thing to carry. The Appalachian Trail passes over the summit, and through-hikers sometimes stop for a meal.

   The forest at the top is a boreal outlier, a patch of northern spruce and fir stranded in southern New England by altitude. Birds that you would expect in Canada, such as the bicknell's thrush and the blackpoll warbler, nest on the upper slopes, and in the cooler hollows the moss and ferns are thick. The whole mountain is a state reservation, and a haven for walkers, birdwatchers and, on winter weekends, cross-country skiers. In the evening, if you can stay for the sunset, the ridge is quiet and the light turns pink on the valleys below.

   Motorcyclists reach the summit by Rockwell Road from the south or by Notch Road from the north, though both are seasonal and can be closed by weather. The roads are narrow and winding, and the surface, while paved, is patchy, so ride with care. Check the weather before you commit, because fog and rain can arrive quickly, and keep warm layers handy.

4. Notch Road scenic · 700 m

   Notch Road climbs Mount Greylock from the north, and it is rougher, narrower and more atmospheric than the road from the south. It leaves the Hoosac valley near North Adams and Adams and rises steeply through a cleft in the mountain, the notch that gives it its name, with rock outcrops, spruce and a view of the valley falling away behind you. It is often closed by weather or damage, and when open it is a slow, careful ride on a surface that has seen better decades, so check the conditions before you commit.

   The valley below has a great deal of history. Adams was the birthplace of Susan B. Anthony in 1820, the champion of women's suffrage, and the house where she was born still stands. North Adams, a former mill town, now has MASS MoCA, an enormous contemporary art museum built in a converted factory, which has transformed the town's prospects. Beneath the nearby mountain runs the Hoosac Tunnel, almost five miles long, bored by hand and dynamite through solid rock in the nineteenth century at the cost of many lives, and the longest railway tunnel in the country when it opened in 1875.

   The ride up is a lesson in how quickly the forest changes. At the bottom, the woods are sugar maple, beech and yellow birch, and as you climb the trees shrink and darken into spruce and fir, with moss on the roadside rocks and the smell of resin in the air. The temperature drops, the wind picks up and sometimes the mist rolls over the road. In autumn, the lower slopes blaze red and orange, and in the upper forest the spruce stays dark and still. The corners are tight, often blind, and the road is only wide enough for one vehicle in places, so go slowly and be ready to stop.

   Fill up in North Adams or Adams before you go, since there is nothing on the mountain, and there are plenty of diners and cafes in both towns. The Mohawk Trail, Route 2, passes through North Adams and is a scenic road in its own right, with a famous hairpin and views over the valley. The road is closed to vehicles in winter, normally from late autumn until late spring, so the season for riding it is short, but worth waiting for.

5. North Adams finish · 210 m

   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.

   The Mohawk Trail, Route 2, is one of the oldest tourist roads in America, opened in 1914. It follows a path used by Native peoples long before, and it crosses the Hoosac Range with a famous hairpin turn on the western side, where the road drops into North Adams in a tight bend with a view over the valley. Nearby, the Hoosac Tunnel, almost five miles long, was bored through the mountain in the 1850s and 1860s for the railroad, a project that took more than two decades and cost the lives of nearly two hundred workers, and is still in use today. The Western Summit lookout offers a view over the town and toward Vermont and New York.

   For the ride, the western climb is the most memorable part. The road climbs steadily out of the valley with a series of tight bends, clear views and good surface, then runs east through forest and farmland along the Cold River. The curves are many and varied, and in the first half of October, when the maples turn red and orange, the road is famously beautiful and crowded. Weekends in foliage season bring heavy traffic, and mid-week is far better. Winter closes parts of the area with snow, and spring can bring mud and frost heaves.

   North Adams has several fuel stations, supermarkets and restaurants, and nearby Adams and Williamstown, home to a well-known college, have more. The road east of town has fewer services, with small shops and diners in villages, so fill up in town. A lunch at a diner, with local maple syrup on offer in season, is a pleasant way to rest.

   At the hairpin, take care on the outside of the bend, where gravel collects. The view back over the valley is worth a stop.

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