The Berkshires 2012

21-27 October 2012

War Memorial on summit of Mt Greylock

After the fall USHPA board of directors meeting in Newburgh C.J. and I planned to spend a week in a timeshare condo near Hancock, MA. Our plan was to do some sightseeing and some hiking. We didn’t bring our paragliders with us because we didn’t expect that the weather would be very good for flying. The condo week was an “extra” thrown in by RCI when we bought a cruise package last December. Originally we were going to use the other possible extra, a three-day hotel stay in Boston, but that was no longer available when we tried to book it. Little did we know that our week at the resort would be the last good weather in the Northeast before the arrival of Superstorm Sandy the next week.

21 Oct, Sun – You know: same breakfast at the Ramada again. About 0930 I took the shuttle to the airport,

the only passenger, while C.J. finished packing up and moving out. After fending off a bunch of upselling from Budget, I checked out a Ford Fiesta with Florida plates. [It might have been fun to upgrade to a RAV4 but not for $10 more per day. Besides, the Fiesta got better than 35 mpg.] Around 1000 C.J. and I got started for Washingtonville in quest of the cemetery where her dad is buried. After getting mixed up by the St. Mary’s cemetery entrance and the relocated entrance to the Washingtonville Cemetery, we found our way in and, with a little searching, found the correct Tuthill plot (located behind the big funeral home on Toleman Rd.) After some photos C.J. suggested that we try to find my family’s graves in Walden since we were going to drive through there anyway. Wallkill Valley Cemetery is much larger and my memory was hazy – it’s been 38 years – about the location. We found the cemetery but had no luck finding the graves even after calling Wayne for his help. Naturally, the cem. office was closed on Sunday. Heading

6 Overlook Terrace

on through Walden I managed to find the street leading to Overlook Terrace and we drove up to look at my folks’ Walden home where I lived for only a short time. It hardly looked changed although there was a new street running parallel to Overlook behind the house. Along the way to Ellenville we stopped for an ice cream lunch in Pinebush and did not find the turnoff to Paul Voight’s house and business. Near the crest of the ridge we took a scenic detour through Cragsmoor which came back out on Rte 52 (right at the entrance to the road to the E-ville takeoff). The GPS helped us find Cohen’s Bakery again on this trip and we waited for a just-baked loaf of raisin pumpernickel bread (well, ¼ loaf, about two lbs, $8 worth). We also picked up a grab bag for $2.50 which was labeled “choc” and turned out to contain two éclairs, two cream puffs, and four chocolate and almond paste rollups – great deal. The E-ville LZ was pretty empty except for Bryon Estes and another instructor who were working with a couple of students on the conical training hill at the east end of the LZ. Bryon said it was windy up at launch level so there hadn’t been anyone flying. Shortly afterward we saw a hang glider launch and it looked like he or she was staying up. We didn’t stick around but waded back out of the soggy field and returned to the road. The trip over the Gunks on Rte 44-55 was colorful with autumn foliage and there were plenty of other people out admiring the view, so many that Minnewaska State Park had run out of parking space and was turning away cars. We couldn’t see any climbers on the cliffs from the road, but all those parking lots were full, too. After a stop at Jenkins-Lueken’s orchard stand to get some fresh cider, we ran into a traffic jam trying to get through the narrow main street of New Paltz. We tried to avoid the worst of it by turning north toward Rosendale before crossing the Wallkill River. Nothing looked familiar along the route although I knew that I had spent time out in the Rosendale vicinity doing field geology. [I did spot one of the mines that followed a layer of limestone (used for cement) along the dip of the formation.] We stopped at Walmart in Kingston to stock up on groceries since the resort we were heading for was in a small town without a large food store. We crossed the Hudson to Rhinebeck, went north on Rte 9G, then followed 9, 66 and 22 to where we turned off on Brodie Mtn Rd to Hancock, MA, and Vacation Village in the Berkshires, an RCI gold crown resort across the road from Jiminy Peak Ski Area (arriving about 1715). Checking in was easy and we were glad to settle into our small, one-bedroom unit with a tiny kitchen containing a microwave, two-burner hot plate, and a full-size refrigerator. Most of our travel day had been sunny but it got overcast later in the day. We were hoping for a clear day Monday to visit nearby Mt. Greylock.

Greylock War Memorial

C.J. on Greylock launch

22 Oct, Mon – We were up at 0700 and saw clouds streaking across the sky. But there were a few blue holes so we decided to go to Greylock and hope for the best. We got to the visitor center just before it was due to open and found it closed for renovation, the first of the clues that the season was about over. We picked up a trail map at the kiosk and headed up Rockwell Road toward the 3491ft summit. At the second hairpin turn we found the trailhead parking lot we were looking for at about 3000ft. We followed the Appalachian Trail up to the summit crossing the road twice and passing by a small pond in the late autumn hardwoods. Trails were generally rocky with some wet places, not enough to get our footwear wet. [I was wearing my trail shoes, not my usual boots.] On the top,

Appalachian Trail to Greylock Summit

the highest point in MA, we walked around the 90ft-tall War Memorial built ca. 1931 in the shape of a lighthouse. On the east side, overlooking the city of Adams, we found an obvious HG/PG launch right down to the orange flagging on a tree branch. No one was flying of course – it was both blown out and over the back. The stone Bascom Lodge built by the CCC was closed for the season (as of 10/22) so we couldn’t go inside to look at our map out of the winds, much less get a bowl of soup. To continue our hike as a loop we took the Overlook Trail N from the summit, then E along the face of Greylock (but in the forest, so views were rare), then

March Cataract

S and down to the road at the bottom of the hairpin turn. Since it was only 1140, we drove down to the pullout at Sperry Road (gated) and walked in to the campground where we took a trail to the March Cataract.The trail climbed a bit and then descended steeply to a good view of a narrow cascading stream where we ate lunch. After we climbed back out of the gorge to the campground, we walked another mile along Sperry Road to Stony Ledge for a view E to Mt. Greylock and The Hopper, a conservation area. Retracing our route we returned along the gravel road down to the campground and up to where we had left the car on Rockwell Road. Enough hiking for the day! To make our driving route a loop also, we drove over the summit and then took Notch Road down to the base of Greylock near North Adams. I refilled the gas tank at a Sunoco just outside of Williamstown (385.9 – cheaper than gas in NY). We returned to the condo via Rte 43 in brilliant afternoon sunshine which highlighted the few trees retaining their fall colors (mostly yellow and bronze by now). We were ‘home” by 1700.

23 Oct, Tue – We were up around 0800 and after breakfast we went over to the front desk and talked to the concierge. She gave us some info on local sightseeing and a printout on Brace Mtn. We spent a little time in the computer room, the only place with a free internet connection and only on their computers. Back at our unit we decided to give Brace a try and packed our hiking gear into the car along with C.J.’s computer and iPad. C.J. called Benoit Bruneau at Let’s Go Paragliding (Brace Mtn) and left a message. As we were heading through Hancock it started raining lightly so we changed the plan to do something locally starting at AAA in Pittsfield. We drove by Hancock Shaker Village and then through Pittsfield to the east side and picked up a Tour Book and some info pamphlets at AAA. McDonalds provided us some free wi-fi time from the parking lot so C.J. could download her scrapbooking stuff, and I picked up email on my phone. Then we went into the city center to the Athenaeum/library which had an

"Barking Dog"

interesting room devoted to Herman Melville, author of Moby Dick which he wrote while living nearby. [Supposedly the view of Mt Greylock from his house reminded him of a whale.] Later we walked over to the Berkshire Museum, Theater and Tourist Information Center, unmanned on this off season. The museum accepted our Pacific Science Center membership for admission so we spent an hour and a half or more viewing an amazing assortment of exhibits including dinosaurs, animals, dioramas, innovation, a gallery of paintings from the Hudson

Contemporary beadwork

River School, and a room of full-size plaster casts of famous statues: Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, the Discus Thrower. In addition there was a featured exhibit titled “Rethinking American Indian Art” (photos, left and right). We left Pittsfield around 1600 heading up Rte 7. There wasn’t much to see in Lanesboro so we continued to Brodie Mtn Rd and the condo. C.J. made another chicken stir fry and we had another éclair for dessert. Except for the heavy overcast and occasional showers it was a good day.

24 Oct, Wed – Expecting another gloomy day we slept in a bit later and didn’t get on the road for our tour of the Mohawk Trail until 1000 or later. Our first stop was in the beautiful, old town of Williamstown. Almost all the buildings, especially those of Williams College looked to be of 19^th century construction. We walked the main shopping street stopping at “Where Did You Get That?”, a gift, toy and game shop then completed a loop by taking Rte 43 and back past the old observatory building and art museum (photo, left). Our next stop was a bust as the Westgate Heritage Center in North Adams was closed most of the week during the off season. However, leaving the urban area of North Adams behind we found Natural Bridge State Park and walked the gated road to the boardwalks that led to various views of the marble quarry on one side and the natural bridge (photo, right) above a potholed gorge. There was a dam and a pond with an abandoned penstock above the gorge that had once been used to power the quarry operation. We returned to the Mohawk Trail and climbed past the hairpin turn to the Western Summit. At the Whitcomb Summit we stopped again near the decrepit wooden lookout tower (which went perfectly with the mostly abandoned cabins and motel since replaced by a modern inn). We took some photos of the Elk Memorial and then descended the steep Whitcomb Road to the Deerfield River. Following the river upstream we came to the eastern portal of the Hoosac RR Tunnel built in 1877 with a loss of 195 workers even though the new use of tri-nitroglycerin, electric blasting caps and

Sugarbush with tubes

air-powered drills had replaced black powder and hand drills). We continued up the road toward the town of Monroe Bridge stopping to see if the visitor center was open at the Bear Swamp Hydro Project (it wasn’t, no surprise). The GPS said we could continue in a loop and come out on the MT near Charlemont. On the way we stopped for pictures of a maple sugar operation with all the plastic tubes and pipes leading to a sugar house. Back on the MT, we backtracked a short

"Hail to the Sunrise"

distance to see the famous “Hail to the Sunrise” statue, a memorial to the Mohawk Indians sponsored by The Improved Oder of the Redmen. We skipped the covered bridge near Charlemont and went right to Shelburne Falls where we parked near the potholes below Salmon Falls and walked across the highway bridge for a view of The Bridge of Flowers, a repurposed trolley bridge covered with a layer of soil and planted with flowers and other vegetation (photo, left). We also found the Fudge Factor and got ice cream cones. After a final stop at the local VC, we headed out of town and mostly downhill through Greenfield, then south (leaving the MT behind) through Deerfield to the 90,000 sq ft Yankee Candle Village. It was full of candles in jars, plus lots of Christmas ornaments, other seasonal stuff, food, and tons of nifty-gifties. Escaping without leaving any money behind we drove the short distance to the trailhead for

Connecticut River from Mt Sugarloaf

Mt Sugarloaf State Res. Although it was after 1700 and the gate was closed, folks who had just returned from the summit said it was very worthwhile, so we decided to do the short hike. It was a scramble, up a steep, slippery-with-leaves trail to the 650 ft summit crowned with a stone, 3-story lookout tower. We climbed up the open spiral stairs to the observation platform where we could look out over the broad Connecticut River valley. Avoiding the good chance of a slip on the dry leaves, we took the paved road back to the trailhead and reached the car in about an hour total elapsed time. From South Deerfield we set the GPS to take us “home” trusting that it would take the best route. It did, without even taking us on any interstates or the Mass Pike. We were back around 1900 and C.J. whipped up some homemade soup from the bones of that rotisserie chicken we bought back on Sunday. The sky had been overcast all day with just a bit of sunshine late in the day around Deerfield.

25 Oct, Thu – For some reason we had a wi-fi connection provided by the resort in the morning. [Hope we didn’t somehow agree to the $10 per day charge.] Since the weather is forecast to be better on Friday, we decided to do another hike closer to home on Mt. Greylock again. We got to the Sperry Rd parking lot about 1130 and headed off along the CCC Dynamite Trail. Despite its name, the trail was an almost level walk in the woods. Once we hit the Jones Nose Trail we started climbing (photo, right). A rocky opening just off the trail was signed “View of Catskills” and we stopped there for lunch (photo, below left). There was a bit more climbing after lunch and we joined the AT. We were glad to see the overcast begin to break up and there was some sunshine. We followed the ridge crest in forest for a ways and then began to descend. We had been expecting the second viewpoint to be up on the ridge crest but we only caught glimpses of the Greylock summit through the trees until we were almost to the parking lot at the upper hairpin turn. Great view of the War Memorial tower from there! We stopped for a break at the parking lot, then headed down the road the short distance to the lower hairpin. There we ducked back into the woods on the Hopper Trail and followed it to Sperry Road and back to the car. It seemed like a perfect flying day for Greylock with the sun out and a SE wind so we drove to the top. No paragliders or hang gliders were there and more preparations for the winter were in evidence: the iron ranger for the parking fee had been wrapped up and the large bronze map-model of the mountain had been surrounded by a snow fence and protected with several 2x4s. The city of Adams was still on our list of places to visit so we drove down the Notch Road again, but this time cutting off on Reservoir Rd to N Adams. Then we turned south on Rte 8S toward Adams. We made a short stop at a Goodwill to buy a Tupperware container for our cream cheese and butter. Disappointingly, but not unexpected, the VC had closed at 1500, so we were on our own for a walking tour. [Too bad, because the view into the museum associated with the VC showed part of an exhibit about the 10^th Mountain Division.] We walked a loop past restored Victorian houses and large, old churches some of which had been repurposed as Masonic or Elk lodges or, in the case of the RC church of Pope John Paul the Great, the parish center. Clearly the town had had a much larger population in the past when the textile mills were operating, and a sizable ethnic population as well if the large RC church of St. Stanislaus Kostka (photo, right) was any evidence. On the drive into town we had seen many old, brick row houses/tenements that appeared to be still in use. Sadly the only ice cream shop we passed was closed, probably for the season. In fact, a good number of the storefronts on Commercial Street were vacant or had closed signs. After completing our walk, we drove south out of town making only one more stop at a big farm stand before heading through Cheshire and Lanesborough back to the resort. C.J. came up with another good meal based on some of the remaining chicken meat.

 26 Oct, Fri – Our last day in the Berkshires (or Taconics, or wherever…) and the weather did not look to be the stellar day that was forecast. Nevertheless, we got going by 0930 heading for a hike up Brace Mtn. As we approached Copake Falls on Rte 22 we saw that the tops of the mountains were all in the clouds. So instead of turning off and finding our way to the eastern trailhead, we continued on to Boston Corners, turned left on BC Road and found the Brace Paragliding Club (or Let’s Go Paragliding HQ). We were in luck – Benoit Bruneau was there with three new students and one more experienced student. The three were just learning to inflate their wings with forward runs into the light wind. We hung around and helped fluff wings for a while. Later Benoit (ben WAH) brought out a small Flying Planet wing with an equally small harness for C.J. to kite. At noon the class broke for lunch and we decided to give Brace a try even though the overcast had not broken. Since the trail(s) on the east side started at a higher elevation (1900’, rather than 950’ on the west) we returned to Copake Falls and drove up the winding, scenic road past some old ironworks and Bash Bish Falls State Park into MA, then S on East Street/Mt. Washington Rd to the CT border and a parking lot for the route to Brace over Round Mtn and Mt Frissel. We continued on another mile to a gated road and a bit farther to a larger place to park. We followed the straight and wide old roadbed up a bit and then down to cross a stream. The footing was difficult with lots of round rocks, some hidden by drifts of leaves – very tough on C.J.’s neuroma on the sole of her foot. Beyond the stream the narrowing trail climbed steeply for a short distance before arriving at an intersection with the South Taconic Trail (It had taken about an hour). We were really “winging it” and weren’t sure where we were in relation to the summit of Brace so we turned right (north) and shortly found trail signs indicating Brace was to the south. We could see down to the wide valley below, and probably the Catskills would have been visible if the day had been less cloudy. We could see that Benoit had begun doing short, ground-skimming tows with his students using his powered winch. The Brace launch was right on the summit of the 2400’ mountain just below a large cairn with a big windsock (photo, left). We didn’t have to feel disappointed that we didn’t have our wings because the wind was crossing sharply from the south. It was already pretty late so we didn’t spend much more time on Brace. We had decided to do a loop to return even though that would require a mile walk along East Street to reach the car. Taking a right off the S. Taconic, we headed for Mt. Frissel, descending 300 ft to the tripoint of NY, MA, and CT (photo, right) and then climbing steeply on rocks to the highest point in CT (on the shoulder of Mt. Frissel). We continued to the 2450’ nondescript summit of Frissel and descended steeply into the saddle between Frissel and Round. The climb up to the rocky summit of Round was also steep and the descent likewise. Then it was a straightforward hike out to the road and a long mile to the car. We got started on the way home around 1740 and took the scenic route through Great Barrington and Stockbridge (both look worth exploring even without the Halloween gatherings that evening in each) to Pittsfield and the usual route home (arriving about 1900). C.J. reprised her menu of the previous night while I went to the computer room to check in for our flight and print out boarding passes. After dinner we packed up for our planned 0830 departure for our 1255 flight, and planned our route for the next day.

27 Oct, Sat – We were checked out by 0845 and on the way south to intersect with the Taconic State Parkway just south of the Berkshire section of the NY Thruway. The Taconic wasn’t as interesting as driving through all the little towns but it was conveniently speedy. The GPS kept insisting that we cross the Hudson and take the Thruway – maybe it gets a cut of the tolls. Instead we continued south to I-84 and crossed the river at Newburgh. Since we were early we stopped for a break at Walmart and finished up the last of the cider that we had carried in our thermos. Then we filled the tank up with gas, more expensive in NY at $3.859 (although ten cents cheaper than a week ago!) and drove the last mile to Stewart. Turning in the rental went smoothly once I got it parked in the right lot. We dropped off our checked bag and waited for our flight to Detroit. Once more we had to gate check our carry-on suitcases at the jetway but that was not a problem since we had all of our inflight food and amusements in our backpacks. The route was mostly in the clouds and we arrived a little early which was good since we had another long walk to the far end of the terminal. We arrived just as our zone was finishing boarding and walked right on. The plane was full up and it was a long flight but we had plenty of electronic devices and books/puzzles to keep us occupied. It was cloudy over most of the country and it was raining in Seattle when we arrived. There was a pretty long wait for our shuttle to the parking lot, but the low price made up for the small inconvenience ($3.99/day plus taxes At Americas Best Value Inn/Parking arranged through airportparking.com). We were home by 1900 to a cold house, but a quick fire in the woodstove warmed the place right up.