OK, so I decided to do some hiking. Well it was more of a warmup before our 'big' hike to Mt. Washington the coming weekend.
Meet da gang:
Background: Well, I'd just spent till 3 AM the night before playing Civilization IV at Sharad's place after a heavy dinner (when we decided to do a warmup trek the next day). We started at 9 AM for Mt. Greylock near the Berkshires.
Here's what happened after that...
12 PM: Somewhere near Lenox, MA. Missed the route to Greylock and took a U turn where I shouldn't have. Cop catches me. Haven't paid the fine yet. :)
1 PM: Reached the base of the mountain. We decided to drive further up and take the Appalachian trail.
1:30 PM: Missed all the parking spots and reached the spot near the base of the mountian (see map below). We didn't realize this when we first parked there.
1:45 PM: Start trekking to the top. People follow the golden 15 minute rule of trekking (according to Sharad Agrawal). Start photographing! You will see a lot of that below. The walk was just beautiful. The trail was all foggy and wet. Reminded me of Lonvala during the monsoon season.
2:15 PM: Arrgh, reached there already! We climbed up the memorial on top of the peak and came back down. But wait, Naren & Manisha got some yummy bhajiyas. :)
2:30 PM: Finished the bhajiyas. Bored. Need to trek! We didn't drive 3 hours to just walk for 1/2 hour. Decide to trek to Mt. Fitch about 3 miles from Mt. Greylock.
Started out from the parking lot.2:45 PM: Somewhere on the Appalachian trails to Mt. Fitch. Ashutosh, Naren and Daya fall behind taking photographs. Mitesh, Manisha, Sharad and I go further up.
3:40 PM: Halfway through to Mt. Fitch. This trail is deserted. No word on Naren and the rest.
4 PM: Manisha wants to turn back. So, Manisha and Mitesh turn back to meet with Naren and the rest. Sharad and I decide to trek a bit further up and then turn back.
Deciding on where to go
First Break
The edge of the world and we like it.
On top of Mt. Greylock memorial5 PM: Crossed Mt. Fitch. Went to a really beautiful waterfall. It was a small one but the water was just crystal clear. I even bottled it up and drank some. Walking back through the Money Brook trail. We were pretty convinced that we would back at the parking spot by 6:30 PM.
5:30 PM: Somewhere on the Money Brook trail, Sharad & I did not take a left and started climbing again on the Mt. Prospect trail. We didn't realize this at first but when the trail started going straight up the mountain we guessed it. Halfway up we met a couple who confirmed the same.
6 PM: We started timing ourselves cause we knew the rest of the gang would be pretty pissed as we were already late.
6:45 PM: Walking back to Sperry Road. Another horrible trail just going up.
7:15 PM: Back at Sperry Road. Called the rest of the gang. They were at another waterfall, so Sharad & I decided to walk back to the parking spot. It's starting to get dark.
8 PM: Back at the parking lot. It is really getting dark. The rest of the gang are still at the waterfall and walking back. The best part - no one has any flashlight or compass. The temperature is below 45 degrees (F). Sharad & I are both getting cold and we can't even get in the car - we don't have the keys!!
8:30 PM: Really cold now. But the strange thing is that I could only think of one thing - if the Indian restaurant that we saw in the last town would still be open. :D Yes, I was that hungry!
8:45 PM: Finally, they're back! We were more pissed at them for coming late!
9:30 PM: No Indian restaurant, but an equally good pizzeria...
If you like these photographs, you'll love the rest of them:
Greylock Photographs
Thanks to Kendurkar, the great photographer
