A beautiful Friday with copious rain forecast for the weekend sent me to my two Berkshire Hiking bibles, AMC’s Best Day Hikes in the Berkshires and the Williams Outing Club’s Northern Berkshire Outdoor Guide in search of a nice long hike in the Mount Greylock Reservation for Lucy, my lab-mix trail dog, and I. Decided on a loop heading into the Hopper, up Mount Prospect, north to the Appalachian Trail and then back down the Money Brook trail, a 7.8 mile loop according to the WOC Outdoor guide. Packed my bag and off we went. Hopper Brook was gorgeous on this fine April day, as was Money Brook as we progressed up the Money Brook trails nice easy approach to Mt. Prospect. Money Brook was named for a group of counterfeiters, hanged in Albany in the late 1700′s, who are said to have hidden out along the banks of the brook. Their ghosts allegedly haunt the surrounding woods. I did not feel their presence today. Once we hit the junction of the Mount Prospect trail I realized why that part of the hike, listed as one mile, had been labeled Aggressive on the Hiking Trail Mileages page. I was looking forward to the second mile along the ridge of Prospect, which was listed as Easy. The first part of the approach had a few sections where I had to use my hands to get up it, then a long section of “where the hell is the top”, that was one long mile! We were rewarded by a gorgeous view of the Hopper, the “Purple Valley” and the Taconic range at an overlook just short of the summit of Prospect. A look towards the SouthWest revealed the long delayed but soon to be spinning Berkshire Wind project on Brodie Mountain.
A welcome rest period and then onward we went in search of the summit. We reached the summit (2690 feet) and I managed to get a picture of Lucy by the rock cairn marking the summit after about 5 tries as once she is on the trail getting her to stop or sit in the first 5 miles is near impossible. After she is good and tired out though she just follows in my footsteps.
Onward along the Easy part of the hike, another mile until an overlook and the junction with the Appalachian Trail. Incredible view on this cloudless clear day, to the NorthWest you could see the Adirondacks in the distance and Williamstown just below.
A short way east on the Appalachian trail, through some thick Red Spruces we meet back up with the Money Brook trail, 3.3 miles left on our journey for today. But first we head in a short sidetrail, 0.1 miles, to the Money Brook Falls, which I figured would be pretty nice given the sheer amount of snow we had this winter. I was right.
From the falls, pretty much downhill back to the Hopper Road parking area, about 3 miles. The trails runs above the Money Brook for most of it, the relaxing sound of the water below. Caught a glimpse of what I think was a bear above us, not sure though, just caught the size and movement out of the corner of my eye.
Back down to the original Mount Prospect trail junction, we crossed the Money Brook and then a smaller tributary, missing a rock both times and ending up with wet feet. A hiking word of wisdom, WOOL socks. Despite getting both feet soaked on those crossings, within 5 minutes they were warm again. 1 1/2 miles of gentle downhill and we were back at the car. In retrospect, I will say that this has to be one of my favorite Mount Greylock hikes, especially in the Spring with the Falls and Brooks running high. Another great day in the Berkshires.
