This map is intended to be used in conjunction with the site profile text in the TRAIL RUNNING Western Massachusetts guidebook (Kimball 2015, UPNE).
Suggested Route Distance: 13 Miles
Alternate route options:
Mt. Greylock is a large mountain, and it certainly deserves more than one trail profile. The route described in the book takes runners on a big loop that offers a diverse sampling of the western side of the mountain. The ones suggested below describe other ways to explore the vast network of trails here.
1. Hopper Trail / Haley Farm Trail loop option
This reverse lollipop route is similar in some ways to the circuit described in the book, but is significantly shorter (and easier) and substitutes the Hopper Trail for the Mt. Prospect Trail, affording less diversity in terms of views but allowing for an easier ascent of the mountain. The Hopper Trail climbs at a relatively gradual grade with good footing as it slabs diagonally up the hillside. At the Sperry Campground, continue up to the summit on the Hopper Trail. Then return to the campground the same way, and descend via the Haley Farm Trail as described in the book. One way to add some diversity to this option that would slightly increase the length and make it more of a figure-8 loop would be to return from the summit via the Overlook Trail, which has some nice westward views.
2. Greylock Half-Marathon route
Each year, the Western Massachusetts Athletic Club hosts a half-marathon trail race on the eastern and southern sides of the mountain. The follow description approximates the race course, but shortens and simplifies it slightly. Starting at and of the small roadside trailheads off of Gould Rd or Thiel Rd in Greylock Glen, ascend the Thunderbolt Trail (excellent approaches to the lower portions include the Bucket, Whitetail, and Bellows Pipe Trails, as well as the Thunderbolt Trail itself) to the summit. Then descend to the south on the AT (you could shorten the loop considerably by taking a left and returning via either the Gould Trail or a combination of both the Gould and Cheshire Harbor Trails). Continue south on the Saddle Ball Mtn. Trail to the summit of Saddle Ball Mtn. You could choose to slightly shorten the run here by descending the AT for 1.3 miles to Old Adams Rd. Take a right and descend on the Jones Nose Trail, bearing left in 0.5 miles at a junction with the CCC Dynamite Trail. After dropping through the open fields below Jones Nose, turn left/east at the parking lot and return to Greylock Glen via the Old Adams Rd and Gould Trails.
To purchase either a hardcopy or ebook version of the Trail Running Western Massachusetts guidebook, please visit a local bookseller or click here (Amazon), here (Barnes & Noble), or here (the publisher).
All photos copyright 2014 by Ben Kimball unless otherwise noted.