3 Days, 48 miles, 6 Mt Greylock Climbs: Training Mission with Lisa

Lisa at Greylock summit, overlooking Adams

This is one for the books folks! Truly amazing what the body can do if you set your mind to something and dedicate yourself to regular activity and exercise. I love encountering people who have big goals—positivity and ambition are infectious, and we could all use more of it…

Lisa found TDG from google, looking for a Berkshire trail guide to help her train for a unique endurance event, “29029” where, over the course of 3 days, hikers climb the equivalent of the height of Mt. Everest (29029ft) AND hike a marathon distance of 26 miles for each of the 3 days! (79 miles total) Incredible!

No, we didn’t simulate the full event. But for the prescribed training Lisa wanted a guide to help her hike 3 consecutive days of 14-18 miles, with over 4,000ft of climbing each day.

Well, yes, we learned that Tie-Dyed Guide can do that… if that’s what you’re looking for. Mt. Greylock State Reservation is the perfect spot if you want day-long loops with big climbs (it is also great for short or medium-length hikes if that’s more your thing). We did 3 Day Journeys, huge loops, basically 2 climbs (+ descents) a day, each over 2,000’. We were pretty wiped by the end, but both felt good, achieved a real hiking feat, and Lisa felt like she learned a lot and was on the path to completing the event.

Day 1:

Loved this big 16-mile loop. 2 big climbs, start up Barnard Farm trail, hook into the Appalachian Trail for the final little uphill to Mt. Williams. So a not-too-bad 3 mile, 1700’ climb to start the training. It was warm the first day, and since the leaves are not yet unfurled, it was hot with the sun beating down on us. Don’t think we ate enough to start (lesson learned: eat a lot of carbs, fats, sugars, before and during such a big hike with lots of climbing. Don’t skimp!).

Day one. We started the tracker a bit late, so add about 2 miles. Started at the orange end point.

We descended Money Brook Trail into “The Hopper” and then the long way up Hopper Trail to Mt. Greylock. Slow and steady, we did well, and got some amazing views from the top. So nice to summit in the off-season before the road opens, as it’s pretty empty up there.

Then the long way down AT (Appalachian Trail) to Bellows Pipe taking us down the steep ridge on the East Face of the Greylock. Over the pass down the gentle, flattening out of the old Bellow Pipe road—perfect relaxing ending to day one! 2 more to go…

Me at Greylock summit. One of four climbs up here!

Day 2:

This was our “short” day as we could not start until 11:30. So, this route was pretty simple: 2 climbs up Greylock from Greylock Glen in Adams, MA. Nice loop up Gould Trail and down Cheshire Harbor (hooking into the “AT” near the top), with a shortcut through the lovely “Brookside Trail” at the bottom. Gould always feels oddly short to me, as it’s a pretty consistent incline, up 2.8 miles from the trailhead, climbing about 2,200’ each time. Lisa’s choice to take the longer Cheshire Harbor Trail back down. Good idea, as you need to be mindful of impact on your knees and ankles on descents, especially on long days. The gentler descent helped preserve us for the 3 days. (Also more interesting than just doing Gould up and down 4x.)

Great views from the top, awesome weather, and we were still feeling good when we got back to the trailhead around 6:30.

Gould Trail — AT — Cheshire Harbor Loop (2x)

Day 3:

This would be the real test. Early 7:00AM start, 12 hours rest, nearly 9,000’ of climbing and 30 miles of hiking over the previous two days, we’re up and at ‘em ready to head up the “AT” from Pattison Rd in North Adams. Got the first big 2,000’ climb out of the way right off the bat. Pretty inclined ascent up to Prospect ridge, down just a bit, and up to Mt. Williams again. Great start.

I think this is Bellows…?

Down Barnard Farm, and then the long 6-mile ascent up Bellows Pipe (the classic North Adams hike!) for second big climb of the day, up to Greylock. One steep section near the end, and we’re there. Another perfect day, and a final amazing view from the summit—the 4th for the mission.

Not done yet! A final 5-mile descent on the AT to bring us home. At this point we are feeling it, and downhill can be trickier than up when you are fatigued. Most of the challenging descent was in the last two miles down from Prospect ridge. Slow going for both of us, but we brought it home just around 5:00. A little late as Lisa was driving home that evening. But we did it! Success!

Another big Mt. Williams — Greylock loop (or “lasso”)

I’m super confident that Lisa will be able to complete the actual event in a few months, and I was glad to be a part of helping her do it. (That being said, don’t know if I could—or perhaps more accurately, would—do it) Great getting to know Lisa, and getting in some some really interesting (and helpful!) conversations. Such a cool part of the job…

I learned about my capacity and what I can offer guests. Don’t know if I could do 3 days like this regularly, but I’m definitely up for a full day of big climbs and big distance if you want to go for a real “Day Adventure”…. sign up! (or message me about it if you are curious.)

Other lessons: always eat plenty before a big climbing hike such as this, and take more food along than you think you’ll need. Drink lots of water (and it’s not a bad idea to get a water filter so you don’t have to carry all of it). Also amounts of water needed depend a lot on conditions, so keep that in mind. (i.e., the hotter and sunnier it is, the more water will be needed.) Monitor your body, take plenty of breaks to catch your breath. And yes, I think, poles are helpful. (I may write about that separately as this was the first time I used poles.)

Until next time…

-TDG