Backpack Trail Guide

Trails / Massachusetts / Berkshires

Appalachian Trail: Dalton, Mount Greylock, and the Vermont Line (Gulf Road to the Massachusetts-Vermont Border)

Appalachian National Scenic Trail, Mount Greylock State Reservation, and Clarksburg State Forest area, northern Berkshires (Dalton, Cheshire, Adams, North Adams, Williamstown)

The northern end of the Massachusetts AT climbs from Dalton over Crystal Mountain and the Cheshire Cobbles, then makes the long climb to the summit of Mount Greylock, at 3,491 feet the state’s highest point. From there it drops to North Adams and climbs again to the Vermont line, where the AT begins its 105-mile overlap with the Long Trail.

Hiker Writer calls Greylock’s climb of about 2,500 feet “more than anything northbound thru-hikers have seen since Virginia.”

The hike

From the Gulf Road trailhead in Dalton, Berkshires Outside says the trail climbs 3.3 miles to the Crystal Mountain Campsite, and mentions large hemlocks along Barton Brook and climbs over Day Mountain and North Mountain. n2backpacking describes Gore Pond about a half mile beyond, then the Cobbles, “a large rock outcropping that overlooks the town of Cheshire.” Berkshires Outside says it’s 7.7 miles from Gulf Road to Cheshire.

In Cheshire the trail passes through town near the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail. SectionHiker describes a ladder stile over barbed wire on private land, a cornfield and pasture, and then a climb of about 1,500 feet over roughly 3 miles toward the Mark Noepel Shelter. The DCR’s Greylock mileages put the summit 6.8 miles from Outlook Avenue in Cheshire. An AMC Outdoors writer describes balsam firs and rocky, slippery sections on the way down the same stretch.

The summit has the Veterans War Memorial Tower and Bascom Lodge, which n2backpacking says has bunkrooms, showers, meals, and a snack bar. The 2008 Hampden-Sydney trip report photographed the war memorial, the lodge, and Mount Fitch beyond.

North of the summit, the Wilbur Clearing Shelter sits 0.3 mile off the AT on the Money Brook Trail. The AMC Outdoors writer, coming up from North Adams, described steep rock steps 3.1 miles from Pattison Road to Mount Williams, 2,951 feet, then 2.3 miles to the summit, plus a hairpin turn that’s easy to miss. SectionHiker also briefly lost the trail near the Mount Williams overlook.

After North Adams, where SectionHiker crossed the Hoosic River and railroad tracks on well-marked streets, the trail follows Sherman Brook, which he describes as paralleling the AT with swimming pools. The Sherman Brook Campsite is 1.8 miles north of Massachusetts Avenue. SectionHiker then climbed about 1,500 feet over a talus slope to Eph’s Lookout and passed the Pine Cobble Trail junction, where the blue blazes can confuse hikers, before a fairly flat ridge walk to the state line.

n2backpacking says the line is “marked only by a sign in the woods.” With no road there, plan to descend the Pine Cobble Trail to Williamstown or continue about three miles to County Road in Vermont.

The section to the south is Upper Goose Pond to Dalton. For a shorter loop over Greylock with a night at Wilbur Clearing, see the Mount Greylock Hopper loop.

Tips

Camping

The ATC says camping in Massachusetts is restricted to designated sites; AMC Western Massachusetts says stealth camping isn’t permitted and fires go only in central fire rings. The DCR map limits camping groups to 10 and stays to two consecutive nights. On Greylock, DCR says the five shelters are open year-round, shared, not reservable, and hold up to 12 people.

Sites, south to north (AMC Western Massachusetts):

Inside Intel: New England Waterfalls calls the Mark Noepel Shelter a good base for the summit and rates it 7 of 10, while saying Wilbur Clearing, on the north slope, doesn’t work as well for a summit base. The Transcending Mountains author hung a hammock at Crystal Mountain in 2013 and shared it with a group of “12+ backpacking college students.”

Trail facts

The Lowdown

Refuel in Cheshire for the Greylock climb:

North of Cheshire, it's 6.8 miles and a long climb to the state's highest summit. See the trail meals reviewers rate for big-climb days.

See what testers chose →

Where this comes from

This page draws on the sources below, along with other guides and trip reports. Links go to the original pages.

Before you go: This page is based on published trail guides, trip reports, and reviews, along with official park and agency information where we could find it. It’s meant to help backpackers discover new trails, not to replace current, official information. Conditions, closures, permits, campsites, and water sources change, and some details here may be out of date or wrong. Confirm everything with the managing agency and check current conditions before you head out, and don’t rely on this page alone for safety or navigation. Backcountry travel involves risk.