Location: Mt. Washington, MA
Distance: 5 or 6 miles
Elevation Gain: I would guess >2000 ft
Date: August 20, 2005

We met up with our friend Andy in the exciting town of Torrington, CT for the purpose of hiking. The drive was suppose to take a little over five hours but ended up being over eight due to traffic. Yuck. We had hiked up the tallest mountain in Massachusetts (Mt. Greylock) last year and we were taking on number two this year. (This is Massachusetts so that is not too impressive.) Mount Everett is in the southeast corner of the state in a small state reservation. The Appalachian Trail crosses over the top of the mountain as it is wont to do with mountains. The day was not too warm — good for hiking. It was raining lightly, and it was foggy. It would remain that way for the entire hike.

The trail was a typical Appalachian type of trial. It was not wide like the access roads we have been hiking on lately. It had plenty of roots and rocks to trip you and it was also easy to miss a trail blaze in several sections. We were fortunate that even though it was raining the forest canopy was thick enough so that we did not get wet until we got up above the tree line. Shannon had blister problems and did the last mile to the summit in bare feet. Crazy.

The view from the summit was nothing to write home about as can be seen in the photo on the right. The waterfall that was suppose to be a big attraction was also a disappointment because the summer had reduced it to nothing more than a trickle. That's fine because we got to feast on beef jerky and trail mix at the top on what was left of an old fire tower. Hiking up a few thousand feet makes a person appreciate things like granola.

The highlight on the way down was the discovery of a large blueberry patch overflowing with berries. The whole hike was enough that we felt it in our legs on the way down — not enough to be sore the next day, but enough to be glad that we did not have to walk any further.