Mount Greylock Roads to Close Oct. 30
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — DCR Operator Team Leader Becky Barnes said Mount Greylock staff plan to close the mountain roads at the end of the month.
"We will just close Jones Nose gate and the Notch Gate and leave it open from here to Jones Nose as long as we can," she said.
Barnes then gave a report marking the entire year on the mountain.
Barnes said there were a couple of big snow and ice storms that impacted this mountain this year.
"One storm, in particular in February, just laid all of the trees up the mountain, and we are thankful for our crew because it took quite a bit of effort to clear all of that," Barnes said.
She reported the coldest day on the mountain was Feb. 3. It was negative 30 degrees with a windchill factor of negative 54 degrees.
"That was one of the coldest days, and we only had a few of them," Barnes said. "The rest of the winter was pretty mild."
She said the information is from the weather station on the summit that DCR are hoping to make available to the public one day.
She said much of this cleanup took place during the spring. Barnes said there were also multiple washouts to deal with. She said there has been a ton of trail work throughout the season.
Barnes presented some photos of the summit in the Spring and early Summer and noted a wildflower that had grown near the monument. Although pretty, she said the cypress spurge was invasive and must be removed.
"It was brought up to the summit by people that planted it in front of the lodge, and it has taken over the summit," she said. "It is almost impossible to get rid of."
She suspects they may have to undergo a more aggressive removal in the future.
As for the summer, Barnes said there were few instances beyond one extraction.
She said there was some illegal camping off of West Mountain Road. The homeless campers were removed.
"They were homeless folks camped out over there, and they left quite a mess," she said. "But we cleaned it up and moved them out. They didn't come back."
She said the campground remained offline all summer but they are currently working on burying electric and waterlines along Sperry Road to bring water and power to the sites and their bathrooms. The water pump will be solar-powered.
"So hopefully we can get that system in place so we can open the campground," Barnes said.
Barnes said it was a busy fall with the foliage peaking within the first few weeks of October.
"We had one really nice day where there was a line of cars all the way down the road. There was a 45-minute wait for parking," she said. "We only had a few days like that."
Tags: Mount Greylock,
