Way On Top Of Mount Greylock

Well, Brian and I are off tomorrow morning for a two day stint at Massmoca in North Adams. Lesa and I were in North Adams last weekend. We drove out there (through the hairpin curve) and then took the road up Mt. Greylock.

Have you ever done that? What an insane road. Mt. Greylock is the highest point in Massachusetts. Which isn't saying much really. It's under 4000 feet. You wouldn't even notice it if you lived in Colorado. But, it's still kind of cool.

It doesn't go up high enough to be above the treeline but the vegetation is a bit different near the top, it's more like what you find on Cape Cod...smaller scragglier trees.

The narrow bumpy two-way road, that leads to the top, weaves in and out between these trees and rocks and streams. The undergrowth is lush and obscures the edges of the road. It feels like you are driving through some lost highway or like you are heading into pre-historic times.



At the "peak" is this really cool looking lighthouse and a nice campy-feeling lodge, in which you can actually stay overnight. They have a big fireplace and picnic tables with board games and a small snack bar.

I vaguely remember camping and climbing Mount Greylock when I was but a wee lad. I think my family was on a quest to climb all the highest points in each state of New England.

Now here's and example of the power of music for you - while we were there, my brother made up a verse to the popular camp children's song "Boom Boom Ain't It Great To Be Crazy". Do you know that song?

My brother's verse went like this:

"Way on top of Mount Greylock
Someone caught a chicken pock.
Everyone screamed and ran away.
Nobody's been up there, 'til this day."

That was probably almost 25 years ago and for some insane reason, I remember it. I don't recall anything else from the trip. The lighthouse tower had a bit of a dreamlike I-think-I've-been-here-before-feeling but nothing definate.

Oh wait, maybe my other brother fell down in the woods and cut his leg. Or that could have been a different trip somewhere else.

Anyway, for the next two days, Brian and I will be rehearsing and performing this crazy musical in the shadows of Mt. Greylock. Maybe the childhood voices of my brothers and I singing that chicken pock song will still be echoing through the valley.

Probably not.