Mount Greylock State Reservation

Author's Comments

The first time I drove up Greylock was a late September evening, and I remember thinking the air had the wrong weight to it. Cooler than it should have been. Thinner. The summit sits high enough that you feel the elevation in small ways before you see the view, and then the road clears the trees and the tower appears, gray stone against whatever the sky happens to be doing that hour. The tower itself is the easy photograph. Ninety-three feet of granite, finished in 1933, and at golden hour in October it catches a kind of warm side light that the surrounding ridges throw back at it. I prefer to work the tower against the sky rather than the view, which sounds backwards but holds up. The horizon from Greylock is wide and layered - the Taconics to the west, the Greens to the north, the Catskills further out on a clear day - and a wide lens is the obvious choice. But the layers compress beautifully with something longer. The ridges go blue in series, each a little paler than the one in front, and on the right evening the furthest range almost disappears into the haze. Stay for the tower lit at last light. Stay later if you can. Greylock is one of the better dark sky locations in the state, and the Milky Way arc above the memorial is the photograph I keep coming back for. The auto road closes by November, so the window is shorter than it feels. The summit runs fifteen to twenty degrees colder than the base. Bring more layers than you think.

Gallery