After summiting the highest peak in Massachusetts, we road into Williamstown, and checked into our lodging for the evening. Of course my navigation system took us down a street where it reported “Your Destination is on The Right”. And it was except it was the back side of the motel, and there was no access from where we were. Fortunately, the road builders here had prepared for just such a situation and built the road we were on, so it looped back to the main road, and the entrance to the Williamstown Motel.
My first thought about the Williamstown Motel was that we
had found a gem, and indeed we had. The owners Rocky and Naj are probably the
nicest humans in Massachusetts. Rocky had so much information about things to
do in the area, that we decided to stay another day. Our room is super clean,
has a refrigerator, microwave, coffee pot, and an air conditioner that really
did make the room as cold as winter. It got so cold that I had to turn the
thing off. The breakfast lacks the now
covid famous Jimmy Dean Croissants but has bagels, two kinds, and butter and
cream cheese.
Right in downtown Williamstown is the Mass Mo Ca
My first thought when I saw the giant sign was that the
building housed a espresso shop, and the people here are serious about espresso
beverages. That turned out to not be the case as the Mass Mo Ca is in reality
the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. So much for espresso.
Some of the outdoor public art installed by Mo Ca is quite interesting, like
the Big Bling
And this large bolder suspended by cables above the sidewalk.
One of the things here that we wanted to find was the Hoosac
Railroad Tunnel. It is listed in Atlas Obscura as one of the attractions around
here, but the directions on how to find it are well obscure.
The first address we went to off shaft road had no tunnel. I
zoomed the GPS map in, and I could see the tracks, and finally realized that
the tracks were under us. We were on top of the 4-mile-long tunnel.
Googling more information we discovered that the east end of
the tunnel is the only one that is accessible, so we headed out on the Mohawk
trail highway 2 heading to Florida…Massachusetts.
We road down some very steep roads, only to come to the
river. Walking across an old bridge we discovered the railroad tracks and
topography that could only mean that the tunnel was directly ahead of us on the
road we were on.
Several bikes had passed us as we explored the bridge, and soon we caught up to them where they parked at the east entrance to the tunnel. We chatted up these riders and were treated to some first rate cigarette secondhand smoke. They also told us if we stayed on the road we were on that it would take us back to town. We ended up going that way and the steep climb out was like a motocross hill climb on pavement.
The tracks are not rusted, so trains do come this way and the only thing that would have made the adventure of finding the tunnel better is if a train were exiting it as we took pictures.
Back on the Mohawk trail and heading back to Adams, we
stopped for lunch at the Golden Eagle Restaurant located at the famous Hairpin
Turn.
I had the Cajun blackened Haddock and a cup of chowder. Both
were excellent. Fortified we headed back to town to explore more. We were curious
about a large white head sticking out of the forest but could never find any
access or anyone that knew anything about the head. Even Rocky did not know anything
about it.
Before it started raining again, we did get to check out the two lions guarding the entrance to Spruces Park. The park was a neighborhood that was destroyed when the river flooded during Tropical Storm Irene in 2011. The forecast is calling for more rain, and that's the best kind of riding weather so we better get on the road before the river rises again...
Thanks for reading
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