Hiking - Mountain laurel extravaganza on the AT in Massachusetts

Every year, Holly and I hike someplace where the ground is thick with mountain laurel, but not yet in bloom. And every year, we swear to return to whatever place that was and catch the blooming laurel. It's never happened. This weekend, we got a report from a friend that the Appalachian Trail in southwestern Massachusetts was alive with blooming laurel, so today, we headed over there to finally fulfill that promise. And it was amazing, and everywhere.





We started at the parking area on Mount Everett Reservation, and headed north along the AT as far as Mount Bushnell, which the map promised had a view. And a view there was, making a great lunch spot.



But the real show today was the laurel. Once we got back to the car, we started driving out the entrance road, but couldn't pass up an opportunity to catch the view over Gilder Pond. The laurel here was even more striking, reflected in the water, and creating a scene that almost doesn't look real.



It was a short hike, but served the purpose extremely well. We'd never seen laurel quite like this before, and thoroughly enjoyed the day. Of course, there was also ice cream on the way home.