Greenfield — Where the Valleys Meet

You're coming through Greenfield now, the biggest town you'll see on this whole drive and the hinge where the flat river valley ends and the mountains begin. Three rivers braid together right around here — the broad Connecticut, the whitewater Deerfield, and the little Green River that gives the town its name — and for thousands of years that meeting of waters made this a crossroads for everyone who traveled the region.

Up on the ridge east of downtown there's a stone lookout called the Poet's Seat Tower, named for a local poet who liked to sit up there and take in the valley; it's a lovely short detour if you ever have an hour. But our road, Route 2, is about to leave all this behind. Just west of Greenfield the Mohawk Trail tilts uphill and starts to climb, and it pretty much doesn't stop climbing until you're up in the Berkshires an hour from now.

So enjoy the last of the easy valley driving. Fill your tank if you're low — the towns get small and far apart from here on out. And get ready: the good stuff, the real Mohawk Trail, starts the moment the road begins to rise.