The Hairpin Turn — the Mohawk Trail's dramatic switchback above North Adams, with a near-180-degree bend and a sweeping overlook of the city, Mount Greylock, and the mountains of Vermont and New York.
Slow down and pay attention here, because you're coming into the single most famous piece of this road: the Hairpin Turn. In a moment Route 2 is going to bend back on itself almost a full one hundred and eighty degrees as it drops off the shoulder of the mountain toward North Adams. Take it easy, use your low gear on the way down, and mind the folks who slow to gawk — because the view off this turn is worth gawking at.
There's an overlook right at the bend, and from it the whole city of North Adams is spread out below you in the valley, with Mount Greylock — the highest peak in Massachusetts — rising up beyond it, and the mountains of Vermont and New York stacked behind that. It's one of the grand views of New England, and it has been drawing motorists here since the road opened in 1914.
That building on the turn is the Golden Eagle, a restaurant that's stood on this spot almost as long as the road itself — and Boone will tell you about the runaway trucks that gave this bend its white-knuckle reputation. For now: brakes cool, eyes open, and roll on down into North Adams.
Photo: Tichnor Bros. Inc., Boston, Mass. · Public domain
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