OK, time for another shelter info post. Nopel shelter is on the south side of the Mt Greylock “massif”. That is to say it’s on the shoulder of Saddleball Mountain, the 2nd highest in the state. It’s a typical “Massachusetts” style like Kay Wood and other shelters build beginning in the early ‘80’s. Sleeps about a dozen folks, with bunks and an overhanging loft. There’s a picnic table beneath the overhang and a fire ring out front.


Adjacent to the shelter are 3 tent platforms, and a couple more earthen tent sites. A blue blaze trail to the water is to the left (Trail-east) of the shelter, past the tent sites. In the drier months, you have to forage pretty far downstream to find water at the surface, but it’s there.

Privy is on the hill to the right of the shelter and was moved onto a new hole in 2003.

The shelter has no views, but is within the territory of perhaps the most brazen porcupine in all of New England. Even before it gets dark, this beastie is roaming around the underbrush in front of the shelter, just waiting for things to settle down so he can start shortening his teeth. One of our Ridgerunners tells the story of how he awoke one night to find the critter on his chest—he was sleeping on the top bunk.

This shelter is probably the most remote in the state—that is to say it’s at least two miles from a road crossing, and even further from an AT road crossing. Materials for this shelter were ferried in by helicopter.