NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — More than 200 members of the Highpointers Club will be hiking, biking, driving or otherwise finding their way to the top of Mount Greylock this weekend. 

 

The annual convention of the club gathers at the highest peak in a selected state. Massachusetts was chosen as this year's location, bringing club members to the 3,491-foot summit on the Mount Greylock State Reservation.

 

"This is our 30th anniversary, we meet in a different state with the goal of getting to that state's high point," organizer Mick Dunn said. "It started out with a handful of us and now it's like about 2,500 people."

 

The club's not just for serious hikers, although there are some, but rather for those who are interested in visiting and preserving high points and in creating a community of like-minded people.  

 

"We've got world-class mountaineers, we've got people who just like to drive around in their RVs," Dunn said. "It's a fantastic way to travel around the country and see things you might not normally see, certainly not from a freeway."

 

Dunn, of Nashua, N.H., and Ruth Anne Heselbarth of North Chelmsford nominated the state at the annual convention two years ago. Heselbarth said the club votes for the location two years ahead, and rotates the nominations between the four mainland sections. This year, she said, the club will vote on a location in the Midwest to visit in 2019. 

 

This is the first time the club's been to Massachusetts as it makes its way to all 48 contiguous states. 

 

As the nominators, Dunn and Heselbarth are the hosts, though Heselbarth said Dunn was the real "party planner." The pair were on Main Street to pick up event mugs from Keith Bona's Bona Marketing, which had also done their T-shirts. 

 

The summit may be in Adams, but the club's members are spread around North County. The host hotel is the Howard Johnson's in Williamstown, with the overflow at Cozy Corner. Some are at the Holiday Inn, some at Historic Valley Campground, and others are getting the full experience by staying at Bascom Lodge on the summit. 

 

Dunn said he's gotten to know the area very well in organizing for the club's arrival. The first social takes place Thursday at Forest Park Country Club in Adams with John Morris of Golden Eagle Resaurant catering. The Golden Eagle, at 1,700 feet, is also opening on Saturday morning for a private pancake breakfast for the club. Freight Yard Pub is the location for socializing on Friday and Bounti-Fare in Adams will host the annual banquet on Saturday. 

 

If you're on Mount Greylock early Saturday afternoon, you may meet the club having its annual watermelon feast.

 

The mountain Saturday will also be the site of the annual hike lead by Lauren Stevens, from the Notch Road parking lot at 10 a.m., to commemorate Henry David Thoreau's ramble up to the peak in 1844. 

 

Club members will also be visiting some other high points in the area like Crum Hill, the tri-point marker at Hopkins Memorial Forest, Berlin Mountain and, of course, a Steeplecats game. 

 

"It's been a lot of fun and we've made a lot of lifelong friends," Dunn saidof the club.