Canoe Meadows, Pittsfield, Massachusetts

Bright fall colors: Top 10 walks
By Clarence Fanto, Special to The Eagle




Thursday, October 09
Flaming fall colors — crimson, red, yellow, scarlet, bronze, orange — bright sunshine and invigorating, cool breezes, make a stroll in the woods all the more alluring in these final weeks of the early fall.

No need to go for a long drive: There are scores of walks and hikes anywhere in the Berkshires. Here's my subjective list of the top-10 fall-foliage treks, arranged in increasing order of difficulty.

• Canoe Meadows, Pittsfield. This is the easiest walk on the list and one of the most scenic. The 262-acre Massachusetts Audubon Society reservation sits near a quiet residential area five minutes from Park Square.

The Housatonic River runs by swamps, marshland, open fields and forested areas. The marsh has an observation deck to look for waterfowl: red-winged blackbirds and kingfishers on the tree branches over the water, Canada geese and mallard ducks.

Sightings of nesting turtles, muskrat and beaver are a good bet, especially early or late in the day. Naturalists report seeing deer drinking from the pond. Coyote and red fox are known to be in the woods, but are rarely seen in daylight.

• Benedict Pond, Beartown State Forest, Great Barrington and Monterey. A level trail around the pond offers glimpses of salamanders and a beaver lodge still under construction. Azalea and mountain laurel flourish along this easy walk.

• Field Farm, Williamstown. Four different hiking cross 296 acres. The North Trail passes through a cow pasture, with stunning views of Mount Greylock to the east. You'll enter a cluster of sugar maples, ideal for impressive foliage.

• Roaring Brook Road, Woods Pond and Housatonic River, Lee and Lenox. The pond and riverfront scenic views, under a deep canopy of trees on the edge of October Mountain State Forest, make this easy walk one of the county's most rewarding.

Start at the bottom of Housatonic Street in Lenox Dale, park near the footbridge across the Housatonic, and take the dirt road, bearing left, following the shoreline. There's a modest climb along the way. Continue to the beginning of Roaring Brook Road's paved portion, where you'll see houses on the hillside.

• Monument Mountain, Great Barrington. These trails are popular with hikers, 20,000 a year on the 503-acre property. Three miles of trails wind through a white pine and oak forest with mountain laurel, hemlock, maple and birch. The white cliffs are composed of pure quartzite hundreds of millions of years old. Hawks and vultures are spotted from the summit.

Hikers have a choice of a strong, steep route, the Hickey Trail or a longer, more gradual one, the Indian Monument Trail.

• Finerty Pond Trail, October Mountain State Forest, Becket and Washington. The route to the pond lies entirely along the Appalachian Trail. This moderate hike is especially colorful, passing ash, maple, hemlock, beech, red spruce and balsam fir trees and many rare wildflowers. Here are marshlands and abandoned beaver ponds and plenty of wildlife.

n Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary, Lenox. For a hike to the summit of Lenox Mountain, choose either the Overbrook Trail along a mountain stream, deep into a Northern hardwood forest, or the more challenging, rocky Trail of the Ledges. Either way, the reward is a stunning view west over Richmond toward New York state, and north toward Pittsfield.

The sanctuary, maintained by the Massachusetts Audubon Society, includes 1,450 acres and 10 more trails circling beaver ponds, along cattail marshes and ravines filled with fresh mountain streams and waterfalls. There are boardwalks and benches along the way. The best times to look for beavers are shortly after dawn or shortly before dusk. The beavers are used to humans and are likely to greet hikers with a slap of the tail and a dive under water.

• Tyringham Cobble. Another Trustees of Reservation property, 206 acres of pastures, woodlands and a moderately steep hike up the Cobble, where the path intersects with the Appalachian Trail.

A paradise for bird watchers, the Cobble is a promontory on a plateau; there's a glacial remnant near the eastern slope. The year-round aviary includes red-tailed hawk, ruffled grouse, pileated woodpecker, northern cardinal, northern mockingbird and a dozen other species.

The summit is nearly 2,000 feet above sea level, and the entire area is home to coyote (rarely seen but easily heard at night), red fox, white-tailed deer and porcupine.

• Pine Cobble Trail, Williamstown. This especially well-traveled, moderate hike heads through a hardwood forest filled with red maple, white oak, ash and hickory trees, to the summit of Pine Cobble (1,893 feet), where there's a rocky quartzite limestone promontory on the southern edge of East Mountain and a great view of the Hoosac Valley, the Taconic range and Vermont's Green Mountains.

The path is well-maintained by the Wiliams Outing Club.

• Gorge Trail and Felton Lake, October Mountain State Forest, Lee. The most challenging hike on the list, the steep trail follows a waterfall one mile upstream to a mountain lake.

Coyote, deer and bear tracks are visible around the lake, near the mysterious secret remains of the former Scout Camp for the United Nations (at the site of the William Whitney estate).

Any walk or hike (and there are many more options) leads to a bracing, healthy outing through the colors of autumn, and it's all free.

If you go ...

1. Canoe Meadows:

The entrance is on Holmes Road, Pittsfield, just north and east of Pomeroy Avenue.

Walk: 1.2 miles, 30-45 minutes.

2. Benedict Pond:

From Route 7 south, take Monument Valley Road, just south of Monument Mountain High School in Great Barrington. Make a left on Stony Brook Road and follow 2.8 miles to Benedict Pond Road. A left turn leads to the parking area. Walk: 1.5-mile loop, 1 hour.

3. Field Farm:

In Williamstown, turn onto Route 43 westbound from the intersection at Route 7, then take a hard right on Sloan Road, just over a mile to the entrance. Take a right on the driveway to the parking area. Elevation gain: 100 feet. Walk: 2.5-mile loop trail, 2 hours or less.

4. Roaring Brook Road: From Route 7 south, take a left onto Housatonic Street in Lenox and follow it into Lenox Dale. Walk: 4 miles round trip, 100-120 minutes.

5. Monument Mountain: The ample parking area on the west side of Route 7 is 3 miles south of the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge and 3 miles north of the Route 7-23 intersection (Belcher Square) in Great Barrington. Walk: moderate 2.5-mile loop, 2-3 hours.

6. Finerty Pond Trail: From Route 20 east of Lee, make a diagonal left on Becket Road. A small Appalachian Trail sign and parking area are about two miles uphill, but sharp eyes are needed to find it. Walk: 3.2 miles, 3 hours.

7. Pleasant Valley Sanctuary: Start at West Dugway Road, off the west side of Route 7-20 in Lenox (follow the easily visible signs to West Mountain Road and the sanctuary parking area). Open Tuesday through Sunday. There's a modest admission fee for non-MAS members. Walk: 3 miles, 2 hours. Sanctuary periphery hike: 2.1-mile loop, flat to rolling terrain.

8. Tyringham Cobble: Take Tyringham Road, off Route 102 just west of the MassPike interchange; it's a gorgeous 4-mile ride to the center of the village; a right turn on Jerusalem Road is followed immediately by the parking area on the right. Walk: moderate 2-mile loop, 2 hours or less.

9. Pine Cobble: From the Route 2 and 7 intersection in Williamstown, head east, make a left on Cole Ave.(less than a mile), then a right on North Hoosic Road, 0.4 mile to Pine Cobble Road. A left turn leads immediately to the parking area. Walk: 3.2 miles, 3 hours.

10. Gorge Trail and Felton Lodge, October Mountain: The trailhead is marked along Roaring Brook Road, which is accessible from New Lenox Road in Lenox or from Lenox Dale. Walk: 4.5 miles, 3-4 hours.

Source: http://www.berkshireeagle.com/ci_10667757?source=most_emailed