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Thursday, January 21, 2016

West St/ Doll Mtn Trail-Pittsfield State Forest(Berkshires)

Took a ride with my dad to the Pittsfield State Forest after work yet again today.  There are over 30 miles of trails that wind through this state forest and I've been doing a lot of exploring through these vast woods this past week.  Once in Pittsfield, we drove past Berkshire Community College to the very end of West Street, which is gated at the entrance to the state forest. 
 Make sure to turn left at the fork at the end of the road. A sign indicates the way.  To the right are private driveways.
 Ice detail on the trail. 
A short distance into the hike, we passed a large meadow, which looks like it sees plenty of ATV traffic.
The trail follows a wide old road, which is considered "multi-use".  1930 foot Doll Mountain can easily be spotted through the trees about .3 miles into the hike.
 We soon arrived at babbling Lilly Brook.
 Lilly Brook.
 We crossed a footbridge over the brook and continued west onto the Doll Mountain Trail.
 Lilly Brook flowing southeast from the bridge.
 The trail skirts the lower slopes of Doll Mountain's north side, ascending steadily.  We came across an old oven, which was dumped here at some point and used for target practice.
We continued for about 1.5 miles to a wetland area near the Taconic Skyline Trail, before turning around.  Here, a small stream flows down each side of the trail and drops into a steep ravine just ahead of this spot.
There are screened views to the east as we dropped back down the old road towards the truck.
Hiked 3 miles RT on a cold January day.  The snow was only a couple of inches deep much of the way, with some deeper areas on the west side of Doll Mountain, where the snow had drifted.

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