Bates Memorial State Park(Berkshires)

Lying just south of the Pittsfield State Forest, near the NY/ Massachusetts state line sits the Bates Memorial State Park, a park that flies far, far below the radar.  There is one "trail" through these woods, but in all honesty it is really a lightly used old woods road that climbs uphill south of Route 20.  I parked on the shoulder of the road near a gated woods road, across from the southern end of the Taconic Crest Trail.  There is not a lot of information about this area on the internet but I did manage to find one fascinating, well articulated blog entry about this park from 2006 http://mysterious-hills.blogspot.com/2006/08/missing-monument-to-sacrifice.html.
At an elevation of 1530 feet, I began my trek, quickly arriving at a very old staircase, which may have been the homestead of the Bates Family. 

A very good woods road, marked as the Beacon Trail, climbs steadily uphill past the stairwell remains.  I followed it for a bit, before turning more westerly, following another lesser used woods road.

Just east of the state line, deep in the woods, I found a large area of old concrete footings and various other remnants.

Odds and ends are strewn all about this area. 

More remnants of the Bates Family from about a century ago.

Beyond the area of scattered remnants, I bushwhacked my way over to the state line, which is  basically where the public access ends.  Heading south, I followed the edge of a steep drop off high above Chair Factory Road down in New Lebanon. 

Circling back east from the state line, it was a nice and easy bushwhack up to the 1897 foot unnamed west "summit" of the Bates Park.  I was a bit surprised to find that the top of the peak was a very nice, wide open meadow.

Continuing east and up towards the next summit bump, less than a 1/3 of a mile away, I enjoyed filtered views south towards Perry Peak's northern ridge.

The wooded 1901 foot east "summit".  

After hitting both summit bumps, I began to drop northwest in search of the steepest slopes, hoping to find possible views.  I was fortunate to find fairly decent, filtered views down towards New Lebanon.  The slopes of Lebanon Mountain can be seen dropping down on the right.

Once down near Route 20 and my waiting car, I found the Bates Cemetery, a beautiful fenced in graveyard.  The last Bates family member to be buried here was Mary Wallace Bates, back in 1954.

Really enjoyed a nice, lightly traveled area(probably used more by hunters than hikers) on a gorgeous spring day.  Today's Route seen below in red.  2.7 miles RT with 750 feet of ascent.