Becket Mountain to Finerty Pond-Appalachian Trail(Berkshires)

Needed some woods therapy so headed over to the Berkshires after work on yet another sticky, muggy afternoon to do some exploring.  With the uncomfortable conditions I planned on doing an out and back along a quiet section of the Appalachian Trail near the Becket/ Lee/Washington town lines.  Parked in a small pull off on the south side Becket Road, just north of Route 20 where the Appalachian Trail crosses, elevation 1750 feet. Crossed the road and picked up the white blazes heading north ascending the slopes of Becket Mountain.

The trail climbs steadily but never steeply north then northeast and in half a mile I arrived at the 2200 foot summit of Becket Mountain.  The summit offers no views, but is very pleasant, surrounded by a sea of ferns.  I also was very interested to find old footings for a fire tower, that was removed way back in 1916.

 A few yards further along the trail, at a enormous set of boulders sits a summit benchmark.

Continuing beyond Becket Mountain, the trail slowly loses elevation as it winds its way NW, rolling along a high ridge. 

The trail stays above 2000 feet all the way over to Walling Mountain, passing over a nondescript, small summit bump between the two.  Fern glades were plentiful on this section of the AT, keeping the trail very scenic.

 Just prior to hitting the summit ridge atop Walling Mountain, I came across this scenic cracked up erratic.  Although Walling's 2220 foot summit is the high point of the day, there really is no distinguishable high spot and can easily go unnoticed.

 In case you forgot to pack a lunch, give chicken of the woods a try!

 The high humidity and recent wet weather have made newt a happy little camper.

 After hitting the summit ridge atop Walling Mountain, the AT drops steadily down the west slopes of the peak towards Finerty Pond, losing over 300 feet in just over 1/3 of a mile.

The AT crosses over the Finerty Trail, a multi use trail in the October Mountain State Forest, on its way towards the pond.  A small, unmarked path leaves the trail and heads down to water's edge providing nice views of Finerty Pond.

 Threatening skies loomed over much of the pond, but peeks of blue kept my hopes up to stay dry.

 Mountain laurel are more abundant along the AT down near the water.

I decided to leave the Appalachian Trail and check out part of the Finerty Trail, which closely follows the east shore of the pond.  This trail is open to off road vehicles and is thus much muddier and less scenic.

 

Another short spur trail drops down off the Finerty Trail to the pond.  At this point, the sun had come back out, stirring up the atmosphere and pumping up the humidity to oppressive levels.

Hazy sunshine over the calm waters of Finerty Pond.  If you have the place to yourself, like I did, it is can be a truly serene experience.

Stayed on the Finerty Trail for a bit longer heading north, turning around at a bridge crossing over babling Mountian Brook.

 Retraced my steps back to the AT, which re-climbs Walling Mountain, gaining back over 300 feet.  Once up on the ridge, I spotted some mountain ash, sitting just off trail.

Nearby thunder and ominous skies finally gave way to a steady rain, which actually felt really great.  The wooded canopy kept me from getting too wet, but did help cool me down just a bit.

A fairly uneventful hike back saw the rain come to an end as I arrived back at the fern covered summit of Becket Mountain once again.  From there it was a nice and easy descent down to the car.

Hiked about 5.2 miles RT with about 900 feet of elevation gain.  Ready for this humidity to break any time now.
Today's Route below.  Red=Hike In   Blue=Return Hike