Maple Hill WMA(Berkshires)

Wasn't feeling overly energetic after work this afternoon, but had a few free hours and the weather was quite nice so I decided to do a short off trail adventure at Maple Hill Wildlife Management Area in the town of West Stockbridge, Massachusetts.  Parked on a shoulder of Maple Hill Road near a yellow Wildlife Management sign and headed into the woods, heading SE.  Elevation to start was roughly 1240 feet as I first hit a pretty conifer forest.

After an easy ascent through mostly wide open woods, I soon arrived in a colorful, blueberry clearing just below the summit.

From the summit cone, I enjoyed some framed views west towards Harvey Mountain, but there are much better views when the leaves are off the trees.

Arriving at the open 1772 foot summit of Maple Hill.  A couple of small rock cairns can be found at the top.

Summit foliage.

Passed by this lone beech just east of the summit.

Descended NE though wide open woods, taking my time enjoying the solitude.  Within a few minutes, I found myself ascending back up a small knob on the NE ridge.

The high spot on the knob sat in a large clearing, but unfortunately with no views.

The slopes on the east side of the summit were very steep, but too treed in to catch anything more than a faint silhouette of nearby West Stockbridge Mountain.  After trying in vain to find a view, I headed back NW towards the car.  

Hiked about 2.4 miles RT with nearly 700 feet of combined ascent. Today's route below.  Red=Ascent  Blue=Descent