Turned out to be a beautiful evening so I decided to do a short trek on the Mattison Hollow Trail in one of the Taconic "Hollers". The trail is found on dead end Mattison Hollow Road in the town of Berlin near the foot of the thickly forested western Taconic slopes. I parked on the shoulder of the road beside the start of the trail(Elevation 1214 feet), where there is barely room for a car or two to squeeze off.
Stone walls are a staple of many of the mountains in the northeast, but the remnants here were white quartz, which is a bit unique to the Taconics.
The trail, blazed in yellow, heads generally east/northeast staying fairly level deep in the hollow, with steep slopes falling off to the north and rising straight up to the south. Conditions on this early June evening were almost perfect.
The sounds of Kronk Brook, rushing far below the trail to your left, are audible for much of the trail, but it's not until about 1.4 miles in, that you are finally afforded an up close view of the stream. Right at the corner of private land, a pretty flume on the brook can be seen, crashing down through a rocky drop. This was commonly known as "Davis Cascade" to locals.
Just beyond the cascade, the trail comes to a small footbridge crossing of one of the branches of Kronk Brook.
Once across the tiny footbridge, you will notice an overgrown clearing of sorts just to the left of the trail. This marked the spot of an old, abandoned farm site, and is often referred to as "Collin's Lot". Looking around, I was able to find old foundations and other remnants from the past. Hard to imagine the tough life that a farmer must've had deep in this hollow.
With the hour getting late, I chose "Collin's Lot" to be my turnaround spot. A nice and easy 1.5 mile hike return hike brought me back to the car, with daylight fleeting in the dark shadows of the hollow walls.
A very pleasant 3 mile hike, on a gorgeous late spring night. Another wonderful place to enjoy the solitude of the woods.
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