Hoosac Range(Northern Berkshires)

Wow, what gorgeous weather we are enjoying this week!  Ideal conditions for hiking!!  I chose to do an after work hike at the Berkshire Natural Resources Council's Hoosac Range trail, which can be found high above the town of North Adams and offers several spectacular views.  The parking area sits just south of the hairpin turn on Route 2(and just north of the Florida town line) in a well marked BNRC parking lot.  Trail maps and other useful information can be found at a kiosk next to the trailhead.  I set out at a brisk pace, taking advantage of the conditions.  Elevation to start is 2018 feet.
The trail heads south through hardwoods, slowly gaining elevation along the way.
Peek-a-boo!

Yoda??  Looks a lot like the Star Wars character...no?

While most of the woods still retain their green, this maple has almost fully turned a colorful shade of yellow and orange.  Soon the rest of the forest will follow its lead.

For folks who don't want to do a long hike, a much shorter, simple loop can be made to a spot called Sunset Rock.  This spot is only 8/10 of a mile from the road and offers spectacular views to the west and north.

Continuing on past Sunset Rock, I came to an interesting pair of split boulders, which sit just off trail.

The trail meanders its way south along the ridgeline, heading through a pretty hardwood forest, with several small ups and downs along the way.  The ascent is spread out over the course of nearly 3 miles, so barely seems noticeable.  After about 2.1 miles, a spur trail heads a short distance through the woods to a small viewpoint to the east over the Savoy Mountain State Forest. 

After enjoying the view east, I got back on the main trail and continued south towards Spruce Hill.  Just before the final climb to the summit, I noticed a body of water sitting about 100 yards off trail.  I decided to give it a look and was very pleasantly surprised to find an enormous and picturesque beaver pond.

The pond is actually part of the headwaters of Staples Brook and is quite sprawling.  I climbed up to a small knoll to take in a broader view of the water.

After soaking in the water views, I headed back to the trail but within moments found myself in another off trail spot. Just north of Spruce Hill's summit, another large clearing provides nice west facing views.

The valley of North Adams sits far below this clearing, with the Greylock Range(left), the TaconicRange(distant center) and East Mountain(right).

Yes, fall is right around the corner.

From Spruce Hill's 2566 foot summit, the views are quite spectacular.  This is my 3rd visit here, and is never disappoints.   North Adams to the NW, with Windsor Lake in the foreground.

The rolling peaks of the central Berkshires make up the south facing viewshed, with just a hint of fall color beginning.

Certainly the highlight of this hike is the grand view of the Greylock Range  from the summit.

The Route 8 valley and town of Adams sit in the shadows of Mount Greylock.

A nice and easy hike back got me to car with daylight to spare. 6 miles RT(with a little off trail excursion) and about 750 feet of ascent.

East Mountain(Sundown Wild Forest-Catskills)

Often times my buddy Jim and I are most interested in exploring areas that don't see a lot of foot traffic and the multiple summits of East Mountain, tucked away in a quiet corner of the Sundown Wild Forest in the Catskills certainly fits the bill.  There are three separate summits that we wanted to hit, and thanks to a patchwork of NYC watershed land and state land, it was possible to do a traverse.  We spotted a car at a DEP access spot on Mancuso Road, then drove over to a small parking area on the shoulder of Greenville Road to get started.  Elevation to start was 1100 feet.  To get to the slopes of East Mountain's north summit, we first had to cross Sundown Creek, which runs along Greenville Road.

Lucky for us, a simple rock hop got us across the pretty creek.

Once across the creek, we immediately began to climb quite steely. We saw patches of mountain laurel here and there, but luckily it was easily avoided.

Stone walls are custom on many of the Catskill peaks, but few times have we seen this type of wall built.  The stones used for this wall, seemed much more boulder like and less flat..possibly a sign that we were at the far southern edge of the Catskills.

We were a little worried that we may run into thick mountain laurel, which is prevalent to this area, but instead were treated to open hardwoods and late season wildflowers.

As we neared the summit, the fog grew thick, making for an eerie scene.  Early fall foliage on this maple tree spruced up the woods though.

A thick layer of mountain mist settled in directly over the 2459 foot north summit of East Mountain.  While unnamed on maps, this was actually the high spot for the day.

After a steep 1300 foot ascent, we explored the flat, mostly open, fog shrouded summit.

Dropping off the summit, we soon arrived at a fairly good woods road.  Unfortunately it wasn't going the direction we wanted to we continued our bushwhack.

Instead of staying high up on the ridge line, we opted to explore a mini gorge, which drains the north slopes of these peaks.  We were treated to a lovely little stream, probably visited more by animals than people.

We were a bit surprised to see that there was actually a decent amount of water in this stream. 

A steady climb east up out of the drainage brought us to the NE summit of East Mountain, which is almost literally covered in fern glade meadows.

As we arrived in the fern glade covered 2327 foot summit, the skies cleared out, allowing for sunshine and blue skies.

Jim's keen eye spotted this odd colored moss, which we both found intriguing. 

Our route south to the summit proper, hugged the public property line and finally brought us to the grassy clearing atop 2307 foot East Mountain.  By this point in the day, the sun had cleared out all the clouds and mountain mist that we had dealt with in the morning, making for perfect conditions.  The woods atop the mountain, as well as the slopes SE back to the car, were wide open and almost park like. 

A 4/10 of a mile descent off the summit brought us back to our spotted car on Mancuso Road.  A very pleasant 8.5 mile, 2500 foot ascent day.
My drive home passed through the quiet little hamlet of Sundown, where a handsome old church sits in the shadow of East Mountain's north slopes.

Our route for the day, from north to south, with all three summits marked with red X's.

Starbuck Mountain(Hudson Gorge Wilderness-Adirondacks)

Every time I have driven Route 28 to or from Indian Lake, I have always gazed up at a set of rocky cliffs and wondered what kind of views could be had from them.  After looking it over on a map, I saw that the mountain is 2556 foot Starbuck Mountain, and indeed there are a long set of rock ledges that look tantalizingly close to the road.  State land comes down at an angle, meeting Route 28 almost directly across from Cleveland Road, where a very large red chair sits.  A large, dirt pull off in front of the chair made a convenient place to leave my car and start the hike.  Elevation to start the hike was a little bit over 1700 feet.

I crossed to the north side of Route 28 and headed into the woods, closely following a well trodden path that follows the state land boundary.

I soon came to a crossing of Raquette Brook, but where the path crossed the water, I wouldn't be able to keep my feet dry.  Instead, I went downstream a few yards and rock hopped below a small but pretty cascade.

Once across the brook, I headed back over to the well defined foot path, which was easy to follow and headed in the direction I wanted to go.  Turns out that this path is a rock climbing path to the base of Starbuck's cliffs.

I left the path near the base of the cliffs and headed north towards the draw between Starbuck and Black Mountains.  Once beyond the steepest cliffs, I turned west and headed straight up towards Starbuck,

Within a few moments of steep climbing I emerged at a set of ledges with outstanding views south and east.  Directly across the notch that I had started in, I had an up close view of neighboring Black Mountain. 

To the SE, Route 28 can be seen threading through the green with a large beaver pond directly below.  The impressive peaks surrounding Gore Mountain make up the horizon, with Gore being the high point.

There are basically a couple sets of ledges, one lower and one higher, but all mostly open and easy to explore.

I was actually stunned to see just how expansive this set of open ledges was, stretching far to the west.

The Route 28 corridor soon comes into view as you continue west on the ledges, with views stretching all the way past Indian Lake towards Snowy Mountain and the "Little High Peaks".

The east facing views from the cliffs are actually some of the best I've seen in this entire region, stretching all the way into the Pharaoh Lake Wilderness.

Although similar to prior views, the further west I went, the more of the Siamese Ponds Wilderness peaks to the south came into view.

Directly to the south, Davis Mountain rises impressively above Route 28 with Ruby Mountain poking out just behind it.

After a large stand of spruce pushed me back away from the cliffs, I found one more opening, which provided another west view up Route 28 towards the Little High Peaks.  The large peak to the right is Casey Mountain, another fun climb with spectacular views.

After soaking in the views, I continued on a short distance over to the true summit, which was fully wooded and surrounded by scratchy spruce.  A small cairn marks the high point at 2556 feet.

After hitting the summit, I dropped back down towards the cliffs, enjoying more of the amazing views, before finally descending steeply back down into the notch.  Instead of heading back towards the climbing path, I headed more SE, aiming at a corner of state land, where a large beaver pond resides.  It was actually a pretty nice spot, complete with a view of Black Mountain...

...and Starbuck Mountain, right at the state land boundary.

A nice and easy hike back through open hardwoods got me back to the car feeling good.  A VERY scenic little mountain with a lot to offer.  3.3 miles RT, with just under 1000 feet of ascent.
Black=Ascent
Blue=Descent
Red=Summit