I recently had the opportunity to do some hiking in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts with one of my sons. I set him the task of choosing the hike and he choose the Race Brook Trail at Mount Everett nestled in Mount Washington Forest.

The forest sits in the southwest corner of Massachusetts just minutes from both Connecticut and New York state borders.

For those not familiar with the area it is scenic and quiet, and though the peaks may not be as challenging as those to the north in Vermont and White Mountains it can still get the heartbeat racing.

Mount Everett at 2,602 feet is one of the taller peaks in the area with a climb of 1,900 feet and at times it’s steep and challenging, and not at all an easy hike. But the views from the top are worth the investment of time and effort. The Appalachian Trail runs through the park and over Everett.

The Race Brook Trail starts 5.1 miles south of Egremont on Route 41 in Sheffield. A turnoff on the right marks the parking area and beginning of the trail. You’ll find a kiosk with a map of the hike to the summit. There are no maps available to take so make sure you memorize milestones as there are a few places you can go wrong.

The Race Brook Trail has blue markers and initially you’ll walk through typical New England forest floor until you come to a subtle break in the path. The main path branches left and you’ll see a marker if you look left to confirm your direction.

But if you continue straight you’ll find some trees with blue markers and it’ll take you to the bottom of a falls after a few minutes. The view is nice but it will also confirm you didn’t take the right path. Retrace back to the branch.

Follow the blue markers as it takes you through steeper terrain and eventually to a marked signpost pointing right to a view of lower falls. The main path branches left towards the Race Brook Falls Campsite and you should take this path to the summit. The trail gets steeper just before passing over the brook beneath the main falls. This is a great spot for photos and in the spring I’m told the runoff over the 80 feet falls is impressive. In August it was just about a full on showerhead.

Continue to the campsite which is used by overnighters traveling the Appalachian Trail and it can get busy during the summer. The Race Brook Trail runs directly through the campsite and there’s a marker on the edge of the site near the latrine showing 0.2 miles to the Appalachian Trail.

Continue to follow the blue markers as it heads towards AT.

We had a beautiful day for our hike and even though this section has a large canopy of trees bugs were not a problem and we heard a lot of rustling of undergrowth as we disturbed the wildlife. The trail goes up and down a lot through this section and the campsite is a good spot to stop and take in some water and a protein bar or some nuts!

At the Appalachian Trail sign take a right to head north to the summit of Mount Everett. The AT markers are a white rectangle and sometimes they’re on rock, but you’re unlikely to miss a turn on the AT. The trail is pretty worn by hikers and easy to follow.

Once you make the turn onto the AT it is 0.7 miles to the summit. This is the most difficult part of the terrain as you’ll be walking on rock a lot of the time.

After the turn the path goes downhill and you’ll get a glimpse of the final leg to the summit – it seems like another mountain when you see it but it’s just the last push.

The trail will soon start climbing and doesn’t stop until you reach the break in the tree at the summit. The summit is marked with cement block from an old fire tower and while there are some nice views, the best views are reserved a little further north on the trail where you can sit on a large rock and look out over the Berkshires range.

My son and I took our lunch and relaxed. It had been three hours since we left the car and though we took a few wrong turns I reckon the hike to the summit is a 2 and ½ hours climb. We went down using the same path but took it easy as at places it is steep and jarring on the knees. Don’t do this hike in sneakers – you’ll need good and sturdy hiking boots and some thick socks.

We reached the parking lot tired but enjoying the hike together and seeing many people just starting out. We took about 1 and ½ hours to hike down as we took it carefully.

This is a great hike in the Berkshires and much tougher than I expected and full of twists and turns. I look forward to exploring other hikes in the Mount Washington State Forest area with my son and the scenic Berkshires.

The Berkshires is a wonderful area for getaways and family vacations. Explore the area more and finding out what to see and do by checking out our Berkshires Vacation section here.

Another New England post by one of our writers is being prepared right now so be sure to visit again or just subscribe to our RSS Feed here and get notified automatically of events and news.

Cliff Calderwood
Publisher
New England Online Magazine

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