Berkshire Cycling: Around October Mountain

32 miles   Moderate   Paved Roads

Towns: Washington, Becket, Lee, Lenox, Pittsfield, Dalton, Hinsdale

Parking: Washington town park on Rt. 8

Lilacs in bloom, May

One of the unexpected delights of cycling is smelling the world around you. In late May the lilacs are blooming in the Berkshire hills (no longer in the valleys though) and the fragrance is marvelous.

After last week’s rest stop (I could call it defeat) when climbing October Mountain via Washington Mountain Road I decided to focus on longer rides with less climbing, so Friday I rode around the mountain, instead of over it, this time keeping it generally on my right side. Much of it is a pretty ride, with varied terrain, one decent climb up Kirchner Road, a steep descent and a good flat ride linking them. 

The road goes past the trailhead for Basin Pond, land preserved be Berkshire Natural Resources Council (BNRC.) This is an excellent hike, especially late in the day when the setting sun lights up the west-facing slope. BNRC is a fantastic local organization that protects important habitat and open space in the county, and deserves support from everyone who lives in or visits the Berkshires. 

Basin Pond Trailhead

 From the parking lot at the park in Washington, I headed south on Route 8 to the intersection with County Road, where McInerney comes in, then followed County onto Yokum Pond Rd. and down to Route 20. This is a fast, steep, curving descent to Route 20, where the road dead-ends. I drive it almost daily going to work, and when the road is ice-covered occasionally have seen cars opt to slide into the bank rather than into busy Route 20. I know this road is steep, by most any standard, but I don't know how to get a photo that shows incline.

But before getting to their trailhead I passed a mystery blue box. They have appeared in many places around the county, dangling from the trees at about the same height. Later I learned they are used to monitor for invasive beetles. 

Riding down Route 20 into Lee I thought this ride should be subtitled Go Out and Ride in Traffic. The shoulder on most of the road is wide enough, but it is after all a shoulder, complete with broken glass, bad surface and grates. I often see cyclists riding here, but for me the semi-trailers were nerve wracking. 

Beetle monitoring box

The route passes by Herman Melville's home at Arrowhead. I noticed from the sign that it is open only by appointment, this time of the year. Turning right on Williams Street I rode back east and got lunch at Berkshire Organics, a small shop specializing in local and organic food, near the intersection of Kirchner and Washington Mountain.  

Today I rode straight onto Kirchner Road, not up the mountain. This is a longer, but a less steep climb and has state forest land on both sides of the road. It wasn’t easy, but certainly was easier than the alternative ride up Washington Mountain Road. Kirchner Road ends on Rt. 8, where it is a right hand turn and an easy ride back south to the car. Click here to see the route, with cue sheet and climbing details on Map My Ride.

Arrowhead, Herman Melville's home

Roads: Rt. 8 south. Right on McInerney, immediate left onto County, stay left onto Yokum Pond Rd. to Rt. 20. Right on Rt. 20. Right on East St. Right on Mill Street. Left at deadend, then straight onto Walker Street. Right onto East St. (becomes Chapman Rd.) Right onto Holmes Rd. Right onto Williams St. Straight onto Kirchner Rd. Right onto Rt. 8 back to Washington. 

BERKSHIRE COUNTY RIDES LIST

Washington - Becket Loop 1 (part 3)

At four corners, I rode straight for a mile or so on Lenox-Whitney Road, but as rain threatened I turned back. There is a lot, really a lot, of swampland high in the hills of western Massachusetts. It is fabulous, important wildlife habitat. Based on the theory that if it looks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck, I could tell you that I saw a bobcat on my ride today. But it was too far away to be certain and I didn’t get my binoculars on time. Certainly it looked like a bobcat: no tail, muscular, much bigger than a domestic cat. I suppose it could have been someone’s boxer in the woods, though that’s extremely unlikely. But I didn’t hear it quack, or meow. So I won’t tell you it was a bobcat. Today I also didn’t see moose, though there are a lot here.

There is a helicopter landing pad at Four Corners, and a chopper had just taken off as I arrived there. I haven’t been that near to one of them since I was in Ste. Enemie in the Cévennes Mountains, and it is almost as incongruous here. The road goes up two small hills before reaching Washington Mountain Road. This isn’t just good habitat for birds, moose, bobcats, it is also good habitat for beavers. I don’t know whether the winter storms or beaver control is harder for the road crew, but you will see all kinds of contraptions aimed at keeping water flowing. If the beavers dam the streams thoroughly the ponds flow up over the roads. It is said that in the early 18^th century, people could travel almost anywhere in this part of the world by canoe navigating the extensive wetlands created and maintained by beavers. It is possible that they are only second to us humans in changing a habitat into something they prefer. 

The center of the town was here, high on the mountain. It's hard now to imagine the landscape as mostly cleared fields. What is now October Mountain State Forest was filled with bustling farms, businesses, a school or two. The historic town hall and the cemetery behind it tell something about the town’s history: no fancy buildings, no fancy monuments. These two stones tell their own story. The larger one reads: "Sally, wife of George Smith, died Sept. 7, 1793. Aged 26 years." The smaller, on the right, reads: "Sally, Daughter of George and Sally Smith, died Aug. 30th 1796. Aged 3 years." There is much history to be read here, sometimes literally on gravestones and plaques, sometimes in cellar holes now found in the woodlands.

Turning right on Washington Mountain Road, then left at Frost Road, I headed back to the car. And it was frosty. This road is steep. Map my Ride indicates a grade sometimes over 10% as it descends 400 or so feet in less than a mile. It  has recently been repaved, the road surface is smooth as an eggshell. It was easy to go fast. Easy and fun. Easy, fun, fast and cold. The sky had clouded up, and at 35 mph, 40 degrees is cold.





Click here to see the route, with map, cue sheet and climb details, on Map My Ride.
Roads: 

Rt. 8 & Lower Valley (at town park) /Lower Valley /Rt. 8 South /McNerney Road /County Road /Lenox-Whitney Road

West Branch Road /Washington Mountain Rd. (aka Pittsfield Rd.) / Frost Rd. /Route 8

Berkshire Rides List

Berkshire Cycling: Washington – Becket Loop 1 (part 1)

17 miles                 Paved and Dirt
Towns: Washington and Becket
Park: Washington Town Park, Rte. 8

No question that my preference is for paved roads, but it hasn't always been. I used to spend more time riding  local dirt roads. Then last week at work, Andy, a volunteer doctor and avid cyclist, mentioned how the dirt roads are perfect for colder weather: speeds are lower, so it’s warmer than 35 mph downhill. Besides, the bare trees provide a different perspective and view of the world around them. 

It is cold enough now in early November, the leaves off the trees and a skim of ice on the swamp in the morning. For many weeks a pied billed grebe had taken up residence, diving and surfacing, diving and surfacing. But with the first ice it disappeared. The beech leaves linger on their trees, many until the spring when the buds swell with new growth, pushing the old leaves off. In the autumn, they turn a beautiful bright yellow, then with time fade to a sort of parchment color. The American Beech is a common tree here, beloved by black bears, which thrive in years with big crops of beech nuts. You can often find bear claw marks on large trees, and claw marks from smaller animals like raccoons and squirrels on beeches of all sizes. A big beech might be 60 feet tall, though that’s only half the size of a mature tree in a stand of old growth, where they might be 120 feet tall. The difficulty is finding a stand of old growth trees. Trees of New England tells of a tree in Tennessee, still standing in 1900 and showing these words carved into it: “D Boone cilled a bar on tree in year 1760.” The tree fell in 1916, when it was estimated to be about 365 years old. We don’t see those old trees today. Now the American Beech is threatened by development, logging and the fungus Nectaria coccinea, which usually attacks younger trees, with more penetrable bark. Sadly, younger trees are pretty much all that’s left. Moreover, these younger trees do not produce the big mast, needed by bear, squirrel, birds, turkey for food.  

There is lots of good riding on the dirt roads in the hilltowns of the Berkshires. I set off on a familiar one, but this time with camera along, under sunny skies. It is one of the flattest rides in Washington. From the town park on Rt. 8, I followed Lower Valley Road almost to the driveway of Heartwood Owner Builder School. If you want to learn how to build your own timber framed house or barn, or to build fine cabinets, or you’re a woman, wanting to learn some basic carpentry skills,  look at their website, http://www.heartwoodschool.com. It’s a fantastic school, with excellent teachers, a wonderful atmosphere, and good food, where you’ll meet lots of like-minded people. Today I rode to their driveway, just to take the photo, then turned back and followed Depot Brook along Lower Valley Road, which turns to dirt where Johnson Hill goes straight. It quickly returns to Rt. 8 where I turned south towards Becket. Though 8 is a major thoroughfare here, with not much shoulder, this time of year there is very little traffic. 

I rode south, through the village of Becket, with its fire station, library, arts center and general store, then to the intersection of McNerney Road. I turned right, then left immediately onto County Road. County  Road was at one time a main road in Becket and Washington; now it travels back into October Mountain State Forest.

In the 18^th and 19^th centuries, farmers in the Berkshire hilltowns knew the beech well: it grew on high ground and in the valleys, in forests and fields. The tree prefers rich, moist soils and has wide, spreading roots. Like oaks and maples, it has a taller, narrow crown in the woods, a wider and spreading crown in a field or near one of the stone walls that so often follow old roads in New England. Farmers moving west to Ohio or Michigan recognized the tree from home in New England, but it was bigger in the midwest and always indicated good soil.  And many local farmers did move west. October Mountain State Forest contains old walls, cellar holes, wells, cemeteries, school sites.

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