Big Y for lunch and snacks. This is another nice if expensive grocery store.

7.5

Monument Mountain, Great Barrington, MA (3 mile loop, 669’ elevation). Hickey Trail to Peeskawso Peak Trail to Mohican Monument

Trail. Very cool trail up to a marble ridge with views on both sides. If you do this hike be sure to do the off-shoot to Devil’s Pulpit, it gives you a great view back at the ridge. Monument Mountain was likely named for the immense sacred stone “monument” created by the Mohican people who would place a stone offering imbued with their prayers when they passed by.

Another legend about this trail tells of Herman Melville hiding from a thunderstorm in a cave with fellow literaries where they had a lively chat about ideas that would end up in the book he was working on, Moby-Dick.

8

difficulty: 4

Ice Glen Trail to Laura’s Tower, Stockton, MA (2.5 mile total out and back, 649’ elevation). We parked at the bottom of someone’s very pretty driveway and walked up to where this end of the trail began. The first part was an unusual and windy path through and over boulders. We were told by a fellow hiker that one of the hemlocks we passed was the 2nd largest on the East coast. The whole trail is old growth forest and very beautiful. The trail flattens out for a bit before branching off to the right and heading up the mountain to an old fire tower. The trees block most of the view but it’s worth the trip anyway. On the way back we met a lovely family who told us about the area and suggested some other must see spots to visit, 1 of which we’re going to see tomorrow.

8

difficulty: 3

Wild Acres Park, Pittsfield, MA. A 5-10 minute easy walk takes you through the woods to a marshy pond with a lookout tower. The wildflowers are in full bloom, including the lilies on the pond. A great place for an after dinner stroll.

7.5

Heart Of The Berkshires Hotel, Pittsfield, MA. We booked through Booking.com and for some reason they added on a pet charge that we couldn’t remove. No idea why, we don’t have any pets. This place is a dive but with hotels being so expensive around here, we’re going to deal with it for the night (Quality Inn was $350/night and completely sold out, too). The people running it do seem very nice though and are in the process of fixing it up. They have offered to refund the pet fee, so hopefully they will.

Price: $155/night.

3.5