December Newsletter 2020

**Grafton Lakes State Park, Second Pond in November. Pic by M Waldman**

A Taste of New Trails

The Taconic Hiking Club is an organization dedicated to the Taconic Range and the Taconic Crest Trail. That means we cross borders! Just look at our map of the TCT and see how it wends its way in and out of Massachusetts and New York and just pokes into Vermont. It makes sense for us to partner with nonprofits working in all three states, and how lucky we are to be part of the multi-state conversation about how to protect and conserve Taconic Range lands and create recreation opportunities in this wide region.

We’d like to focus over the next year on the partners we work with and highlight something from each that is new and would be of interest to our members for hiking, biking, paddling, and winter sports.

We’ll start with Berkshire Natural Resources Council (BNRC), the land trust that covers all of Berkshire County, owns over 10,000 acres and conserves 12,000 acres through conservation easements. BNRC is renowned for their state-of-the-art trails at their public properties. One of these is Alford Springs with 900 acres of land and over 7 miles of hiking, snowshoeing, and skiing trails. This year BNRC completed work on a new trail called the “Saddle Trail” that rises one mile from West Road in Alford to join the looping network of trails called the “Father Loop” and the “Mother Loop.” Check it out, and enjoy! https://www.bnrc.org/trails-and-maps/top-berkshire-trails/#1

Grafton Lakes State Park (GLSP) Trail System Upgrades

Grafton Lakes State Park has initiated a review of all the trails in the park to note where improvements should be made and to prioritize the improvements. They have reconvened the GLSP Trails Committee which includes GLSP management and staff, the Friends of Grafton Lakes State Park, the Taconic Hiking Club, Grafton Trail Riders and Grafton Trail Blazers. Suggestions and comments from THC outings leaders have been solicited and passed on to the group.

Recommendations include remediating highly eroded trails, rerouting the ends of some trails to more user-friendly locations, making a few minor reroutes to avoid bogs, and creating a few new trails. Other recommendations include renaming some trails to prevent confusion with similarly named trails, developing more loop hikes, upgrading markings, and installing new junction signs. This is a long-term project; some improvements will be noticed soon, while others will be prioritized into five- or ten-year plans. The first improvements you see will be repairs to the damage on the Long Pond Trail and increased trail markings.

We are pleased to be involved in this project! THC has held various outings including picnics, hiking and snowshoeing in the park for several years. We have also been involved in trail work at the park, mostly on National Trails Day, and we are generally involved in GLSP Winterfest.

**Mill Pond through the trees, GLSP. Pic by M Waldman**

Local Forest Rangers Fight Western Forest Fires

New York State Department of Conservation Forest Rangers are frequently engaged in emergency search and rescue operations. This year their assistance was urgently needed to help fight wildfires in the western states. The third team to assist this fall included Joe Hess and Hannah O’Connor. Many THC members know them from the years they spent patrolling the Taconic Crest Trail. We are fortunate to have such hard working and dedicated rangers in NYS! Click here for complete article from DEC https://www.dec.ny.gov/press/121657.html

Renew your membership for 2021 now!

You may renew online or by mail. Be sure to update changes in your contact information: email, phone, or address. If you have recently renewed please disregard this reminder!

To renew a membership by credit card or PayPal, go to the membership page of the Taconic Hiking Club website, or click here https://taconichikingclub.org/membership

To renew by mail, make out a check payable to the “Taconic Hiking Club” in the amount of $10. (per person). Send completed check to:

Taconic Hiking Club

c/o Sue Jordan - Membership Chair

276 South Manning Blvd

Albany, NY 12208