April Newsletter 2021
Winter’s retreat on the Rensselaer Plateau, mid March. Pic by M Waldman
The tale below was submitted by three new members that “accidentally” found the Taconic Crest Trail (TCT) last fall and subsequently hiked the entire trail in sections this winter. This is their adventure!
Surviving the COVID winter with TCT help
Winter started off bleak. Covid-19 cases were spiking in Berkshire County and most of us were in some form of self-imposed lockdown. For myself, that meant for the first time in years I would not be going to the gym. To get out of the house and simultaneously get some exercise, hiking became the best option.
I am more of a summer bike rider, but also enjoy hiking. For many years, my friend, Peter, put in long autumn days hiking. His usual trails are mostly on Mount Greylock and various sections of the Appalachian Trail. One day, I decided to take him up on an invitation and join him for a few Greylock hikes. Peter introduced me to his friend, Paul, and we all started hiking together. Covid-19 still surging, we would take our own cars to the trailhead and socially distance ourselves from each other during our hikes.
We started hiking the Taconic Crest Trail by accident. As a lifelong resident of Pittsfield, I was aware of the old Skyline Trail which starts at the top of Route 20 before you cross into New York. Through decades of use and with the increasing popularity of off-road vehicles, that trail has become badly eroded. As we started off one morning into the Hancock Massachusetts woods, we saw these blue and white blazes and realized that they were paralleling the Skyline Trail. We decided to follow those tags and now knew that we stumbled onto the Taconic Crest Trail. (The TCT is a 37-mile route heading north from this entry point. It follows the Taconic mountain range crisscrossing back and forth between the border of New York and Massachusetts.)
After that first accidental hike on the TCT, it was Paul who took the initiative to go online and find out about the Taconic Crest Hiking Club. Our club application along with a $10 check was in the mail the next day. We also learned about the cumulative winter patch. If we just hiked the entire trail in segments, we would be rewarded with a patch recognizing an end-to-end winter hike. It sounded like an easy enough thing to do and believe me when I tell you we were like little boys trying to earn our first Boy Scout badge.
It was not easy. The hike was challenging, even arduous at times in the deep snow but thoroughly rewarding. In the winter, the woods are silent. No snapping branches or crunching leaves under your feet. You can hear the sound of your own breath or that of a woodpecker hundreds of yards away. With the leaves off the trees and the sunshine reflecting off the snow, the forest is lit up bright and you can see clearly all the way up a ridge or across a large ravine to the other side. There are no bugs to deal with. The partially frozen cascading streams are mesmerizingly beautiful, and you are constantly reminded that you are not alone in the forest. The telltale evidence is all around you. Deer tracks, rabbit tracks, turkey tracks and many others we could not identify crisscrossed our trail.
Winter hiking means a little extra gear to carry. Trekking poles, micro spikes and snowshoes were essential. Hand warmers, ample water and numerous Payday energy bars were welcome additions. Some days we started hiking in sub-zero weather and on one of our segments, temperatures never rose out of the single digits. This may sound horrifying but when you are moving in the woods, out of the wind, and dressed properly, the cold is not an issue. Not one of us ever complained of the cold.
To distinguish between different levels of difficulty encountered on the winter TCT, we coined a variety of phrases. They are “Easy peazy”, “This is gonna sting”, “It’s really, really gonna hurt”, “We’re screwed”, “Our situation is dire”, “Call Sheila”, and finally “Not even Sheila can help us”.
Winter hiking requires that you take extra care in planning. It becomes more difficult to judge how fast you will be able to hike because snow conditions can change week to week. Punching through soft snow compared to hiking over compacted snow greatly affects speed and therefore what kind of distance you could expect to cover. We found this out the hard way when on at least two occasions we failed to reach our intended destination.
The first time we overestimated the distance we could cover; we were forced to leave the Crest prematurely. We were in waist deep snow when Dave turned around and said, “our situation is dire.” Peter burst out a reply, “I have enough king size Paydays in my pack to last us two years up here!” After a moral boosting laugh, we managed to hike .85 miles down a snow-covered Robinson Hollow access trail only to cover an additional five road miles to get to our pre-positioned car at the Mattison Hollow access point. The next miscalculation was not as easy to correct. We were forced to hike out to the west side of the Taconic range while our car was parked on the east side. (Peter's wife Sheila deserves a shout-out for coming to rescue us as the road-miles were too great to cover on foot.)
One thing we never worried about was getting lost. Most days we were the first hikers to break trail and a snow-covered forest floor means there's no following a trail. Fortunately, the many blue and white blaze marks affixed to the trees made finding our way easy. Much appreciation went out to the volunteers who marked that trail because it was the best marked trail I have ever hiked. We did not get lost.
Like all good Boy Scouts, we were well prepared by having purchased the “Taconic Crest Trail Map and Guide” which is a must for anyone hiking the trail. I picked my map up at Berkshire Outfitters in Adams Massachusetts and I know they are also available from the Taconic Hiking Club itself. Between the paper map and the All-Trails phone app, we always knew exactly where we were and where our next possible emergency exit route was located. The map not only details the Crest Trail itself but also all of the numerous access trails you will need to start and stop the individual hiking segments. There are at least 15 well-marked access trails making the Taconic Crest itself easily accessible. As the name implies, the Crest Trail runs along the peaks of the mountains which make up the Taconic Range. That means you are going to be doing some climbing to access the actual crest trail. Using Strava to track our milage, we actually ended up hiking 64.5 miles to complete the 37-mile TCT.
I can't tell you my favorite section of the trail. Maybe it was going north past Route 2 and finding the snow hole, a cave like crevice that holds unmelted snow into the summer months. Or perhaps the top of Berlin Mountain, with its unexpectedly flat mesa and its 360-degree panoramic views. I can't really tell you because the whole experience kind of washed over me and pleasantly blended together. Hiking it in the winter without the summer foliage provides for spectacular vistas. When you are following the ridge (which the trail often does), the topography drops off steeply 50 feet to your west and 50 ft to your east presenting panoramic views both into Massachusetts and New York.
To leave a memento of our winter activity, Sheila painted rocks for us to mark the completion of our winter adventure. If you happen to find three brightly colored rocks on the Taconic Crest Trail, (placed close to where we had one of “our situation is dire” moments on Mattison Hollow), enjoy the memory with us. We even created trail names for each other. Peter’s nose ran for the entire 37 miles. He has been christened “Runner”. Dave’s new moniker is “Wizzy” since he needed to stop and pee every few hundred feet for some reason. Lastly, our dentist of the group, is now forever called “Doctor of Deep Snow”.
I started off just wanting to get out of the house and get a little exercise. I ended up reconnecting with an old friend, making a great new friend, and developing a deeper appreciation for this beautiful area I'm lucky enough to call home.
By: David Martin, Peter Coughlin, and Paul Gamache
All photos with this article were submitted by Paul Gamache.
Backpack with the THC and Winter End-to-End patches.
Winter E2E finishers To date we have had 8 people finish the TCT this winter, seven did the TCT in sections and one did the trek as a one-day hike. This is more than normal. The article above reinforces the fact that this is a difficult endeavor, especially in the depths of winter. Kerstin, one of the other hikers, reported “It was really fun and a grand way to end the year! We're thinking about doing the hike again in shoulder season.” Congratulations to each of the finishers!
Many thanks to David, Peter, and Paul for sharing their experience with us! Thanks also to Lynne Nagengast for tracking and communicating with all the finishers.
THC car window decals are here! Now you can proudly display the THC logo on your car! THC car window stickers are available free to all members. We are slowly passing them out to members as we see them. If you want yours now, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: Leslie Siegard, 11 Bennett Hill Rd, Feura Bush, NY, 12067
COVID Protocol update April 1, 2021 As more people become fully vaccinated, we will slowly relax our outings Covid protocols in accordance with CDC and state recommendations. If everyone on an outing is fully vaccinated, we can relax the facemask requirement. Carpooling will be become optional again for fully vaccinated people. There is light at the end of the tunnel!
Trail work and other outings: Refer to the THC website outings page for details about the outings and how to register. Social distancing protocols, including wearing face coverings when within 6 feet of others are still being followed. We are scheduling on a short-term basis rather than seasonally, so check the website periodically.
Thursday, April 8: Albert Family Community Forest B-
Tuesday, April 13: Hollyhock Hollow Preserve C
Saturday April 17: Earth Day celebrates 51 years in April and Grafton Lakes State Park celebrates it 50th anniversary this year. We will observe these milestones by spending the morning doing trail work at GLSP.
Sunday, April 25: Sarah Tenney Loops North, Williamstown, MA B -
We will be on the look out for these this spring!
Photos: If you have a beautiful, whimsical, dramatic, or otherwise interesting photograph taken on a local trail or preserve that you would like to see posted in the newsletter, feel free to send a full resolution copy to taconichikingclb@gmail.com (reminder, no u in club). Wildlife photographs are also welcome! We will give credit to the person that took the picture! Thank you in advance!