Berkshire Waterfalls

Tuesday, we had breakfast and headed into Savoy Mountain State Forest to the trailhead for Tannery Falls.  Near the parking area, there were several nice cascades on Ross Brook that formed a little gorge.

The main trail led down to the top of Tannery Falls and then down a set of stairs.  Near the bottom, we could see Parker Brook Falls.

Although overshadowed by the larger waterfall on the next stream over, Parker Brook Falls was really beautiful.  The water tumbled down between angled rocks with more cascades below.

It was just another hundred feet or so to the base of Tannery Falls.

It was a really nice waterfall and we took a little break by the pool at the base.

Massachusetts does have some nice waterfalls.  After a break, we made the short hike back up to the parking area. 

From here, we drove south to the Connecticut state line and parked at Campbell Falls State Park Reserve.  Although the waterfall is in Massachusetts, the park is in Connecticut.  We hiked along the short trail through a beautiful forest across the state line.

The trail headed down to creek level at the base of the beautiful Campbell Falls.

It was a really scenic 50-foot waterfall.

I climbed up the side for some pictures of the main drop.

We also hiked over to Ginger Creek to see some cool cliffs.

Then we hiked back out.

Our next stop was the Race Brook Trailhead in Mount Everett State Reservation.  This trail led up to the Appalachian Trail and there are several waterfalls along Race Brook.  We took the Race Brook Trail from the parking area and went left at the split.  After crossing the creek, we got off the trail a little further up and followed a side path that led to the base of Lower Race Brook Falls.

The trail was pretty rough and Alex was struggling a bit.  We decided not to go further up.  The lower falls is the highest one on the creek anyway.

We sat at the base and had a late lunch, enjoying the view.  Sandy spotted a green frog among the rocks near the base of the pool.

A cool purple mushroom, an amethyst deceiver I think, was popping out.

After a break, he headed back.

We had one more stop before leaving Massachusetts at Bash Bish Falls State Park.  A short trail from the parking area led down to Bash Bish Falls.

To prevent people from swimming, they had placed highway barricades blocking access to the overlook, so the views weren't very good.

We didn't stay too long.

From here, we drove into New York and checked into Bavarian Manor Country Inn.  It was a really pretty hotel and dog friendly too!

Alex got a welcome bag with a chew toy and some treats!  For dinner, we went to Red Rooster in Cairo, which wasn't very good.  Then we returned to the hotel for the evening.

Quechee Gorge

Monday, we had a light breakfast at the hotel before checking out.  Quechee Gorge doesn't open until 10, so we headed to Hurricane Forest Wildlife Refuge, just a couple miles from the hotel for a short hike.  We started off on the Pond Loop though there wasn't any water in the pond.  Then we got on Creek Trail and saw a bunch of red efts along the trail.

At the split, we went left on Beacon Hill Trail to make a big loop.

On the hike back down, we saw a bunch of scaly pholiota mushrooms on a log.

At the end, we finished up the loop around the pond and got back to the car.

By this time, it was almost 10 so we drove west to Quechee State Park.  Parking at the visitor center, a connector trail led to Quechee Gorge Trail, where we turned left to head down to the base of the gorge.

The view looking north towards the bridge was really pretty.  I climbed around the rocks in Ottauquechee River.

After enjoying the view, we went back up the gorge trail, passing under the highway.

When we reached the dam, we could see Mill Pond Falls below.

With all the dam infrastructure, we couldn't get a very good view of the falls.

On the hike back, when we got to the bridge on US-4, we walked on the pedestrian lanes for a view from each side.

Fencing was erected to prevent jumping, but there were holes in the fence to get photos.

After some pictures, we returned to the car.

There was one more stop before we left Vermont at Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park.  After parking, we got on the Mountain Road behind the visitor center.

The carriage path ended at the Pogue and I hiked the short trail around the scenic little lake.

The trail passed through some open area.

Here, I spotted a beautiful monarch butterfly that landed on some flowers long enough for me to get a picture.

On the hike back, we took a detour on the Summer Pasture Road.

Then we took Upper Meadow Road to the mansion.

As we were hiking back to the car, we spotted a groundhog.

It looked like he making his burrow on the hillside.

From here, we drove south into Massachusetts and then west towards North Adams.  Along the way, we stopped near Hoosac Tunnel.

A trail near the tunnel followed Cascade Brook upstream.  Right at the start, we had to climb over a stone wall and Alex needed a little help.  Past here, it was easy to follow though very narrow in places.  We saw some yellow jewelweed flowering along the trail.

There were some nice cascades along the creek as well.

In just under a half-mile, we came to the base of the spectacular Twin Cascades.

From the base, we could only see one of the "twins", the main waterfall on Cascade Brook.

We had to climb up an old stone dam at the base to get to the confluence.

To the right was the waterfall on Cascade Brook and to the left was the waterfall on the tributary.

It was really cool with the two waterfalls flowing together like that.  After some pictures, we hiked back.

From here, we headed into North Adams and had dinner at Freight Yard Pub.  Then we checked into the Mount Royal Inn for the evening.

Green Mountains Waterfalls

Sunday, we checked out of the hotel, had breakfast and took VT-108 north for about 10 miles into Smugglers' Notch State Park and parked at Big Spring.  Across the street, we picked up Hell Brook Trail and went just over 0.1 miles and got off the trail at the base of Hell Brook Cascades.

It's a tall waterfall, but the water level was rather low.

I went a little further up the trail and got off and went past a huge rock overhang.

There was an upper section of the waterfall that isn't visible from the base.  The water was low, but it was really cool falling through a narrow crack in the rock.

After some pictures we headed back.

Our next stop was just a couple miles back up the road to the Bingham Falls Trailhead.  The trail picked up across the street and led to West Branch Waterbury River above the falls.

The river formed a beautiful gorge here, full of potholes and small drops.

The trail then descended steeply to the base of Bingham Falls.

It's a real scenic 30-foot drop into a beautiful green pool.

I scrambled around on the rocks to get some pictures from different angles.

Then we headed back to the car.

Our next stop was just on the other side of Stowe at the Moss Glen Falls Natural Area in C.C. Putnam State Forest.  The short Moss Glen Falls Trail led through an open area on a boardwalk.

There were a lot of wildflowers blooming along here.

Orange jewelweed were abundant.

We also saw some white turtleheads.

The fruit of devil's darning needle were interesting.

The boardwalk ended near the creek and the trail headed steeply up to an overlook of the spectacular Moss Glen Falls.

The waterfall is over 100 feet and composed of many different sections, each with their own personality.  From up here at the overlook, the entire waterfall was visible.  After some pictures, we headed back down to the creek and walked up to the base.  I wore water shoes while Sandy took it as a challenge to make it to the falls dry (and she did).

Only the lowest sections were visible from the base, but it was an incredible scene.  I climbed around on the rocks to get pictures from different angles.

Then we made the short hike back to the car.

From here, we headed south on VT-100 into Green Mountain National Forest and parked at Warren Falls.  A short trail led to the waterfall.

It's a series of small cascades and drops through a gorge among huge boulders.

There were some very inviting pools along river.  I wore a bathing suit and jumped from a boulder into the chilly water.  With a drop of about 8 feet, it was a lot of fun and I jumped a couple times.

Sandy didn't want to get in the cold water and Alex certainly didn't, so after my swim, we took off.

Continuing down Route 100, we entered Granville Gulf Reservation and parked at Moss Glen Falls.  Right at the start of the trail, we could see Little Moss Glen Falls flowing down an unnamed tributary.

Right past here, we reached the beautiful Moss Glen Falls.

And this was another really spectacular Moss Glen Falls in Vermont.

There was some pretty blue wood aster flowering near the creek.

I waded in the shallow pool to get some pictures from different angles.

Then we took off.

We made one more stop at Texas Falls Recreation Area back in the national forest.  The main parking was full so we had to park by the picnic area and hike back up the road along the creek.

There was a little vole along the side of the road.

Crossing the bridge over Hancock Branch, there was a nice view of Texas Falls.

It flows through a narrow gorge in multiple drops separated by pools.  We couldn't really see the lower drops well from here though.

Across the bridge we went down to creek level further downstream to see the entire thing.

We got back on Texas Falls Nature Trail and made a short loop hike through the area, finishing back up along Hancock Branch.

We crossed the bridge again and headed back to the car.

From here, we drove south to White River Junction.  After checking into Comfort Inn, we walked over to Wicked Awesome BBQ and had dinner outside with Alex.