Doggin' The Berkshires: The Best of the Best

As the temperatures drop, you may notice your dog getting friskier. Autumn is the best time of year to get out and exercise with your dog on western Massachusetts trails. The Berkshires are a great place to hike with your dog. Within a short drive you can be scaling mountains that leave your dog panting, exploring impossibly green glens that will set tails to wagging or circling lakes for miles and never lose sight of the water.

BEST PLACE FOR YOUR DOG TO SWIM: Waconah Falls State Park. Your dog will plenty of superb swimming,both in the plunge pool and further downstream.

BEST ONE-HOUR WORKOUT FOR YOUR DOG: Tyringham Cobble. After hiking the two-mile loop up to the Appalachian Trail through a blend of active pastures and woodland your dog will be asleep on the ride home.

PRETTIEST HIKE FOR YOUR DOG: Stevens Glen. There are no traces of its time as a recreation destination, only airy hemlock and mixed hardwood forest where your dog will enjoy sweeping ups and downs and energetic streams.

BEST HIKE TO VIEWS WITH YOUR DOG: Mount Washington State Forest. The 2.8-mile trek up Alander Mountain starts with as many drops as climbs but eventually your dog will be rewarded with 270-degree views.

BEST HALF-HOUR HIKE WITH YOUR DOG: Stockbridge Trails. The hike with your dog through Ice Glen may be only a quarter-mile long but it plays bigger with boulders littering the ravine floor. You dog will relish the cool shade of some of New England's largest pines and hemlock trees.

MOST HISTORIC HIKE WITH YOUR DOG: Monument Mountain. You can take your dog on the same hike that took place on August 5, 1850 when two giants of American literature, Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne, met for the first time.

BEST OPEN-FIELD HIKING WITH YOUR DOG: Field Farm. The star trails at Field Farm are the trips through airy pastures with views of the Taconic Range to the west and Mount Greylock to the east.

BEST PLACE TO CIRCLE A LAKE WITH YOUR DOG: Beartown State Forest. When your dog takes the 1.5-mile Benedict Pond loop the calm waters are in sight almost the entire way.

BEST PLACE TO LOSE YOURSELF IN THE WOODS WITH YOUR DOG: Notchview. Whatever you have in mind for hiking with your dog is on the menu at Notchview - there are more than 15 miles of paw-friendly trails here when the snow is not on the mountain.

Find out about these and other destinations for your dog in DOGGIN' THE BERKSHIRES: THE 33 BEST PLACES TO HIKE WITH YOUR DOG IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS, $9.95. So what are you waiting for? Your dog will want to visit a 165-ton glacial erratic (page 31), spot the elusive Massquatch (page 67), hike through a herd of free- range Hereford cattle (page 27), hike through modern art sculptures? (page 47), hike with your dog past the only marble dam in America? (page 83) ...

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