Doggin’ The Berkshires

Doggin' The Berkshires: The 33 Best Places To Hike With Your Dog In Western Massachusetts Buy on Amazon

Hike With Your Dog Adventure Log - Berkshires: Places in Western Massachusetts Where You Won't Be Able to Wipe the Wag off Your Dog's Tail

By Gelbert, Doug

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Have you ever considered how far you walk with your dog? If you walk just 15 minutes a day you will have walked far enough in your dog's lifetime to cross the United States. With all that walking ahead of you, aren't you ready for a new place to take a hike with your dog?

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.

What makes a great place to take your dog hiking? Well, how about a paw-friendly surface to trot on? Grass and sandy soil are a lot more appealing than asphalt and rocks. A variety of hikes is always good - long ones for athletic dogs and short ones for the less adventurous canine. Dogs always enjoy a refreshing place to swim as well. For dog-friendly parks our guides describe the trail options for your dog, evaluate park traffic from other users, tell you whether you will need a guide dog to find your way around and, of course, tell you how to get to the park.

While walking the dog around the Berkshires, we bring along generous helpings of local history, botany, geology, architecture and more. 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) ...

THE BEST OF THE BEST

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.