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Route: South Taconic Trail (NY, MA)

Location
New York, US
Massachusetts, US
Distance
20.8 mi
Description

The South Taconic Trail is a 21.5 mile (34.5 km) hiking trail in the Taconic Mountains of southwest Massachusetts and adjacent New York. After a recent 6.5 mile expansion, the trail now begins and extends from Shagroy Road, south of Rudd Pond Taconic State Park in Millerton, New York, and runs north along the ridgecrest of the southern Taconic Range through the town of Mt. Washington, Mass. and ends east of the Catamount Ski Area on Nicholson Road in Egremont, Massachusetts.

The South Taconic Trail is part of the Taconic Loop, and is south of the Taconic Crest Trail.

GPS Track
South-Taconic.gpx1.3 MB

FKTs

Related Routes
Taconic Loop (MA, CT, NY)
Taconic Rim (MA, CT, NY)

Comments

Raphael Sarfati
Thu, 07/30/2020 - 10:35am

Went for a scouting run/mellow attempt last week, starting a little before 7am to avoid excessive heat (though humidity was close to 100%, totally foggy at the start). Catamount to Rudd Pond (SOBO).
As has been said before, there are a few tricky spots on the route. The Catamount area is confusing, especially the sharp left turn behind the cabin at the top of the ski slopes. Then coming down towards Bash Bish, it's very easy to miss the junction from the dirt road to the trail. Coming down Alander it's also easy to miss the trail and go down the wrong slope.
So I did a few mistakes there but was still at Brace Mountain in 2h30min, so I thought I was doing good on time and the last 7 miles downhill would be easy peasy. Not at all. The trail is faint, overgrown, steep and rocky, plus the rain from the night before was making everything very slippery. Good views though. Finally on a rocky knob I couldn't find the trail for a while, and stopped pushing after that. Finished in 3h57min.

There wasn't a single water point on the course (except maybe somewhere off course at Bash Bish), and my 3L bladder was barely enough. So not the best time of year for this.

I might give it another try before leaving the area though. I'm thinking maybe Northbound is faster, as the South portion is probably better going up than down...

https://www.strava.com/activities/3808118024