Taconic Crest Trail

[hiker13901]

Thinking of doing the 37 mile Taconic Crest trail in very late March.
Any tips, ideas, places to camp, eat, etc. Any suggestions on hiking it, most importantly.


Thank you.

 

[DayTrip]

I've done a few sections of it and it is pretty straightforward logistically. If I recall correctly "at large"/dispersed camping is allowed so finding spots to camp is a non issue, Most of the sections I did had fairly open woods. There are several websites on the trail if you haven't already found them. You can try these as a starting point:

https://taconichikingclub.org/taconic-crest-trail
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taconic_Crest_Trail

If you use the search feature on this forum I believe you'll find some older threads on the topic. I seem to recall following one awhile back when I was hiking out that way.

 

[Peakbagr]

I was the co-director TCT end-to-end for 10 years. It began as a hike, but morphed into more of a speed hike and then a race for some after I was involved with the event.
Unless you're set on doing it piecemeal or on your own, I think the best way to do it is by signing up early enough to get one of the limited available slots for the organized event. That provides much of the support.
The End to End begins at Berry Pond in the Pittsfield State Forest and ends in S Vermont.
How we ran it, the volunteers used to prepare breakfast before sunup and would move your vehicle to the end. You could prepare lunches or beverages and the volunteers would meet along the way for you to pick up your package.
The event is not 37 miles, it's the traditional 29miler that the Taconic Hiking Club has run for decades.
We served hot dogs and beverages at the the N terminus.
I can't say how any of this may have changed.
Tips for hiking/running the TCT: It's a series of ups and downs, ups and downs, from MA to VT. Almost the entire distance you're in deciduous forest and hiking it in spring is best done when the leaves are out as it can hot without canopy. Autumn is a good time, maybe one of the nicest times to hike part or all of it.
A few years ago the Taconic Hiking Club commissioned cartographer Liz Cruz to design a map. Even if Liz hadn't designed the maps for my two books and numerous articles, I'd tell you her TCT map is a beauty. Shows all the side trails, proper elevations, private property and much more. You can use the map to plan an end to end or section hikes. You may want to have 2 vehicles if you're looking to section hike. Depending on section, some of the trails to the hollows (the cols) come from dirt roads that involve car spots or dropoffs.
Berlin Mt, the highest point of the TCT is nearby and one of my favorite hikes.

 

[Mike P.]

Thinking of doing the 37 mile Taconic Crest trail in very late March.
Any tips, ideas, places to camp, eat, etc. Any suggestions on hiking it, most importantly.


Thank you.

How much snow are you looking to find or avoid?

 

[Peakbagr]

The Taconic Crest receives a lot of snow, sitting higher than the adjacent counties on both sides.

 

[SpencerVT]

I did the Taconic Crest Trail a few years ago. Fantastic trail. It goes very quickly - I remember the footpath being quite smooth and well maintained and not as much roller coaster up and down as you might expect.
I love the Taconics and this area in particular. I camped up on Berlin Mountain not that long ago which was awesome. As Peakbagr said, the TCT gets quite a lot of snow. Storms come across the Hudson valley and dump extra snow on the Taconics once they hit those high elevations. In late March there will almost certainly be quite a bit of remaining snowpack. I was up in the Taconics on April 17th a few years ago and there was still a lot of snow. The TCT has high elevations - remember Berlin Mountain is over 2800' tall. So bring your winter gear as you would a regular winter hike.

 

[linnchinnn]

Thinking of doing the 37 mile Taconic Crest trail in very late March.
Any tips, ideas, places to camp, eat, etc. Any suggestions on hiking it, most importantly.


Thank you.

That sounds like a great hiking adventure!

 

[linnchinnn]

Admins???

 

[DSettahr]

(I know this thread is a couple of years old but figured I'd chime in.)

I backpacked it back in 2019. I have a trip report posted over on ADKForum from that trip.

Some general comments:

• Dispersed camping is not permitted on the Massachusetts portion of the trail. There is a "primitive" car-camping campground at Berry Pond, with a fee to camp and reservations necessary. This is the only legal camping option on the southern half of the trail.
• Dispersed camping is permitted on portions of the trail in New York that traverse State Forest lands, in compliance with the DEC's 150 foot rule. However, much of the TCT is a ridgeline traverse, and water sources aren't common, so any camping along the TCT itself would likely be dry camping.
• Illegal ATV use has been an on-going issue on parts of the TCT. There's some portions of the trail that are horrendously rutted and muddy as a result.
• While I did enjoy the trail, it is also the sort of trail where one mile more or less looks exactly like the other 36. It's a lot of walking through fern-filled glades in open forest. Don't get me wrong, it makes for pleasant scenery, but this is also the sort of trail where one needn't worry about hiking the entire thing unless they are a completionist who hates leaving sections of trail unhiked.

I did it northbound over 3 days/2 nights. The first night I spent camped at Berry Pond, the second night I dropped down off of the ridge into Mattison Hollow. I was able to find a dispersed spot along Kronk Brook in compliance with the 150 foot rule with little difficulty.

I understand that there are tentative plans in the works to extend the TCT northwards into Vermont.

One might consider the southern Taconics as an alternative. I haven't hiked all of the South Taconic Trail, but my impression from the sections of that trail that I have hiked is that the STT is superior to the TCT in terms of scenery (Brace and Alander Mts in particular have stunning views). The STT is a 14 mile trail that could be done as a rugged day hike, or as an overnight hike with a night spent camped at the Ashley Hill Brook tent sites in MA's Mt. Washington State Forest. Longer backpacking trips are also possible in the South Taconics by combining a portion of the South Taconic Trail with the AT, which runs adjacent.

I have a couple of trips reports on ADKForum from backpacking trips I've undertaken in the South Taconics: One trip report from a 2018 trip, and one trip report from a 2024 trip.

 

[Dana]

I used to do a lot of hiking in the south Taconics, but not for years... is the cabin still standing on Alander Mountain? It's a nice area.

Last time I hiked in the area was 25 years ago, with my then 10 year old daughter. Set up camp, then got careless with a knife while getting ready for dinner, cut my finger halfway off. She helped me bandage and splint it, pack up our gear, then we hiked 4 miles back to the car in the dark and drove to the hospital in Sharon, CT, getting there around midnight where a doctor successfully reattached the tendon and stitched me up. Doc said it would have been OK if I'd waited until morning to hike out and get it fixed, but I knew I wouldn't have slept very well worrying about it. Wasn't going to hike back in at that point so we drove home, got there around 4am to my wife's great surprise.

 

[DayTrip]

One might consider the southern Taconics as an alternative. I haven't hiked all of the South Taconic Trail, but my impression from the sections of that trail that I have hiked is that the STT is superior to the TCT in terms of scenery (Brace and Alander Mts in particular have stunning views).

I would agree with this. I've done several of the MA sections and just about the entire Southern Taconic sections from the terminus on Shagroy Road to Bash Bish Falls and found it very nice and with much more variety than MA. A lot of open, grassy outcrops with views, lush forest with moss covered rocks, etc. and enough brooks along the way to filter water. The MA sections, like Dsettahr mentioned, had lengthy sections of rutted out muddy roads, generally unnoteworthy woods and mostly unenjoyable walking IMO.

 

[DSettahr]

Yes, the Alander Mountain cabin is still standing, and is available for overnight use on a first-come, first-serve basis. But in all honesty, both times I've hiked past there, I've poked my head inside and haven't been super impressed... it's clear that the cabin frequently functions as a trash magnet by less-than-ethical members of the hiking community. I'd fully expect that a night spent camped there would likely be a front row seat to an all-night mouse circus.

The Ashley Hill Brook tent sites (located further down on the lower eastern slopes of Alander Mountain) are nice. There's 10 designated tent sites there, available for first-come, first-serve use. Each site has a fire pit and a picnic table, and there's several communal outhouses scattered between the sites. The one draw back to the sites is that there's no on-site water- Ashley Hill Brook itself is located about a half-mile away (bring extra water containers to minimize trips).

It would be awesome if a trail directly connecting Mt. Fray with Jug End were to be constructed. You'd then have a ~30 mile backpacking loop between the AT, STT, and the trails connecting them (with a state high point thrown in the mix for good measure!).

 

[Dana]

Yes, the Alander Mountain cabin is still standing, and is available for overnight use on a first-come, first-serve basis. But in all honesty, both times I've hiked past there, I've poked my head inside and haven't been super impressed... it's clear that the cabin frequently functions as a trash magnet by less-than-ethical members of the hiking community. I'd fully expect that a night spent camped there would likely be a front row seat to an all-night mouse circus.

The last time I was there, there wasn't much trash, but hundreds of (empty) liquor bottles lining the walls. We did stay in the cabin after snowshoeing in, the wood stove was nice to have.

 

[Bushwacked]

Mt. Washing State Forest Ranger Station > Alendar Mountain Trail > South Taconic Trail > Mt. Frissel Trail > Appalachian Trail > Bear Rock Campsite (Laurel Ridge actual name?) > North on App over Mt. Everett and then a road walk back to the HQ/car is a good loop. Bear Rock Falls is a nice place to be. "Rattlesnake Hill" (Round Man.) in CT is aptly named.