Camping the Mohawk Trail

I’ve been going to the Berkshires every so often since I moved to New England 4 years ago. It reminds me of where I grew up. It’s a gorgeous area and something I never would have expected to find in Western Mass. Rolling green hills, expansive rivers and of course the Mohawk Trail. The Mohawk Trail was actually the first scenic route in all of New England and officially opened in 1914. It boasts an incredible 50,000 acres of state forest and parks.

Trust us, it’s worth a visit!

The Deerfield River

Historically speaking, the Mohawk Trail is named after the footpath created by Native Americans that connected the Connecticut and Hudson River valleys. This land belonged to the Pocumtuck and the Mohawk. The English and Dutch pitted the two tribes against one another and when a high standing member of the Mohawk was killed the Pocumtuck were blamed. The Mohawk obliterated the Pocumtuck and the trail was named after the victorious tribe.

But that’s not the only historical claim to fame as this is the route Benedict Arnold took when marching to Fort Ticonderoga in New York. That was before the whole traitor thing when he was recruiting troops on his way from Boston. You can actually still hike part of the original footpath within Mohawk Trail State Forest.

I chose the Mohawk Trail for a weekend camping trip with the girls, Bama and Lucy. I knew I wanted to camp but didn’t realize how many options I would have. I decided on a campsite in Mohawk Trail State Forest called Great Pines Campground. There are 6 car free campsites that sit down a hill by the Deerfield River and 53 drive in campsites. They also have 6 cabins, but dogs are not permitted in those. Reservations are suggested and when I went to book a month out there were fewer options then I thought there would be. Reservations can be made here.

Great Pines Campground site number 21

I chose campsite 21, which was a car free campsite, but after seeing the options we both agreed that car free sites 17, 19, and 22 are the best! Site 17 is the most secluded and both 17 and 19 have direct paths down to the river. Be aware that you are in black bear country in Mohawk Trail State Forest, so each campsite had a food storage locker, as well as, a picnic table and fire pit.

If you are traveling with your 4-Legg’d children don’t forget to bring a copy of their rabies vaccine. All campgrounds say that you need to bring them, but this is the first that has ever actually checked them! I just made a copy of each of their vaccine records that I’m keeping in the car. Also, there is a limit of 4 dogs at each site. We’ve found that splitting them up and taking 2 at a time just works better for us. I have to say 4 dogs would have been a lot for the size of the sites here. That is unless your dogs are very well behaved and really used to camping in close proximity to strangers.
Buy wood when you check-in for $5 a bundle. We used 2 bundles each night but you may not need as much. We love a good campfire!
This area is alcohol free. Not just the campground but anywhere along the Deerfield River.

There is no question that being by the Deerfield River is an amazing perk to staying at car free sites at Pine Grove Campground. That’s a fantastic sound to fall asleep to at night. And the views are amazing in the morning especially if you get some fog! There is a slight negative to sleeping by the river – route 2 which sits on the other side of the Deerfield. There isn’t a ton of traffic at night but if a loud car goes by here or there it can be a little annoying. It didn’t deter from our good time at all and we loved that we were by the river.

One of our favorite sports on the Deerfield River

I never would have guessed that there was so much to do in this area of Western Massachusetts. In the summer you can go tubing, rafting or kayaking on the Deerfield. Zoar Outdoors offers everything from whitewater rafting to zip-lining. If you are driving around Charlemont you will undoubtedly see one of their vans driving by! We love kayaking and I would love to try tubing on the Deerfield at some point, but the Mr prefers to fly fish the river. There are some great spots for fly-fishing on the river, which makes it easy to find a place to cast in. The river fishes well all year long but, be aware of the daily cold-water dam releases making it impossible to wade in to fish because of high water levels. However, thanks to the dam release the Deerfield offers some of the best dry-fly fishing for trout in the Eastern US.

The Mr’s 2 cents on fishing the Deerfield– In the Deerfield, you will find big browns and fat rainbows. Both are stocked species. Personally, some of my favorite fish to catch are the native brook trout that call the Deerfield home.

Like most trout streams in Massachusetts, these natives can grow to a good size and have a beautiful color to them especially in the fall months when their bellies turn a brilliant red. While it is always enjoyable to drift a dry fly down the Deerfield my favorite time of year to fish is during the fall when I can cast in big streamers and be rewarded with even bigger trout.

There are many places along the main road to pull off and fish the Deerfield, but I would highly suggest going off the beaten path and finding some trails that lead down to the more secluded areas. A great starting point is to follow the railroad tracks.

The changing water levels make fishing the Deerfield challenging even for experienced fly fishermen. It’s important to keep an eye on dam forecasts when planning on fishing the Deerfield. To check out the flow table click here.

Mt. Greylock Summit

Mohawk Trail State Forest also offers several trails including one that is right next to the campground. This trail is 3.8 miles and the 4-Legg’d children are able to use the trail. Keep in mind it is considered a moderate hike. We decided to take the girls to Mount Greylock State Reservation. We drove to the summit where much to our surprise we were not the only people with dogs. There were quite a few dogs at the summit, but the expanse of a wide-open field made it awesome to relax in the summit breeze.

Mt. Greylock Summit

After hanging out at the summit we decided to try to find a trail that the girls could do. Lucy can only really do easy trails after tearing her ACL a few years ago. We wanted to try Sperry Road to Stony Ledge Trail because it is only 1.9 miles and boasts incredible views. Unfortunately, the trailhead parking was completely packed. There is overflow parking down the road, but it adds another 1.1 miles to the hike and that would have been pushing it for Lucy.

Jones Nose Trail

We decided to give finding a trail one more shot when we stumbled upon Jones Nose Trail. It is only a mile long that seemed promising but the steep incline from the beginning proved to be too much for Lucy. We only got about a quarter mile in before she started limping. I have to say that the quarter mile we hiked was really pretty!

Jones Nose Trail

Of course, we had to end our camping weekend with the girls with some s’mores. No matter what, every single time I have s’mores I think about one of my (our) all-time favorite movies, The Sandlot. You know the whole,

“Ham Porter: Hey, you want a s’more?

Smalls: Some more of what?

Ham Porter: No, do you want a s’more?

Smalls: I haven’t had anything yet…so how can I have more of nothing?

Ham Porter: “Your killing me, Smalls!”