Taconic Crest Trail

The Taconic Crest Trail is a 35 mi (56 km) hiking trail in the Taconic Mountains. The trail extends from U.S. Route 20 in Hancock, Massachusetts, less than 1 mi (1.6 km) east of the New York border, north along the ridgecrest of the Taconic Range, first within Massachusetts, then weaving along the border of New York and Massachusetts and New York and Vermont, and ending in Petersburgh, New York on NY Rte 346, near the Vermont border. Much of the route has been conserved as state forest, conservation easement, or forest preserve.

Forest types the Taconic Crest Trail are mixed oak-hickory forest and northern hardwood forest with microclimate summit balds, alkaline-loving plant communities, and red spruce/ balsam fir stands on the higher summits. The geology is thrust faulted metamorphic rock over younger sedimentary rock.

The Taconic Crest Trail passes through the New York towns of Stephentown, Berlin and Petersburgh; the Massachusetts towns of Hancock and Williamstown; and Pownal, Vermont. It is bisected by New York Route 2, Massachusetts Route 43, the seasonal Pittsfield State Forest Berry Pond Campground access road, and by Lebanon Springs Road in Hancock. The trail is supported by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), Taconic Hiking Club, the Trust for Public Land, the National Park Service, Williams College, Rensselaer Land Trust, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, and the Williamstown Rural Lands Foundation.