Southern Berkshire Tour
Ken's Story
Years ago we started exploring the Berkshires of southeastern Massachusetts as part of giant one-day routes with Columbia County, NY. One time doing a big ride with Tony, we saw a Berkshire’s bicycling guidebook at the food stop in South Egremont and bought it and carried it home. That gave us some other ideas for roads in northeastern Connecticut, and also a big 100-mile route that included Richmond Mt Rd going by the Kripalu Center and Stockbridge Bowl.
We soon found that the region had lots of fun bicycling on its own, with no need to share a long route with New York roads. After several more exploratory rides, we settled into doing the loop starting from Salisbury using what are now Variations A and X, but continued working on improvements and variations.
Then in May 2003, I found a nice set of roads on the east side of Rt 7 between Egremont and Canaan, so at last, I could see a couple of reasonable alternatives (Variations Y and Z) to those 8 miles on Rt 41 with no shoulder in Massachusetts (since Variation X was the original route when we first published this on the website).
But the change was more radical than we expected since the new roads east of Rt 7 are more naturally part of a loop from Canaan CT -- one which does not include Salisbury (which was the original start point of the route). So that's how the main route came to start in Canaan, but with alternate start-finish variations to Salisbury.
Where: Northwestern Litchfield County in Connecticut and southwestern Berkshire County in Massachusetts. Canaan CT (or Salisbury CT) to Stockbridge MA and Tanglewood (near Lenox MA).
Description: 68 miles, moderate hilliness (4000 vertical feet). 28 mile loop to Mill River and Sheffield -- Variation C : hilliness at the low end of "moderate" (1500 vertical feet) one long non-steep climb.
Highlights: Variety of scenery in the southern Berkshires, farm fields and animals, lots of pleasant riding on quiet roads, several fun downhills.
Characteristics: Lots of hills both small and moderate, but no single hill is really big and steep. There are also some gentle rolling sections. About 1 mile on dirt.
Hill climbs: The main route has a 175 ft climb from Tanglewood up Richmond Hill Rd at 6% average grade, and a shorter steeper section of 90 feet at 7% grade climbing north up from Stockbridge.
Variation C has one long non-steep climb of about 300 vertical feet at around 3% grade.
Variation A has a bit over 100 ft at around 8% grade on Cooper Hill Rd east-bound.
Variation Z has a steeper section of 150 ft at over 9% grade on Cooper Hill Rd west-bound starting from Weatogue and Rannapo Rd. (Variation Y avoids this steep section, by joining Cooper Hill Rd the top of this climb)
Traffic: Overall similar to many other routes on this Bike Hudson Valley website.
On Variation X: Rt 41 south from South Egremont has 8 miles with no shoulders in Massachusetts. This section of Rt 41 can get significant car traffic on busy weekends -perhaps the traffic on Route 41 southbound is worse on Sunday afternoons.
on Variation Z: Cooper Hill Rd has two tight curves with low visibility to overtaking vehicles. For ourselves, we don't feel special concern taking these curves in the East-bound direction in Variation A, because we're going fast down the hill. But taking them in the West-bound in Variation Z, we're going much slower climbing up the hill and spending more time on those curves.
Warning: Riding a bicycle on roads has dangers and risks that need to be taken seriously.
Directions to Start:
By car: From the Taconic State Parkway or the Mid-Hudson Bridge, take Route 44 East to Amenia NY, then Route 22 North to Millerton NY, then Route 44 East into Connecticut, through Lakeville to Salisbury CT, and then to Canaan CT.
From the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge, take Route 199 East, to Route 22 North to Millerton NY, then Route 44 East into Connecticut, through Lakeville to Salisbury CT and then to Canaan CT.
From Connecticut, take Route 7 to Canaan CT. Or to start in Salisbury, take Route 44 West from Canaan.
By train: From the Wassaic station on the Metro-North Harlem Valley line from New York City, it is around 20 miles to the start of this route in Salisbury CT. Several possible routes see Harlem Valley Rail to Millerton to Connecticut for some ideas.
Other start points: Salisbury CT, Stockbridge MA (near Mass Pike), South Egremont MA (on Rt 23).
Maps: You should have detailed road maps of Litchfield County, CT and Berkshire County, MA to do this route. There are several roads whose names are not well indicated on the road signs, especially in Massachusetts.
Comparing the Salisbury finish variations: Variation X is the shortest, gentlest, simplest -- but also with the most sustained traffic interaction with high-speed vehicles and no shoulders on Route 41 in MA, and not the most interesting scenery. Variation Y has high-speed traffic interaction on Rt 7, but we find the lane width and shoulder mostly reasonable, though not real wide. Variation Z has the steepest hill-climb and the traffic concern of two low-visibility curves -- but also the most interesting scenery.
Connections to other routes:
The Harlem Valley Rail to Millerton to Connecticut and Harlem Valley Rail to Trail to Falls routes go within about 5.4 miles of Salisbury. But the shoulders on high-speed Route 44 between Millerton and Salisbury are narrow or non-existent at some points, though often reasonable. There are at least two other connecting routes, between Sharon and Salisbury, with less motor vehicle traffic.
