Expanded Ashuwilliticook Rail Trail offers opportunities for outdoor enjoyment

Newly expanded Ashuwillticook Rail Trail offers plenty of opportunities for outdoor enjoyment

BY SCOTT STAFFORD

This summer, the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail is likely to host even more hikers and bicyclists, especially from Pittsfi eld, where a recent extension brought the trail more than a mile south to Crane Avenue.

The Ashuwillticook Rail Trail, an old railroad line converted into a 10-foot-wide paved trail runs 13.7 miles, through Adams, Cheshire, Lanesborough and Pittsfi eld.

The former Pittsfi eld and North Adams Railroad opened in 1846 and was abandoned in 1990. The fi rst and second sections of the rail trail opened in 2001 and 2004. The 11.2-mile trail was extended northward in Adams, in May 2017, making it 12.2 miles long.

The newest segment, a 1.5mile south extension, from Lanesborough to Pittsfi eld, opened at the beginning of May, pushing the trail’s length to 13.7 miles.

Users of the trail can be seen biking, running, walking, rollerblading, fi shing and observing the abundant wildlife in the area. In the winter, there is also cross-country skiing and snowshoeing.

Some users have more personal connections to the trail. Brandon Perkins and Crystal Hoffman have a special connection to the part of the trail at the Adams Visitors Center and next to the Hoosic River.

“I love the trail — it’s a great spot to hang out with the river and the foliage,” Brandon Perkins said. “It’s why I moved here. It’s also the biggest reason tourists come here. In fact, I proposed to Crystal right here. That’s also why I love it here.”

Cheshire Reservoir and the Hoosic River offer outstanding views of the scenery and wildlife. Parking lots, benches and restrooms are available at selected locations along the way. Indeed, on warm weekends, the trail can get pretty busy.

Since its first incarnation in 2001, the trail has been wildly popular. Many visitors to Berkshire County use the trail, and others drive there from around the Berkshires and from neighboring towns in New York and Vermont.

There are a number of businesses along the trail that often attract trail users. For example, right next to the trail as it travels through Adams is the Berkshire Scenic Railway, which is essentially a rolling railway museum, which travels a few miles north to North Adams and back to the station in Adams.

Also in Adams, the trail runs through downtown Adams at the crossing on Park Street, where there are restaurants and shops. AJ’s Trailside Pub is right next to the trail in Adams, as is the Adam’s Visitors Center.

In Cheshire, the trail runs close to Whitney’s Farm Market and along the Cheshire Reservoir, where many trail users can go fi shing from the trail or from the lakeshore. There are also informational signs and mile markers.

Two friends from Canaan, N.Y., Terese Platten and Darci Frederick ride their bikes on the trail twice a month, if the weather is agreeable.

Their favorite stretch of trail is alongside the Cheshire Reservoir.

Bike riders head south on the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail next to Cheshire Reservoir.

SCOTT STAFFORD — THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE

While riding they have spotted lots of snapping turtles, geese, bald eagles and beaver dams.

Richard Clapper and Peggy White of Peru drive to the trailhead to Cheshire Reservoir and ride the trail once or twice a week to Adams and back.

“We usually ride from Cheshire [Reservoir] to here,” Clapper said while resting on a trailside bench in Adams. “There are a lot of water features, and plenty of fascinating species of birds, like the Great Blue Heron. It’s a destination for a lot of people.”

They’ve also spotted deer and once saw a bear near Whitney’s.

According to Nicholas Russo, senior transportation planner with the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, since July 2020, more than 201,000 people have used the trail.

It was most popular in August 2021 with 9,600 users counted at the Mall entrance to the trail.