Mountain Meadow Preserve & Field Farm

The next stop on our Columbus Day Weekend explorations will be to western Massachusetts and some Trustees properties that until now, have remained unvisited.  In fact, in 34 years living in New England, we have never ventured this far west on Rt. 2.  Today's the day we change that.  For company, we bring along my parents, and for them, I choose a mostly flat easy-going trail.  

Even though it is part of the Trustees of Reservations in this state, he Mountain Meadow Preserve actually straddles the Massachusetts-Vermont border.  We actually drive up a dirt road out of Massachusetts into a parking lot in Vermont.

Being a little uncertain of where we may find our next meal, Betsy wisely packs lunches for everybody.
Believe or not, we were not the only people finding this remote parking lot.   There was one other car and several other dog-walking locals who visited while we were here.  

Now fortified, it's off on to the trail, trekking poles in hand.

Although hiking in Vermont, we're just a few steps away from walking back into Massachusetts.

You could say that I'm "out-standing in my field."
I won't, but you could :)

The trail signage was very good.  The trick was to avoid looping on the same trail over and over.

Of course we did make it out, and here's the property marker proving we were there.

You'll be glad to know my mid-80 year old parents survived this 1.11 mile hike.  The elevation gain was extremely modest 99 feet.

Afterward, we still had some time as the gray skies continued to clear.  We headed next to Field Farm, another property of the Trustees, less than 15 minutes away.  The property consists two architecturally interesting houses one of which is a guest house (B&B) and the other now a small museum.

The color-soaked Berkshire mountains provide a sweeping backdrop to the beautiful manicured grounds surrounding the houses.

This house had a silo built right into the exterior.

I crossed two Trustees properties off my list, but there's still more to see in this corner of the state.  Mount Greylock (the highest peak in Massachusetts) was just a little further drive to the south.  We had to choose between going there and going for ice cream back in Williamstown.  You can probably guess where we wound up.  Yum.