New segment of Mahican-Mohawk Trail makes summit more accessible

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    Members of the Mahican-Mohawk Trail committee, volunteers, and other interested people dedicated and hiked the first section in North Adams of the Mahican-Mohawk Trail on Saturday, April 29.     This section of the trail runs from the Wigwam Western Summit at the top of the mountain and descends through scenic woods about three-quarters of a mile to the lower Mohawk Trail and the new trailhead. This new trailhead, complete with sign and parking area, sits about a quarter mile north of West Shaft Road on Route 2, on the right when heading toward the Hairpin Turn.     The new trail makes it possible to walk from downtown North Adams to the Western Summit via East Main Street, said Lauren R. Stevens, environmental activist and writer. Stevens founded the Hoosic River Watershed Association (HooRWA), one of the groups involved with the project. He cautioned that walkers should be careful when crossing Route 2.     On a warm, clear spring day, those present capped off the dedication by driving up around the Hairpin Turn to the Western Summit, parking, and hiking down the trail from the top.     "Okay, let's do it," said Stevens, when everyone was assembled just north of the Wigwam, with North Adams in the valley stretching out below them.     Not far down the trail, Stevens showed the other eight hikers where the original Mohawk Trail Highway had run. Those involved with the project had wanted the trail to follow the original course of this road, but this didn't work out.     Leslie Reed-Evans, of the Williamstown Rural Lands Foundation, another group involved with the trail project, took time to note interesting natural features along the way, and found a no-longer-used nest of a red-eyed vireo.     "It's a lot less spring-like here than it is down in the valley," she noted at the beginning of the descent.     The Mahican-Mohawk Trail is an attempt to recreate a 100-mile-long, American Indian foot trail connecting the Hudson and Connecticut rivers, following the Hoosic and Deerfield rivers and climbing over the Hoosac plateau.     Sections of the trail have been improved between Old Deerfield and Shelburne along the Deerfield River, and through the Mohawk Trail State Forest on The Old Indian Trail to South County Road and Strykers Road in Florida.     The trail, which is marked with yellow circular trail markers picturing a maple leaf, will eventually follow through downtown North Adams, past the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, through Blackinton, Williamstown, and Pownal, Vt. The New York State section has not been laid out, but will follow the Hoosic River.     As anyone standing in downtown North Adams and looking up at the Western Summit might guess, the trail down the mountain is rather steep in places, but nothing a moderately fit hiker could not handle.     Stevens said the owners of the Wigwam have granted an easement for the very top part of this new segment of the Mahican-Mohawk Trail. The rest of this segment of trail lies on land owned by the city of North Adams, and was originally a logging road.     Three participants in the hike were from the Manice Education Center, located in the town of Florida. This is an environmental education center for students from New York City, and volunteers from the center had worked on the trail.     "Working here was really special for us because we felt we were giving back to our community," said Natasha Jones, an adult leader at the Center.     For part of its upper length, the trail ran beside a babbling brook. The descent of the trail took just under half an hour. Stevens said it would take about an hour to hike back up, given the steepness of the trail.     It's worth noting that in the valley the actual trail starts a few yards north of the small parking lot and sign beside Route 2.     Funding for the project has come from the Massachusetts Greenway Program and the federal Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act. The Massachusetts Highway Department, including District 1 Highway Commissioner Ross Dindio, were most helpful in cutting red tape to get the project done, Stevens said. The next segment of the trail to be worked on will run from North Adams to Williamstown, he added.     Maps of the trail can be found at the Western Summit and at the North Adams Chamber of Commerce visitor information center in front of the Windsor Mill on Union Street in North Adams, Stevens said.     The Mahican-Mohawk Trail passes by numerous Indian sites. It was used for hunting, trade, and war. As Europeans entered the region, they widened it for horseback and carting. It was used to provision Fort Massachusetts, in what is now North Adams, during the Colonial period. Benedict Arnold used it in leading militia to rendezvous with Ethan Allen to take Fort Ticonderoga at the start of the American Revolution. The trail led troops to the Battle of Bennington, fought in North Hoosick, N.Y.     The trail also displays the agricultural and industrial heritage of the area between the two rivers. An approximation of the trail becaome the Mohawk Trail highway.     In addition to HooRWA and the Williamstown Rural Lands Foundation, groups supporting the project include the Appalachian Mountain Club, the Deerfield River Watershed Association, Friends of the Mohawk Trail State Forest, the Franklin County Land Trust, and Historic Deerfield Inc.
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Vermont National Guard Members Depart From North Adams

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff

About 50 people waved flags to the see the Guardsmen off on their bus. The members were staying in North Adams because of a lack of hotel rooms in Bennington, Vt.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Residents came together Friday to see some Vermont National Guard members off.
 
The American Legion Riders organized a send off for a group of 75 or so Guard members who were staying at Hotel Downstreet.
 
"We are going to escort them to the Bennington Armory," Riders President Mike Lewis said. "They are going to gear up there, and then I am not sure where they are going. I don’t even know if they are all going to the same place."
 
Fifty or so people met in the Hotel Downstreet parking lot to show their appreciation. They waved flags and held signs. A bagpiper was also present.
 
The Riders contacted the Fire Department who helped organize the send off. North Adams Police cruisers and Northern Berkshire EMS were also on site to help see the bus off.
 
Lewis said there was not enough rooms in Bennington for the National Guard members. He added because of the trend to use vacant hotel rooms as low-income housing, the group had to look toward North Adams.
 
It's not clear where these Guard were off to, but about 500 members of 3-172 Infantry Battalion were expected to go to the Middle East with U.S. Central Command. According to Vermont Digger, this deployment was scheduled prior to the strikes on Iran. 
 
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