Jug End

I would like to share one of my favorite places with you.   It is in what is known as the Jug End area, near South Egremont, and is on, or just off of, the Appalachian trail in extreme southwestern MA.  It takes some work to get there, a 970 foot climb in just 0.7 miles.  Click here to see a map of the area, courtesy of the State of Massachusetts.  The X marks the spot for the area I am going to describe to you, and the circled P nearby marks the closest parking area on Jug End Road.  Consider taking state route 41 out of Great Barrington to South Egremont.  Just beyond South Egremont, route 41 turns left and separates from route 23, take the left.  Take the first right on Mount Washington Road, and off of that take the third left on "Avenue", which merges with Jug End Road (which becomes Guilder Hollow Road prior to rejoining 41 further south).  Follow Jug End Road probably less than a mile, watch for the wide area of the road, where it is obvious that cars park on both sides.  Take the uphill trail (yes, on the Appalachian Trail), which is to the right if you are following my directions from South Egremont.  There is a significant climb not far ahead, as mentioned above.  About ¾'s of a mile ahead, you will emerge from the woods on an rock outcropping, which will have a great view, click here to see a sample.  Just a bit further up the trail, a very small bit, the trail takes an abrupt left among some knee to hip high bushes, and continues on to the summit of Mt. Bushnell.  DON'T take the left, but follow the crack in the shrubs straight, and then right.  There is a barely beaten trail that leads perhaps 50 yards or so to the "front of the ship" as I like to think about it.  If you will look at this piece of a map, courtesy of Exploring the Appalachian Trail, Hikes in Southern New England, by David Emblidge (a book I recommend, I hope he doesn't object to my use of a piece of his map from the book) I bought, at least for this purpose), you will see how the elevation lies.  At the "front of the ship", one has about a 300º view of the Housatonic Valley, South Egremont, Great Barrington, Monument Mountain, Davis and Marsh Ponds.  It is a great place to lay in the sun (well, during our short summers), have a picnic--again in the summer, and view the changing seasons.  It is also very private (well, if anyone ever reads this, probably less private, hehe).  It is a GREAT place to spend an afternoon.  A couple other pictures from the area, BishBash Falls , a picture from Mt. Washington road, and a picture from route 41, heading into Sheffield in Connecticut along route 41.