Pittsfield State Forest - Family Trails

Our dream of creating some easy single track trails for kids and families to learn to mountain bike on has finally become a reality! People now have an alternative to riding hiking trails which generally go straight up the mountain or the ATV trails which are generally very rocky and very muddy.

There now are two beginner level singletrack loops in the Pittsfield State Forest for all to ride. Refer to the map below. One loop begins in the lower parking lot (Ski Lodge Parking) and is called Bear Claw. The other loop begins in the upper parking lot (Lulu Brook) and is called Deer Hill. They are all signed and ready to ride! Click on the map to see full size.

Family Trail Map Legend.
Green	Two main loops Family Loops (Deer Hill and Bear Claw)
Red	Existing SingleTrack.
Yellow	Hiking Trails (most open to biking, but not Lulu).
Blue	Wider Trails

If you view this map in Google Earth, it looks really good:

View Larger Map

We'd like to thank everyone who helped us during the past 3 years make this a reality. I hope I don't miss anyone, but here's a list of everyone who helped in some capacity:

John Jansen, Brad Herder, Ruth Wheeler, NEMBA Trail School 2010 attendees, Beth Herder, Jamie Coyne, Matt Smith, Laurie Schwartz, Theresa Apple, Ed Mahoney, Steve McDermott, Todd Howell, Becky Barnes, Eli Rolli, Elizabeth Packer, Sam Talbot, Hannah Perry, Michelle Legaspi

We had to make some compromises we didn't really want to make, but to actually have a small network of nice singletrack somewhere in Berkshire County besides Kennedy Park, I think they were worth making.

Thanks to all of you!

NEMBA/IMBA Trail School Volunteers


Tools used to bench cut Jamie's Landing (which is now called Deer Hill)


Harold Green doing some expert trail layout on Jamie's Landing


Bill Markham examining the flow




NEMBA Trail School Bridge - The Beginning


Boards Layed Out


Brad Herder and John Jansen hammering them in


NEMBA Trail School Attendees Ganging Up on it


Ruth Wheeler - Always Out Helping!




Steve McDermott Leads the Troops to the Whirlpool Re-Route


Matt Smith, Beth Herder, Theresa Apple, Laurie Schwartz and Steve McDermott clearing the new trail


Ed Mahoney and Matt Smith examining the situation before cutting that log.


Steve McDermott demonstrating the proper thing to do with stumps - REMOVE THEM ENTIRELY!

Thanks to the Americorps SCA crew for all their hard work putting the finishing touches on things.

Our new trails signs! The DCR lined the logs up, somewhat contrary to what we learned in trail school, but makes a nice entrance to the loop.


Eli Rolli, Elizabeth Packer, Sam Talbot, Hannah Perry, Michelle Legaspi from Americorps. They had adopted names based on our old trail names kind of like how Appalachian Trail Thru Hikers adopt their nicknames while on the AT. We gave them the old signs and a pizza party as a token of our appreciation for their work.


The Americorp group spent 10 days in the Pittsfield State Forest first during some terribly hot weather, then during a week of horribly rainy weather. Here they are doing some drainage work. My kind of summer job!