Route 41 & Bash Bish Falls

The corner where Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York meet: you leave Salisbury on Undermountain Road (CT-41 / MA-41) under the Taconic ridge, continue to South Egremont, cross to Hillsdale on Route 23, drop down NY-22 to Copake Falls and climb NY-344 to Bash Bish Falls. It's 25 easy valley miles that suit any pack. The route ends at the falls with no return leg, and the parking lot is small and fills up on weekends. It doesn't go through Mt Washington, whose roads are dirt.

Undermountain Road runs along the foot of the Taconic Range, the ridge that marks the border with New York, past horse farms and the Berkshire School in Sheffield. Bash Bish Falls, at the end of the route, is the highest waterfall in Massachusetts: Bash Bish Brook drops through a narrow gorge and splits around a rock before the final pool. The main drop is about 80 feet, part of a chain of cascades close to 200 feet in all.

The falls are in a state park on the Massachusetts side, next to Taconic State Park in New York, and the walk from the parking lot is short but rocky, so wear real shoes instead of riding boots if you can. Copake Falls, the last village on the way in, has the ruins of the old Copake Iron Works. Fuel in Salisbury or Hillsdale, and to return you can take NY-22 south toward Millerton or come back the way you came.