Taconic Crest Trail

Taconic Crest Trail
Taconic Crest Trail marker
Length	37 mi (60 km)
Location	Berkshire County, Massachusetts, Rensselaer County, New York, and Bennington County, Vermont
Use	Hiking, backpacking, snowshoeing
Highest point	Berlin Mountain, New York, 2,818 ft (859 m)
Lowest point	NY Route 346, North Petersburgh, New York, 500 ft (150 m)
Difficulty	Moderately difficult
Season	easiest mid-May through early October
Hazards	deer ticks, poison ivy, weather

The Taconic Crest Trail is a 37 mi (60 km) hiking trail in the Taconic Mountains in the northeastern United States. The trail extends from U.S. Route 20 in Hancock, Massachusetts, less than 1 mi (1.6 km) east of the New York border, north along the ridgecrest of the Taconic Range, first within Massachusetts, then weaving along the border of New York and Massachusetts and New York and Vermont, and ending in Petersburgh, New York, on NY Route 346, near the Vermont border. Much of the route has been conserved as state forest, conservation easement, or forest preserve.

Forest types on the Taconic Crest Trail are mixed oak-hickory forest and northern hardwood forest with microclimate summit balds, alkaline-loving plant communities, and red spruce/ balsam fir stands on the higher summits. The geology is thrust faulted metamorphic rock over younger sedimentary rock.

The Taconic Crest Trail passes through the New York towns of Stephentown, Berlin and Petersburgh; the Massachusetts towns of Hancock and Williamstown; and Pownal, Vermont. It is crossed by New York Route 2, Massachusetts Route 43, the seasonal Pittsfield State Forest Berry Pond Campground access road, and by Lebanon Springs Road in Hancock. The trail is supported by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), the Taconic Hiking Club, the Trust for Public Land, the National Park Service, Williams College, Rensselaer Land Trust, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, and the Williamstown Rural Lands Foundation.