Welcome!  Please CONTACT US with any questions about events.

Tusi and Nira

Nira at niraharper@gmail.com   &    Tusi at ritachild@hotmail.com

Wednesday Hikes. Nira and Noor will lead Wednesday hikes or walks, usually at 1:00 or 1:30 pm. Details will be posted over the listserv.

Sat. Oct. 1. Smith College Gallery Talk & Walk. 1:00 – 2:00 pm. The walk through the galleries with the curator will look at the ways artists capture and convey light. Then, based on the weather, we will walk the campus, or river trail for an hour.  (If it's raining I'll take you through the 4 floors of the new library building).  

Sun. Oct. 2. Bike Ride in Greenfield.  Meet at Greenfield Community College at 10:20 to bike 12 miles on quiet roads with some hills. We’ll go through farms and fields and a covered bridge.  

Fri. Oct. 7. Glendale Winery. Please join your friends 4:00 - 7:00 pm to enjoy each other’s company while also enjoying the orchard’s fine wine, the live music of Nate Martell and the food of High Brows’ truck.  Enjoy fall air and the beauty all around and of course fine company and good music.  I will be researching if they have heat lamps but since the weather is in the low 70’s, it should be fine.  We’ll meet in the parking lot at 4:00 pm sharp to find the perfect space for us.  If you are late text me at 413-775-3567 so I can tell you where we are.  Please let me know if you plan to come. 

Sat. Oct. 8. Buffam Brook Community Forest Hike. Join Deb and Rachel for a 1.5-2 hour easy to moderate hike at the Buffam Brook Community Forest. This Kestrel property has more than 3 miles of marked trails, and has two loops as well as an out-and-back extension. The focal point is a historic quarry where stones were sourced to build Amherst College.

Meet at the parking area (room for 5 cars) on North Valley Rd in Pelham (GPS address is 222 North Valley Rd) at 1 pm.

Sat. Oct. 8. Pickleball. Meet at 3:30 at the courts at Look Park.  If you don’t have a parking pass for the park, you can park at the JFK school and walk down.  

Sun. Oct. 9. Hike Bradley Sanctuary.  Meet at 1:30 at Bradley Reservation in Williamsburg for a one hour walk on wooded trails and by the beautiful Nichols Brook. 

Sat. Oct. 15. Pickleball. Meet at 3:30 at the courts at Look Park.  If you don’t have a parking pass for the park, you can park at the JFK school and walk down.  

Sun. Oct. 16. Hike at Mt. Greylock.  Meet in the afternoon at the Visitor Center and hike from the last parking lot to the top.  It’s a 3-4 mile hike.  Details to follow over the listserve. 

Sun. Oct. 16. Book Group. We’ll have an evening discussion of Growing Old: Notes on Aging with Something like Grace (N/F) by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas. ZOOM HOST NEEDED – we have a WO Zoom account. 

Sat. Oct. 22.  Conway State Forest Hike. 10:00 a.m. Parking is on Cricket Hill Rd, on the side of the dirt road by the entrance to the trail, which is about a quarter mile on the right from the Cricket Hill Cemetery (which is on the left).The trail starts through the forest to the old Maynard Cemetery and cellar hole, then back and along the Avery Brook, then up to the road a bit past a 1790 house of a Revolutionary officer. Some remnants of an old mill too. Easy to moderate 5.7 mile hike along snow mobile trails. Limited parking. No bathroom facilities.  Bring bug spray, good hiking shoes, poles if you want, bright clothing (hunting season), snack, water. I will wear orange. I think it is turkey, pheasant, rabbit, quail, grouse hunting and some bow hunting. 

Sat. Oct. 22. Pickleball. Meet at 3:30 at the courts at Look Park.  If you don’t have a parking pass for the park, you can park at the JFK school and walk down.  

Sun. Oct. 23. Social & Fire. Paula hosts an outdoor fire social starting at 1:00 pm in Leeds. Bring snacks. 

Sat. Oct. 29. Pumpkin Carving with Potluck. Come to Bren’s annual Potluck and Pumpkin Carving from 11:00 – 3:00 in Easthampton.  Bring your own pumpkin, knife and design ideas. 

Sat. Oct. 29. Hike at Mt. Tom.  Starting at 1:00 pm. 

Sat. Oct. 29. Pickleball. Meet at 3:30 at the courts at Look Park.  If you don’t have a parking pass for the park, you can park at the JFK school and walk down.  

Sun. Oct. 30. Leverett Hike. Mostly level meandering walk through the Leverett 4-H Forest, blueberry fields, Leverett Meadow, beaver swamp, and to Leverett Pond. This will be not so much an exercise hike as a Thoreau-ean "sauntering." About 3 hours. Meet at 10:00 am and park at small, unmarked parking lot next to 45 Shutesbury Rd., Leverett. https://maps.app.goo.gl/VV7f9ZPEGwxYvy9u6. RSVP Karina at karinalutz@protonmail.com or 401-636-8362.

Sun. Nov. 6. Mt. Holyoke Hike.Meet at 10:00 am. At Mountainside Parking on Rte 47 for a 4.6 mile moderate/strenuous hike up Mt. Holyoke via Halfway House. From Mountainside Parking on 47, walk down Mountain Road to the trailhead up to M and M trail. Walk along the ridge to Mt. Holyoke, return to parking lot via Taylor Notch Trail. Some steep sections and rock scrambles. Moderately/fast paced hike.  Roughly 2.5 hours. Dogs welcome. 

Sun. Nov. 20. Hike or Snowshoe at Big View. Gather at 10:00 am at the second small parking area on the left on Unquamonk Rd (off South St) in Williamsburg to hike up to Big View. This is a fairly short, gradual climb up a hill to a beautiful view and interesting outcrop.  It’s a lovely wooded area with some rocky parts.  

Sun. Nov. 20.  Book Group.  We’ll have an evening discussion of The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson. ZOOM HOST NEEDED – we have a WO Zoom account. 

Thur. Nov. 24.  Gratitude Day Walk & Potluck.  Meet at 2:00 pm on Federal St, Northampton, by the Mill River for a walk toward Smith College, then go to Nira’s for a potluck. 

Fri. Nov. 25. Hike to Keystone Arch Bridges in Chester. The Keystone Arch Bridges Trail is a moderate hike above the West Branch of the Westfield River (near Chester, MA) leading to two stunning keystone arch stone bridges, each over 60 feet tall, in a scenic setting. The bridges were built to carry the first mountain railroad in the US, circa 1840, and were abandoned 10 years later when newer, faster trains were unable to travel the original winding tracks (and new tracks over concrete rather than stone bridges were built nearby). The trail is 5 miles out and back, about 1.5 to 2 hours, but we'll want to spend a little time at each bridge. It's relatively easy hiking, with some short and not steep climbs in a couple places.

We'll meet at the trailhead at 11 am.

For more info about the Keystone Arch Bridges Trail, go to https://keystonearches.com. 

*The Western Railroad of Massachusetts radically changed the world when opened in 1841.  It was the world’s first adhesion gradient rail line to cross a mountain range.  It was the highest (1,459 ft. ASL) and longest (150 mi.) railway ever built; almost doubling the length of the previous title holder. 

DECEMBER is open for anyone to post events on the listserv.  The Wednesday hikes will continue, and we’ll be cross country skiing on Sundays in December if there’s snow!