Hawley

Back in 2014 when I was choosing and reconnoitering sites for the Trail Running Western Massachusetts guidebook, I was aware of a dense, mostly unmapped network of trails near the old stone "beehive" kilns at the eastern edge of Dubuque State Forest in Hawley, MA. I would have loved to include this relatively remote gem of a site in the book, but at the time it was still too unclear what the official status of the trails was. Since then, DCR and NEMBA have partnered to create signs and update the park maps with the now-sanctioned trails. When visitors will find now is a wonderful, "flowy" network of winding, hilly trails that generally receive low amounts of visitation.

Entering the forest along Kiln Rd in Hawley

On September 22, a gorgeous early fall day, Jen and I went for a 6-ish mile trail run there and never saw another soul. We parked at the spacious lot near the Hawley Fire Dept., took phone photos of the trail map posted at the gate, and started our run. After a quick visit to the kilns, we entered the network of singletrack trails north of Kiln Rd and spent a pleasant afternoon winding around and around and around, first on the Kiln Trail West, then the Snowshoe Trail, Notch Trail, Snowshoe Trail again, and finally Roots and Rocks Trail.

inside one of the beehive kilns

curiosities along the Kiln Trail

It's a little hard to see, but the trails as currently mapped on OpenStreetMap are a fairly decent approximation of what's actually out there. It's not exact, but close enough. 

 finishing up our run along the "Roots and Rocks" trail

me and the early fall colors

After our run, we took a long-delayed but much-appreciated visit to Sidehill Farm in Hawley. They make Jen's favorite yogurt, and appear to overall just be pretty great people, based on the vibe of the honor system farm store and the really sweet cat that lives there. Highly recommended. 

The Sidehill Farm sign in Hawley

sights in the fantastic farm store up at Sidehill Farm