The Plainfield-based Student Conservation Association (SCA), part of AmeriCorps and Massachusetts Service Alliance, has returned to the Cold River stretch of the Mohican-Mohawk hiking trail. A joint effort last November, with the Berkshire Natural Resources Council and the Manice Education Center, reopened the trail, which had been strewn with blowdowns. Now the task is to improve the treadway, including bog bridges.
The Cold River, which drains numerous ponds in Savoy, flows 12.6 miles until it joins the Deerfield River, just east of Mohawk Trail State Forest. Motorists heading east down Route 2 from the junction with South County Road in Drury, follow Manning Brook until it joins the Cold. Its valley includes many large and ancient trees.
The trail begins at a new parking area, just to the north of South County Road, off of Route 2 by Brown’s Garage. The trail makes a leisurely, then steeper descent to the banks of the Cold, for a 3-mile round trip. For some hikers it’s perverse to start out down and finish heading up, but variety is good.
This segment is in Florida State Forest, an entity that is generally included with Savoy Mountain State Forest on maps. From the trailhead, a brief walk leads to an intersection. For Wheeler Brook and Mohawk Trail State Forest, go straight, as the sign indicates. As yet there is no sign for your route. Turn right to cross Route 2 very carefully, follow the shoulder uphill a bit for an easier step over the guardrail at the white blazes. Cross a footbridge.
Cross another. SCA built these bridges 12 years ago as part of new trail construction. A sign gives you 1 1/2 miles to the Cold and 5 1/3 miles to Savoy Campground. SCA has smashed rock now to create stone chips to harden the surface of this…