Noble View

This past weekend I headed home to the 413 and was able to go on a hike Sunday with my dad and brother,Kendrick, who on a side note joined the Army National Guard last week, so high five to him. We headed up to AMC's Noble View Outdoor Center in Russel, MA. Noble View is essentially a nature retreat run by the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) and features hiking, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, along with having multiple cabins for rent on a nightly and weekly basis for pretty cheap. The weather was a bit colder this weekend than the past few weeks bringing back the reality that summer really isn't here yet. We set out on the trail around 1pm heading towards the ledges view along with Big and Little Pitcher Falls. There are a number of trails winding and intersecting throughout the park, leading to multiple views and points of interest, a trail map can be found here. The trails were marked well, and all points of interest were clearly labeled both on the trail and correspondingly on the map. The route we took was through mostly new forest with a few cellar holes of houses and building  from back when there was a small community of people living in this area. As the trail met up with Pitcher Brook the forest became much older and we could hear the  sounds of waterfalls in the distance. Honestly when you think of a waterfall in the middle of the woods in Massachusetts you don't really picture anything even close to spectacular, or at least I don't due to years of hiking in the area and not seeing much in the way of anything to write home about. Big Pitcher falls is an except, now keep in mind its not Yosemite or Niagara Falls, but for a hole in the wall hiking spot in Western Mass it's pretty damn good. There is a series of smaller falls first which I thought were the main falls but after hiking farther I saw Big Pitcher and I was completely surprised. The falls run off a small cliff into a basin pool carved into a slab of rock and make what seems like a sweet place to swim in the warmer months. A bit upstream was Little Pitcher Falls, which as the name suggests is smaller. After the falls it was a pretty strait, routine hike back to the car, and we finished somewhere around 3pm with a total hike of around 3 miles. Noble View is a good place for an afternoon hike with the option to stay overnight in one of the cabins and make a weekend of it, with plenty of trails to keep you busy for the duration. Check out their website for more information Noble View. 
On a Side note I got a new frame backpack this week, can't wait for some backpacking this summer to tack on the miles!

Mileage: 3 Miles

Big Pitcher Falls.

Big Pitcher Falls again.

Size Comparison.

Yeah Cool Kendrick.