Snow-crowned Mount Everett, with an elevation of 2,624 feet, is the highest peak in the Southern Taconic Range, meeting the eye when traveling west from Great Barrington on Route 23 from points east. Mt. Everett rises up to the west on the approach to the Taconic Range on the Connecticut-Massachusetts-New York border. Check for traveling directions and trail conditions for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing at Mt. Everett Reservation and Alander Mountain Trail.
Native flora and fauna engage and delight explorers of all ages along Mt. Washington’s scenic trails.
Needle-leaved, evergreen eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) and deciduous American beech (Fagus grandifolia) offer year-around appeal to both scientifically and artistically inclined trailside observers.
Broad-leaved, deciduous sugar maple (Acer saccharum) twigs, attractively ice-coated here, are distinguished by their arrangement opposite each other on the stem. Where twigs appear singly, wear and tear has removed one of a pair. Notice the deep brown, pointed buds. Follow the link to a list of additional maples, all with opposite twig arrangement.
Within an hour of hanging the suet and seed feeder, red-bellied woodpeckers, chickadees, and nuthatches came to this location, familiar to them from decades of winters.
