Join local birder Mary Batcheller for a morning walk through the park’s forests on Saturday May 30, ending with spectacular views from the Dickinson Hill Fire Tower. The hike will meet at 7:30 am at the North Long Pond parking lot, accessible via the park’s winter entrance.
Mary Batcheller is an excellent guide for beginning birders, so feel free to look, listen and learn or to come share your own birding knowledge. The hike will travel along 1.5 miles of the old Fire Tower Road, through Northern Hardwood and Beech-Maple forest communities. Participants will have a chance to practice birding by ear thanks to the dense foliage along the trail, but binoculars are definitely recommended equipment.
Meet at North Long Pond parking lot within Grafton Lakes State Park. (Please do not park along Fire Tower Road as you will miss the group and there is no parking). Pre-registration requested: 279-1155.
The Friends of Grafton Lakes State Park restored the Dickinson Hill Fire Tower over several years, with hours of volunteering and community donations. It provides views of the Taconics, Berkshires, and Adirondacks for those who climb its eighty sturdy steps. Visitors are welcome to hike to the tower from the North Long Pond Road trailhead during state park hours 8 am until dusk.