Shaker Mountain Loop via Shaker Trail

Almost all trees down from the winter have been cleared with the exception of one at the top

Great walk in the woods with some climbing and some downhill. Two paths were blocked by trees, 1 on Shaker Brook to Holy Mtn. The other on Griffin. Not much mud. Fun to read the signs on the trail. We didn’t run into any other hikers today.

MOUNTAIN LION??!!?? I have lived and hiked in Berkshires for over 20 yrs. I’ve NEVER seen a mountain lion here. Yesterday our hike up shaker mtn was interrupted by a large cat like animal crossing the trail. My friend saw it and it was in size & color a mtn lion not a bobcat. Never crouch down & never run. I hesitate to even put this out there for fear of losing all credibility as they are extremely rare here. I figured it was just a bobcat but her description seemed to rule that out.

Did the 5.4 loop on 4/28/2024 and found a few large trees down in the trail. Otherwise, nice trail and well marked but bring a tracker since there are many different routes to take.

There is a lot of blow down right now, so navigating the trail is tricky. It's muddy in multiple spots, and there are a couple of water crossings that have slippery, mossy rocks. It's not always immediately clear which way to go.

Muddy/wet in places, maybe 20%. But not enough to make things impassible.

Nice and challenging, quite muddy when we went in March, Shaker Brook runs through the trail in spots. Rather than turning around and going back the same way the same way we came, we continued onto Holy Mountain Trail and connected towards the end to the original trail.

Great hike, little mud but was mostly clear. Had some nice snow caps at the top. Felt good seeing after not getting any snow Christmas.

Ice, leaves, slippery rocks, some blowdown. But fun nonetheless.

Muddy spots after the rain but not too bad!

A great hike. Lots of history here with sites related to the Shaker Village and interesting signage. Trails generally in great shape. Nothing very steep or rigorous. No views really but this is a very pleasant hike.

Beautiful woods, easy hiking, gentle inclines, but lots of muddy patches and inadequately blazed for current conditions. The well worn trail is probably usually easy to follow , we found it often obscured by a thick layer of freshly fallen leaves. Tree markers were few & far between. The occasional metal signs & markers are helpful but mostly obvious from only one direction. Sort of odd. We followed the loop in clockwise direction. Highly recommend going the opposite way!

Veryy wet trail, lost count of the number of large pools of water on the trail. Quite a bit of blow down but it was all easy to get through or around. Besides all the water, it was very enjoyable, didn't see another human being until i got back to the parking lot.

Trails are not well marked so make sure you have a map or an app on your phone. Lots of wet areas and some big blow downs. Quite a few of the steeper areas have been washed out by all the recent rain making what should have been an easy hike, a bit more difficult. The historic sites were marked and worth seeing.

Trail is wet and muddy in a quite a few spots

Up and down with little reward. Muddy and buggy, but good mushrooming!

The views aren't great but the history along the trail and connections to the Shaker Village are fascinating. Some nice stream and dam moments. Limited mud and bugs.

it has definitely rained a lot lately, but I did not expect the trails to be as muddy or as underwater as they were. I still enjoyed it, but be warned!

Great, challenging hike with good elevation. Not as well marked as some but we found our way.

Nice wooded trail on my way home from work, will come back and do it again. Only reason I gave it a 3 is because it was not well marked and there was quite a bit of blow down throughout. Download the map before going, as that helped me several times during the hike. Also, the bugs were BAD, bring lots of bug spray.

Great hike through a gorgeous woodland! Downed trees definitely make it hard to find your way at the mid-point. Bit muddy, bit buggy but nothing off putting.

The downed trees can really turn you around at the loops halfway point so mKe sure to download the map!! Bugs were everywhere but nothing a little Off, long pants, and compression socks didn't take care of. A great hike.

Tons of bugs and still a few downed trees that have not been taken care of, nothing major though.

Wet because of the recent rain. Boots required. The trail is well marked and maintained until you hit Holy trail

Few people out this morning. Lots of downed trees. Not really any views but it was peaceful, except for the cacophony of birds, some types we don’t normally hear.

Beautiful area with rolling hills, a couple of small climbs, a waterfall, a variety of birds, and very few people. There are quite a few downed trees that we encountered but it was easy to navigate around them. Not as muddy as we thought it would be. Definitely worth a visit.

Considerable amount of down trees

A lot of down trees

Peaceful hike, we’ll marked, but not well maintained. Many downed trees, able to navigate around. Buggy.