Otis | Tyringham
Through the generosity of the Challinor family, this 587-acre wild area is available to us all for passive recreation. This is not an easy property to navigate (trails are not maintained and the off-trail terrain is rugged), but if you’re comfortable in the woods, you’ll want to explore the Challinor CR.
This land, and all of the present-day Berkshires, are the ancestral homeland of the Mohican people, who were forcibly displaced to Wisconsin by European colonization. These lands continue to be of great significance to the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican Nation today. To learn more visit mohican.com.
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PRINTABLE MAPS
Special features: Hills, solitude, wetlands
Hiking difficulty: Expert — unimproved trails, significant slopes, rough terrain
DIRECTIONS
From the center of Tyringham, at the post office: south on Main Road for 2.0 miles to a left (east) on Fenn Road. Follow Fenn for ½ mile till its end at a sign for The Trustees of Reservations. No motorized vehicles beyond this point. From there walk uphill, bearing left on logging roads.
GPS: 42.2333, -73.1652 (center of property)
PROPERTY DESCRIPTION
When MassWildlife was seeking a local cost-share for their purchase of the Long Mountain Wildlife Management Area (1,000 acres, east of Challinor), the Challinor family very generously donated to BNRC a perpetual conservation restriction. The CR met the requirements of a local share and now 1,500+ acres of land are permanently conserved for the benefit of wildlife and people!
Included in this CR is the affirmative right of the public to visit the Challinor’s land; passive, non-motorized uses are allowed – no ATVs, no snowmobiles, no trucks/jeeps.
The property has many wood roads and a few navigable skid roads, but the past logging that created such spectacular wildlife habitat also created dense, impassible thickets – there are always trade-offs! If you’re good with a map and compass, go explore. The hills, wetlands, streams, and the rare sense of solitude found here will not disappoint you.