I went for a walk along the Green River yesterday. The Williamstown Rural Lands Foundation keeps a trail along the bank not far from where I live, running up to the meeting of the Green River and the Hoosic, and it’s becoming one of my favorite places.
The walk wanders through phlox and fern up to Route 2. And it continues on east, in a looping coil of trails. They’re tucked away, the kind of place you have to live here to know about. I walked by the trail head for years without knowing it was there.
On Route 2, you cross the bridge, and turn left up the dirt driveway beside the brick Greylock Insurance building, and you’ll find a hidden tennis court and the trail-head for Upper Linear Park.
The trails here will take you back along the other bank toward a wide loop through a corn field, and if you’re game to explore you can follow the Hoosic to the park at the Spruces and almost all the way to the North Adams town line.
I followed the trails back west instead, toward the Green River again. And as I came out of the trees, I turned a corner into a raft of buttercups. An acre of brilliant yellow. I stood there, knee-deep, and found myself laughing for the sheer unexpected beauty of it.
