Group Hike Saturday at Pittsfield State Forest in Hancock took us on the Taconic Crest Trail starting at the Southern end of this long distance trail on Route 20 in the heart of Shaker Country.  In 1.5 miles we reached the Twin Pond’s, a Shaker ingenuity built atop the mountains.  Two ponds dammed by the Shakers in a two sided bowl separated by schist, they built stone and earthen dams to control which way the water would flow down either to the Hancock side or New Lebanon side, used to power the many mills on both sides. They used gates and channels to control the water here. We viewed both ponds from high up on the edge of the connector.  Onward took us on a return route, the Skyline Trail, a pretty muddy one but worth a look at the third pond, Cranberry Pond. Damnmed on the East side, to create a branch of Shaker Brook to provide water for the Hancock Shakers by forming a Northward sloping ditch.  Now that’s ingenuity! 3.8 miles was our total journey starting in dense fog and ending in sunshine.

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