Western Mass.- Devil's Den

This past weekend, I made the trip out to Western Mass. via MA 9. It had been a few years since I had really been west of Northampton, so it would be nice to visit a part of the state that I rarely go to. The first stop was Devil's Den in Williamsburg. I'm surprised that this place isn't more well-known, as it's marked on several maps and a rather impressive place. We parked near the bridge over the West Branch of the Mill River on Old Goshen Road, and bushwhacked upstream. There is a trail network here, but it's confusing and overgrown in places. We followed the remnants of an old road up to the base of the long gorge. The first cool place we encountered was a large cliff that hung over the river . This looked like a rather enticing place to go swimming, as there was a large, sloping rock across the river from the cliff. 

The lowest point of Devil's Den

Above this, we crossed the river and continued up the gorge. The gorge continued to get deeper as we went further upstream, and it reached the point that it was hard to see the bottom from plant growth.

One of the deepest sections of the gorge

From there, we continued to the head of the gorge, which was probably the most fascinating part of the entire thing. The river divided into equal halves around a steep, rocky island, and cascaded down a 6 foot sluice on either side. While it was a bit of a scramble to get down to, it was very interesting to walk around on. The coolest part of the island was where the rock hung over the river massively, almost seeming impossible.

The cascade and overhang above it

Heading back on the opposite side of the river, we climbed up, across, and around cliffs. It was a lot taller on this (east) side. I don't have any pictures to show it, but it was definitely the best side to scramble around on, as the other side is much more of a steep hill than a cliff. 

While taking a look at the topography around this area, I saw that there is a decent sized waterfall upstream, however, it may be pretty difficult to access, as some land near the gorge is near a shooting range. It may be possible to get to these falls from a different approach, however, I was not aware of one while I was there.