Wendell State Forest

June 7, 2020 Cloudy

Wendell State Forest is located in the town of Wendell in Pioneer Valley. There are a few trails and we chose a trail called Lynn’s Falls Loop in the hopes of reaching a waterfall. The trail is 2.1 miles out and back.

Starting from the parking lot and headquarters, we walked on a carriage road lined with tall pines until we reached Ruggles Pond.

This pond is very picturesque, with a small beach and a few benches. Beyond the pond is another parking lot.

We then turned on the M&M Trail and reached an Adirondack style lean-to.

The trail then descended and we started following a murmuring brook. We could also get a few glimpses of the water in different places. At one point just before turning to the Lynn’s Falls, there’s an opening and we could see a series of small falls.

The descent was rather gentle, but there were a lot of mosquitoes. We we reached the area on our map marked as “Lynn’s Falls”, we only saw a cascade of rocks and no waterfall! The waterfall had all dried up and there was not even a trickle of water anywhere.

Needless to say, it was very disappointing, and in particular, did I say there were a lot of mosquitoes? In addition, on the way back it was all uphill.

Overall, the trail was not too strenuous and there were parts that were quite pretty. Perhaps another time, in the rainy season, this would have been a more rewarding trail.

I liked the dense forest and descending along the brook, but the dry waterfall was a disappointment.
We didn’t find the waterfall (dried up?) and there were lots of mosquitoes.
No waterfall, but plenty of mosquitos. Sad!
The waterfall didn’t have any water, and there were SO much mosquitos. So disappointing!
We were walking and it was pretty fun walking down and we saw the waterfall but there was no water and there were so many mosquitos so I had to put on bug spray.