Finding Bash Bish Falls, is it MA or NY?
If you have been here before, don’t start laughing at our naivety in exploring the falls. If you are old, like me, then do not go to the upper entrance on the Massachusetts side. The falls are quite literally on the Massachusetts/New York border, and if you drive down the hill from the MA entrance on Route 344, you will find the “Easy” New York entrance.
From the New York entrance, you will have a long (1.5 mile) walk, but it is strewn with rocks and roots so it is not deemed handicap accessible (but it is a wide, easily hiked trail with a very slight incline), and compared to the nearly vertical incline, rocky trail on the MA side. The New York entrance is a piece of cake for wimps like me.
Getting to Bash Bish Falls
Whether you are traveling from the New York side or the Massachusetts side, the one thing we can agree on is you will need to get on Route 344. This is the only road in or out. And now, this is where the disagreements begin.
Taconic versus Mass State Park
If you are coming in from the New York side, they name the parking lot and route in as Taconic State Park. If you come in from the Massachusetts side, they call it Bash Bish Falls State Park. The reason for the different names is that the 500-acre Taconic State Park abuts the state line with Massachusetts.
Well, Lisa and I got there around 3 PM and I read the Mass State Park signage to see if drone flying is allowed, (it’s not) so I left my drone in the car. We were at the highest point on the road where we found the official entrance. This was our first mistake.
Massachusetts entrance to Bash Bish Falls
Bash Bish Falls have been popular since the 1800s and some of the Famed visitors who have visited include writers Herman Melville, Henry Longfellow, and Henry David Thoreau, Hudson River School artist John Frederick Kensett, and baseball legend, Babe Ruth
The climb down is not what I would call an easy one, with a few more years and I might not attempt it. It requires sure-footedness that old folks like me don’t always retain as we age. We were passed by several 18-20 somethings going uphill who didn’t give it a second thought… So I would say it’s just me being old. I was pretty tired by the time we got down (YES getting down to it, wore me out) to the viewing platform so going back up the way we came down was not what I wanted to do.
Those who have done this before please hold your snickering till later… 🙂 I then climbed down to the base of the falls and navigated the rocks to get some images with my Cell phone and camera and then I climbed back up the stairs to the viewing platform. Okay, I dragged myself up the stairs to where Lisa was waiting for me. Another visitor who had been there many times said we could take the easier lower entrance and walk back up the road, easy, right?
Is it Haunted?
To be honest, I was a bit worried about not being up for the task at hand (62 years young), but the soothing ghostly voices that were encouraging me to climb up to the top of the falls and jump over fell on deaf ears… Voices you ask? Well, there are several haunted tales about a Native American Mohican woman named Bash Bish who “possibly” died at these falls (and/or her daughter as well).
You can search the web for these stories, but let’s just say unless the ghosts came down and carried my fat patootie to the top of the falls, there is zero chance of this being something to worry about!
Walking out to the Taconic State Park parking lot
We followed the gentleman’s instructions and walked the 1.5-mile trail out to the lower entrance. He made it seem like it was just around the bend, and we kept asking each other… “How much further?”
Arriving at the lower parking lot we started the walk up the road to the upper parking lot on the Massachusetts side, and I made the mistake of thinking it would ONLY be 100 yards or so. Well, 1 mile later and I would guesstimate a 12-25% upgrade, we arrived back at the car. (1 hour and 45 minutes round trip). (If you passed by us that day, we would not have hesitated to accept a ride from strangers, by the way.)
Bash Bish Falls, Sunset Rock
After drinking copious amounts of water, Lisa decided we should see the Sunset Rock scenic overlook which was of all things– Another climb up! You can access this trail right from the upper parking lot and this has a chain rope that you can pull yourself up with. We did make it up to the overlook (I’m still typing, aren’t I).
The scenic view from Sunset Rock is well worth the short, but taxing climb up, (for us old folks) with views of the distant Adirondacks. I might have preferred to do this climb first when my legs didn’t feel like jelly… LoL
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I’ve learned something new today – I always thought they were called Bish Bash falls! We visited them in 2010 and I must admit I’m not sure how we got down to them. I suspect the steeper trail, but I still was able to get my tripod down there.
Bish Bash flows off the tongue easier but I have found after being corrected many times to break the habit and say Bash Bish Falls. I would have been better taking my time going up the steep trail because we walked 2.5 miles and it wasn’t even all that easy…