09/18/2026
7 Central Mass hikes worth doing this September 🍂
Cooler air, no bugs, and the color is just starting to turn. Best hiking month of the year!
📍 Gates Pond Loop, Berlin: easy 2.4 mile loop around the water. This is one of our favorites!
📍 Danforth Falls, Hudson: short 1.2 mile loop with a little waterfall. The kids LOVE this one, it’s one of their favorites!
📍 Mount Wachusett, Princeton: We typically do the Echo Lake Trail to High Meadows and then Jack Frost to the summit. Or if we need to switch it up or are limited on time, we’ll park at the visitor center and do the Pine Hill Trail up to the summit which is steeper but it’s the most direct trail so you get to the top quicker (typically!)
📍 Rock House Reservation, West Brookfield: a giant natural rock shelter kids can climb into, plus a great pond loop
📍 Doane’s Falls, Royalston: waterfalls right along the trail. Stay on the path, the rocks can be slippery here.
📍 Purgatory Chasm, Sutton: 70 foot granite walls, a rock scramble that kids love. Playground and bathrooms too, which is important when you have little ones! I won’t lie, this is my least favorite because the chasm gives me quite a bit of anxiety but typically we’ll start by going through the chasm and then will loop back around on the Chasm Loop Trail or Charley’s Loop Trail.
📍 Lookout Rock, Northbridge: quick climb, big Blackstone Valley view
All free to park at. Gates Pond is a drinking water supply, so no swimming there or at Doane’s Falls.
Save this for your fall weekends 🥾
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