Van Buren NHS / Everett Mountain

From the Catskills to the Berkshires | Visiting Van Buren National Historic Site | Hiking Everett Mountain | Mount Washington State Forest, MA | May 2025

After several days cooped up in the van because of rain, we were ready to move on. We were critically low on the battery, food, and water and could probably only make it one more night. We had made arrangements to spend the weekend at my brother’s over Memorial Day weekend, but we found out that he needed one more day before we arrived.

Not to worry, after scanning through the Massachusetts boondocking and established options we came up with a plan and left the Catskills after two weeks. We descended into the Hudson valley and crossed that river at the town of Catskill. After restocking on food in Hudson, we continued a short distance North to Van Buren National Historic Site.

Here is preserved the retirement home of Martin Van Buren – a very politically active man serving as New York Governor, Secretary of State, Vice President under Jackson, and finally President for one term. After his single term as President, and his failed re-election campaign against William Henry Harrison, Van Buren ‘retired’ to his Lidenwald estate near Kinderhook, NY. But Van Buren was far from retirement. He attempted two more presidential campaigns from his estate. In 1844, he failed to get the Democratic ticket, losing to James Polk. The second, in 1848, he decided to run as a third party candidate on the ‘Free Soil Party’, highlighting the abolitionist issue that was growing. Even after he retired from the ballots, Van Buren followed politics, especially the issue of slavery, very closely, until his death in 1862. He is buried in Kinderhook, though we decided to forgo visiting his grave for another time.

The grounds and visitor center were not officially open until tomorrow of all things, so we failed in getting our cancellation stamps. Though we did run into the rangers and a host of 5th graders coming out of the manor house while we wandered around. We took our time, walking at Charlotte’s pace, before stopping for an extended lunch.

Once done with our time here we pushed on further East towards the Taconic Mountains and Massachusetts. We crossed into Mass. near Bash Bish Falls, following a similar route we had taken when we hiked Mount Frissel – the highest point in CT. In fact our chosen boondock site for the night was very near the start of that trail in Mount Washington State Forest.

But we still had quite a bit of daylight remaining, so we decided to go an explore nearby Mount Everett – a prominent peak along the Appalachian Trail. Of course, once we arrived, the rain and gloom returned. It wasn’t as bad as some of the previous days though, so we grabbed our umbrellas and jackets and went for our hike. Rather than follow the Appalachian Trail directly (which would have been difficult for Charlotte) we followed an old forest road up to a lookout below the summit. The clouds omitted any views from here, and so I continued up to the peak proper by myself. The clouds were no better here, which is unfortunate since I finally had a mostly bald summit. I caught up with Jess and Charlotte on their way down and we returned back to the van.

We were parked by Guilder Pond at what was once a camp site, but that is no longer permitted. We still had plenty of time, so Jess allowed me to hike around the pond so I could find letterboxes. Once that was done, we continued a bit further south to the headquarters of Mount Washington State Forest, the only place in the area that you can park overnight. The rain had picked back up by this point, and our overnight spot was no more than a parking lot. But it was free, legal, and open, and so we settled in for another night.