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Sanderson Brook Falls in Chester-Blandford State Forest on a bright summer afternoon: a multi-tier waterfall stepping down a face of dark wet bedrock in three distinct shelves, white water churning over each ledge into a rocky pool, sunlit green deciduous foliage and ferns crowding in along the top of the falls and the right-hand cliff, and a jumble of mossy boulders in the foreground stream channel where the falls run out into the lower brook.
Outdoors · Park
Sanderson Brook Falls, Chester, August 2021. Photo by Todd Van Hoosear, source, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Chester-Blandford State Forest

Chester, Hampden County

Category
Park
Town
Chester
County
Hampden
Difficulty
Moderate

Chester-Blandford State Forest is a 2,776-acre DCR property straddling Chester and Blandford in the Hampden County hilltowns south of the Westfield River. The state forest was assembled beginning in 1924 when local lumber companies sold their cutover land to the Commonwealth, and the Civilian Conservation Corps worked the property from 1934 to 1940, building the campground, pavilions, ski runs, and the gravel road and footbridges that lead up Sanderson Brook to the falls. The headline attraction today is Sanderson Brook Falls, a 60-foot multi-tier cascade a short walk in from Route 20.

Sanderson Brook Falls

The falls are the easiest serious waterfall to reach in the hilltowns. From the gated trailhead off Route 20, an old forest road (built by the CCC and now closed to vehicles) climbs gently up the brook for about three-quarters of a mile and ends at a viewing area below the falls. The cascade drops in three or four distinct steps over dark layered bedrock; in spring snowmelt and after summer thunderstorms it runs hard, and even in late summer it keeps a respectable curtain of water. A short, steep side path climbs to the upper tiers, but the bedrock is slick, and most visitors are well served by the lower viewpoint.

Sanderson Brook itself is a tributary of the West Branch of the Westfield River, which forms the northern boundary of the forest and is a federally designated Wild and Scenic river along this stretch.

Trails and woods roads

Beyond the falls trail, the forest is laced with old CCC-built woods roads and footpaths used for hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, and (in winter) cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. The terrain is hill-country: rolling forested ridges, steep drainages off Sanderson and Walnut Hill brooks, and a long boundary along the Westfield. Blazing on the side trails is spotty; bring a map. For a longer day in the area, the railbed at the Keystone Arches Trail is a few miles east along the Westfield in Chester, and the flood-control reservoir at Knightville Dam is downstream on the East Branch.

Activities

  • Hiking. The falls trail is the marquee walk; longer routes use the woods-road network higher up.
  • Mountain biking and horseback riding are allowed on the woods-road system.
  • Hunting is open in season; wear blaze orange in November.
  • Cross-country skiing and snowshoeing in winter; the woods roads make for easy ski touring when there is snow.
  • Snowmobiling is allowed on designated routes.
  • Fishing. Sanderson Brook and the Westfield River carry trout; check current Massachusetts regulations.

What to know

  • Trailhead. The Sanderson Brook Falls lot is on the south side of Route 20 in Chester, marked with a brown DCR sign. It fills quickly on summer weekends.
  • No facilities. No bathrooms, no water, no staffed ranger station. Pack out what you pack in.
  • No camping. DCR currently lists no camping at Chester-Blandford.
  • No swimming. DCR prohibits swimming at Sanderson Brook Falls.
  • Footing. The falls trail is mostly easy, but the bedrock near the falls is slick and the side scrambles to the upper tiers should be approached with care, especially with children or dogs.

Sources