Bash Bish Falls is a 210-foot tiered waterfall on Bash Bish Brook in Bash Bish Falls State Park, in the town of Mount Washington, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, a quarter mile from the New York line. Its final tier, split in two by a boulder, is the image most people know, and the park calls the falls the largest in the Commonwealth.
The falls
A 1-meter lidar survey describes a chain of flumes, cascades and punchbowls in a deep, narrow gorge: seven steps and 210 feet of drop over a run of about 850 feet. Earlier surveys listed 150 feet. Only the last tier is clearly visible from the trails; it falls 49 feet in twin streams into a green pool, though the park and other sources put it closer to 60 feet. The brook has cut a gorge about 1,000 feet deep between Bash Bish Mountain and Cedar Mountain in the Taconic Range.
Getting there
There are two trailheads. On the Massachusetts side, the free lot on Falls Road in Mount Washington holds only 24 cars; from there a short, steep trail drops more than 300 feet to the falls, about 0.6 mile round trip, which the state rates difficult. From New York, a trail from the Copake Falls Area of Taconic State Park, off Route 344, follows the brook gently uphill for about 1.5 miles round trip; the state rates it moderate. The park is open sunrise to sunset, with portable toilets from May to mid-October.
The Massachusetts entrance has closed several times for construction: in spring 2024 while the viewing area was rebuilt, in spring 2025 for erosion and drainage work, and for short periods in March and April 2026. Check the park page before going.
When to go
March to June are the best months. The brook usually runs well all year but can shrink to a trickle in a summer drought. The trail from New York is often crowded.
On site
Swimming and rock climbing are banned. More than 25 people have died at the falls in the past century, most from climbing, jumping and falls rather than drowning; a man was killed in a fall in 2018. Since 2022 the state has blocked the stairs to the pools, and the rebuilt viewing area has fencing, benches and a garden loop, with rangers on patrol. Leashed dogs are allowed on the trails.
History and name
Visitors have come since the 1800s, when a Swiss-style chalet stood above the falls; Herman Melville, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Henry David Thoreau and Babe Ruth are among those recorded. The state park was established in 1924. By legend, Bash Bish was a young woman sent over the falls in a canoe for being unfaithful.
Nearby
Race Brook Falls is about 4.1 miles away, Bear Rock Falls about 4.7 miles and Sages Ravine Falls about 5 miles. Mount Washington State Forest adjoins the park, and Taconic State Park at Copake Falls offers camping and a lifeguarded swimming area.
Distances are straight-line.