“The trail proceeds easily up the slope, weaving around the occasional old giant tree that has fallen by wind and time. Just before the half-mile mark, Laura’s Tower Trail leaves left, and the path to Ice Glen proceeds right, quickly approaching the V-shaped mouth of the glen. Here you’ll find a rock face with an inscription covered over by a thick layer of emerald-green moss, embuing an atmosphere worthy of a Hawthorne novel. Ice Glen is not a large place—the ravine runs less than a quarter-mile. Yet each turn reveals another cave or more stacked boulders or ancient trees. The hemlocks (one of them New England’s tallest at 130 feet) provide a blanket of shadow even on the brightest day.”

Reference: http://www.outdoors.org/publications/outdoors/2005/curiousfissure.cfm

“Nathaniel Hawthorne, who came to the glen many times, described it as “the most curious fissure in all Berkshire.” He was more correct than he knew. The streams that drain the Beartown Hills around Ice Glen all flow generally south to north, yet Ice Glen is aligned east to west. The deep ravine of the glen and the boulders calved from the walls of the gorge are evidence of flowing water. Yet no stream flows through the glen. So how did Ice Glen come to be such a curiosity? The answers are in the glen.”

Reference: http://www.rei.com/guidepost/detail/massachusetts/hiking/ice-glen/35169