Attended Hampshire College (which is nearby), and some of my fondest college memories are of when my dorm mates (and later on mod-mates), and I would go hiking or biking here. I first went hiking here during my first semester at Hampshire, (during the Fall foliage season), and it was REALLY breathtakingly beautiful. ❤️🍁🍁🍁🍁❤️
I also often used to stop off when I would be enroute to class at Mt. Holyoke (during my 4th year when I had MUCH less time) or coming back from class at Mt. Holyoke just to spend a little relaxing and de-stressing time here before heading back to campus to work on my Division III.
It was one of my FAVORITE things about living in the Pioneer Valley area. Hiking up Mt. Norwottuck was also a fun pastime. Did that at least several times each school year, and did a number of "pre-⛷️ season" hikes with all the members of Hampshire's downhill ⛷️ team for race conditioning every Fall without fail. So glad this place was SO close to...
Read moreGreat hike, and great views at the peak. During the pandemic most visitors are using masks and are considerate towards others. The problem is the park service isn't caring for the trails the way they should...or maybe not at all. There are several fallen trees across the trails causing visitors to deviate around them. Today I twisted my ankle in a hole hidden under the leaves while going around one of these trees. I'm fine but this could have been a bad situation. I've been to several Massachusetts parks this year where fallen trees were taken care of immediately. These trees have been crossing the trails for weeks, maybe months? Not sure why the park service is ignoring the trails but it's not smart. Take care here and go slow if you have to deviate...
Read moreHiking here is great overall. Mostly strenuous trails- lots of ups and downs, so bring good shoes and plenty of water. Only frustrating thing I found was that the trails are not as clearly marked as they could be. The paint marks on trees are spread apart far, and the number signs are not easy to see unless you are facing them correctly. Furthermore, a lot of the marks and signs are at junction points with no indication of which way (left or right) is the correct way. I think there should be more paint marks throughout, and the trees that have numbers should be painted with a stripe all the way around to be easy to find from any angle. Make sure you bring a map along...
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