Mount Holyoke Range State Park, Amherst MA

Miles of marked trails that are seemingly endless, interwoven through a beautiful forest coverd with location ID tags for search and rescue to easily locate you in an emergency and never being more than 10 miles away from a state highway or major connecter. It's impossible to get lost and the whole place begins to feel like home more than your very own.

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 Hampshire's campus.

I've climbed Mount Norwottuck by navigating the base around to the east side and then going up the south east face. The view on top was amazing. Theres also a smaller cliff on the south east side. The trails can be steep but are very navigable. The south east face does have some bouldering that's fairly easy if you're flexible. There also is a way around the bouldering if you prefer.

The parking area shares parking for other mountains in the area and has enough space.

Decent sized parking lot, real bathrooms, water bottle fill station, the trails are marked alright, dog friendly.

Pass by almost every day but do not stop also pass by other state parks that could be used for tourism and camping that could provide jobs and revenue for the state and really boost tourism in western Massachusetts

An amazing hike with great views all around. Worth the drive and the hike. I definitely recommend visiting!

A lot of trails to take, and with varying difficulty, i've done atleast 300 hiking trips through this range.

I needed a short dog friendly walk and the Laurel Loop was perfect. A bit muddy but easy still. Nice to be in the woods!

The visitor center is a perfect spot to stage work meetings and get your people outside to experience the trails together.and grow. Difficulty increases this time of year and folks should dress for the weather. You can check in with us rangers across the street if you run into trouble or just want to say hello and the friendly ranger at the visitor center is usually around if you have questions about the trails. I recommend you try the talus slope trail with a group for an original experience none of you will forget! Luck, and be safe, come find me across the street if you need help.

The Notch is a great place to hike and have a picnic. All of my family goes at least once a year. It’s always clean and they have a decent amount of parking.

Scatter some of my ashes here someday. I climb it every weekend and I'd like to use it for leisure and training for my bigger mountain excursions. It's a wonderful place to train. Constant ups and downs and a great stretch of earth to observe the local surroundings.

I hiked the Robert Frost Trail, which was beautiful. It had a great view of the changing fall foliage. There were a few places I did wish were better marked. I'd definitely go back - there are a lot of other trails to explore!

Not much parking. Also note that the power lines near the parking lot give off a lot of electrical noise. Good luck if you are here with an amateur radio or just a regular old AM radio.