M-M Trail Guide

This guide provides descriptions each trail section, from the CT line to the summit of Mt. Monadnock, with distances and trail profiles.

Find an error? Care to submit a trail report? Email it to trails@amcberkshire.org. Thanks!

Notice to hikers: About half of the trail is on private land. Please respect the rights of property owners who have, in most cases, generously granted permission to use the trail on their land. They have the right at any time to refuse you or anyone else access permission. Please practice low-impact hiking. If you meet someone, be very courteous; it could be the landowner. Thanks!

Section 01: MA/CT State Line (Rising Corner) to MA Rt. 57

The Metacomet-Monadnock Trail starts at the MA/CT State line at Rising Corner in Connecticut. An extension of Connecticut’s blue-blazed Metacomet Trail, the M-M Trail in this section crosses an open field, a swamp on bog bridges and gains the top of the trap rock ridge extending north from Connecticut’s Suffield Mountain which is to the south. The trail passes through property owned by the Agawam Bowmen Archery Club on its way to MA 57 near the Southwick-Agawam town line.

(Planned road construction on MA 57 has been postponed for several years.)


Section 02: MA 57 to MA 187/US 20 and the Westfield River

This section of the trail runs along the Provin Mountain Ridge, mostly along its western rim — a skyline path through the woods — past the former facility of TV station WWLP to the Springfield Underground Reservoir, thence down to the Westfield River in Robinson State Forest.

Note: There is no potable water on this section, so bring an adeaquate supply.

(Planned road construction on MA 57 has been postponed for several years.)

Section 03: US 20 to Mass Pike I-90 ("Bush Notch")

The Westfield river cannot be forded except at very low water and only at the hiker’s own risk. Through hikers must make the long road walk detour west on MA 187 to the US 20 bridge. This section of trail has been relocated away from what used to be East Mountain (now a quarry). It meanders below a level, sandy plateau and passes below the Pioneer Valley Sportsman’s Club before gaining higher ground in a mixed oak/hemlock forest environment on municipal watershed land (logged 2004). At times the Lane Quarry is visible through the trees to the west as the trail heads north on West Springfield’s public water supply land to the Mass Pike. The section along Paucatuck Brook was relocated (2003) to take it away from the Lane Quarry access road.

Section 04: Mass Pike I-90 (Bush Notch) to US 202 at Hugh McLean Reservoir

From Bush Notch northward, the trail climbs to the crest of East Mountain and follows its ridge. It proceeds in the solitude of seemingly remote woodlands. Alternately it searches out spectacular viewpoints from the west edge of the escarpment. An attractive alternate route meanders along old, mossy woods roads near the lovely shores of the Hugh McLean Reservoir, joining the main route again just south of US-202.

Note: There is no potable water on this secton, bring an adequate supply.

Section 05: US 202 (Hugh McLean Reservoir) to MA 141 (Easthampton Road)

This very scenic section runs along the wooded crest of the northern spur of East Mountain, from whose abrupt traprock ledges a succession of fine views of the valley unfold. It follows old logging roads up the south slope of the mountain, and similar wood roads and footpaths north of East Mountain towards Mount Tom Reservation. The section north of Cherry Street Extension to MA-141 was significantly relocated (2004) onto Mass Fish and Wildlife land at the request of private landowners. Hikers should note that there is a shooting range in the area so gun shots may be heard.

Note: Potable water is scarce on this section, bring an adequate supply.

Section 06: MA 141 (Easthampton Road) to US 5, the CT River at Mt. Tom Junction

This is one of the more spectacular sections of trail in Massachusetts. It rides the skyline near the rim of steep talus slides and the cliffs of Mount Tom and Whiting Peak, then passes through the hemlock glens of the Mount Tom Reservation center, climbs onto Goat Peak, then over Mount Nonotuck, whose northern slope it descends on an old carriage road that was once used for visitors to the “Eyre House”. You can still find the remains of this via a short side hike to the right next to a small parking area just below the summit of Mt. Nonotuck. The view from here is well worth the trip. The M-M Trail in this section was certified as a “National Recreation Trail” by the National Park Service in 2001.

Note: Potable water is scarce on this section, bring an adequate supply.


Section 07: MA 47 (Hockanum) to MA 116, "The Notch" Visitors Center

The first two miles of this trail from Hockanum to Taylor Notch is one of the most interesting and rewarding for the hiker due to the succession of broad horizon views that it affords of the Connecticut River and its fair valley farmlands. The restored Mount Holyoke Summit House is encountered with its beautiful picnic grounds, accessible by car. The house is open to the public from May-October, water and restrooms are available in season. From Taylor Notch to Granby Notch (MA 116) there are only a few lookout points. This challenging section of the trail is ever rising and falling over the endless succession of minor hills that make up the range. Yet it is forested, wild, and quite unspoiled countryside. Hikers should note that all sections of the M-M Trail on state and town owned land along the Mt. Holyoke Range ridgeline between MA 47 and Harris Mountain Rd in section 8 were certified as a “National Recreation Trail” by the National Park Service in 2001.

Beware, water is scarce on this ridge, bring an adequate supply.


Section 08: MA 116, Granby Notch, to Harris Mountain Road via Mount Norwottuck and Long Mountain

This is a very popular section of trail because of the commanding heights from Norwottuck and Long Mountains, the overhanging ledges of Mount Norwottuck, and the so-called “horse-caves” of Revolutionary War days. It is a ridge top trail in unbroken forested terrain running entirely through atypical hardwood forest and hemlock coves, a region that is a delight to naturalists and nature lovers. The orange-blazed Robert Frost Trail is co-aligned with the M-M Trail for much of this section. The state run Notch Visitors Center on MA 116 offers parking, water, restrooms, and natural history exhibits inside.


Section 09: Harris Mountain Road via Bay Road to MA 9 at Holland Glen

A very pleasant walk over a succession of low, forested hills with occasional glimpses of the Mt. Holyoke Range west, the Belchertown ponds to the east with Bay road as the only break in its atmosphere of wilderness solitude. The trailhead crossing on the east side of Bay Rd was purchased and protected by the Kestrel Trust in 2003.

Note: Extensive logging took place in the section between Bay Rd and Orchard St., watch for trail blazes.

There is very limited water in this section, bring an adequate supply.

Section 10: MA 9, Holland Glen, to Enfield Rd, Mount Lincoln

Notice: At mile 2.9 of this section, where the trail formerly crossed Gulf Road, the trail now takes a left down hill on Gulf Road for about 2,000 yards before turning right into the woods and rejoining the old trail in a short distance.

An interesting walk over ridge tops and beside dancing streamlets on footpaths and old town roads long since abandoned, bordered on the West Hill area by sturdy pioneer stone walls with old cellar holes which mark the site of an old agrarian community, all now in mixed forest. Holland Glen is a steep-sided ravine with a crystal dashing stream and waterfalls, shaded by a mature hemlock stand, forever preserved by the Belchertown Historical Society.

Hikers, we have been requested by a property owner to not include their land as part of the MM Trail. The blazing in these sections have been painted over. However you are welcome to hike on this land. Signs will be posted in the future to explain the closing on the trail heads and just before you get to this land with distances. The MM trail committee is working to find new routing for the Trail and hopefully in the future we will be able to provide a continuous trail from the Conn.ecticut line to Mount Monadnock. In the meantime, if you do not feel comfortable hiking without blazing, you should skip these sections.

Section 11: Enfield Road, Mt. Lincoln, Cadwell Memorial Forest to North Valley Road, Pelham via Buffam Falls Conservation Area

This is a delightful walk at any season for its sylvan beauty. The trail here descends the northwest slope of Mount Lincoln beside a small, fast falling brook in a narrow hemlock glen, passes through the managed pine and hemlock mixed forest near Amherst’s Hawley and Hill Reservoirs and thence downstream beside Harris Brook. Near the confluence of Harris and Amethyst Brooks the trail continues downstream under a canopy of hemlocks and pines, then upstream beside a succession of waterfalls to a footbridge over Buffum Brook beside North Valley Road in Pelham.

Nearly all of this section lies on public lands: UMass Forestry Dept., town of Amherst water supply land, and Pelham conservation land.

Section 12: North Valley Road, Pelham to Pratt Corner/Cushman Roads, Atkins Reservoir

Traveling on North Valley Road to the left (south) for 0.2 miles, the trail follows power lines uphill a short distance and then joins the orange-blazed Robert Frost Trail to climb over the bare ledges of Mount Orient, then runs the length of this ridge through oak and white birch woods, eventually descending to a gravel road crossing over Heatherstone Brook. From this point it swings west over the shoulder of Poverty Mountain, and following a pleasant old wood road down its western slope, it emerges in the beautiful mature pine/hemlock woods of the old Adams Homestead, formerly owned by the late Professor Walter Banfield, the founder of the M-M Trail, on Pratt Corner Road. The trail continues on lightly trafficked dirt roads towards Atkins Reservoir and Town of Amherst watershed land.

The orange-blazed Robert Frost Trail is co-aligned with the M-M Trail in this section.

Hikers, we have been requested by a property owner to not include their land as part of the MM Trail. The blazing in these sections have been painted over. However, you are welcome to hike on this land. Signs will be posted in the future to explain the closing on the trail heads and just before you get to this land with distances. The MM trail committee is working to find new routing for the Trail and hopefully in the future we will be able to provide a continuous trail from the Connecticut line to Mount Monadnock. In the meantime, if you do not feel comfortable hiking without blazing, you should skip these sections.

Section 13: Pratt Corner/Cushman Roads, Atkins Reservoir to Shutesbury Road, Leverett

In forested country, mostly on narrow footpaths, the trail here climbs over the January Hills area through oak and white birch, often with an abundant understory of white pine saplings, to emerge at the Roaring Brook Conservation area on Shutesbury Rd. Flood prone Roaring Brook is now safely crossed on the Walter Banfield Memorial Footbridge (AmeriCorps 1999).

The trail has been substantially relocated (2004) in this section onto a very remote, intersting route.

Hikers, we have been requested by a property owner to not include their land as part of the MM Trail. The blazing in these sections have been painted over. However, you are welcome to hike on this land. Signs will be posted in the future to explain the closing on the trail heads and just before you get to this land with distances. The MM trail committee is working to find new routing for the Trail and hopefully in the future we will be able to provide a continuous trail from the Conn. line to Mount Monadnock. In the meantime, if you do not feel comfortable hiking without blazing, you should skip these sections.

Section 14: Shutesbury Road, Leverett via Brushy Mountain to North Leverett Road, Village Co-op Store

This section is interesting from two viewpoints: (1) its beauty — the wilderness character of the terrain, of a winding trail (actually an old town road, as its enduring stone culverts make clear) up hill and down dale, through hardwood forest, white birch country and pure stands of hemlock beside its streams; and (2) its historic character-for here are the remains, in miles of sturdy stone walls and many cellar holes, that speak of a early pastoral community that dwelled here when the Native Americans still controlled the Connecticut River and its broad valley.

From Shutesbury Road the trail soon follows west on Rat Hollow Rd and then north on Brushy Mt. Road, both old town roads (discontinued) near Brushy Mountain to Rattlesnake Gutter Road and North Leverett, the site of a hiker friendly general store.

The recently constructed “Mosher Shelter” (SCA/AmeriCorps 2005) is located in this section on a 16 acre parcel donated to the Leverett based Rattlesnake Gutter Trust.

Hikers, we have been requested by a property owner to not include their land as part of the MM Trail. The blazing in these sections have been painted over. However, you are welcome to hike on this land. Signs will be posted in the future to explain the closing on the trail heads and just before you get to this land with distances. The MM trail committee is working to find new routing for the Trail and hopefully in the future we will be able to provide a continuous trail from the Connecticut line to Mount Monadnock. In the meantime, if you do not feel comfortable hiking without blazing, you should skip these sections.


Section 15: North Leverett Road, Village Co-op Store to MA 2 via Ruggles Pond (Wendell S.F.) to Farley Village on the Millers Ri

This lengthy, remote section is almost entirely on narrow footpaths, wood roads, and gravel surfaced forest service access roads on which wild flowers bloom in the summer.

From North Leverett Rd. the trail ascends the north slope of the Sawmill River Valley along Diamond Match Ridge on narrow foot trails, gradually descends via Ruggles Pond, Lyons Brook, and Mormon Hollow Brook to the village of Farley in the Millers River Valley. Much of this section lies inside Wendell State Forest on the south slope of the Millers River Valley.

This is the longest trail section described in the guidebook.

Hikers should note that all sections of the M-M Trail located on state forest land in Franklin County were designated as a “National Recreation Trail” by the National Park Service in 2001. A state owned trail shelter is located in this section, one days hike north of the Mosher Shelter in Leverett.


Section 16: MA 2, Erving "Farley" to Gulf Road, Northfield via Hermit Mountain, Erving State Forest and Crag Mountain

The trail climbs steeply from the village of Farley in the shadow of the high cliffs of Rattlesnake Mountain. It follows the beautiful hemlock shaded ravine of Briggs Brook, next to it’s tumbling cascades. From here it proceeds northeast on the ridge and ledges of Hermit Mountain named after “the Hermit” who once lived at a site on its south slope, now accessible by a blue-blazed side trail built by SCA/AmeriCorps in 1998. The M-M Trail rises high above the Millers River Valley offering views southward along the way. It then turns north through Erving S.F. towards the bare, open ledges of Crag Mountain in the Northfield countyside.

This is one of the more interesting sections of the trail in Massachusetts.

Note: Backpackers should consider Briggs Brook and Packard Brook to the east as contaminated water sources. Both brooks receive seepage from the nearby Northfield Mountain pumped storage power generation facility, which draws its water from the Connecticut River. Drinking water from these brooks must be filtered, boiled, or chemically treated.

The 46 acre trailhead parcel on Gulf Rd in Northfield was purchased and protected by the Mt. Grace Land Conservation Trust in 2005.


Section 17: Gulf Road, Northfield to MA 78, Warwick

Passing across the tops of Northfield’s Upper Bald Hills, which are covered with hardwoods and some mixed forest, the trail eventually descends this remote ridge via the historic “5th Massachusetts Turnpike”. It then continues eastward on a remote route away from and north of Warwick’s White Road to the southern tip of Mt. Grace State Forest. Thence it climbs on the “Old Snowshoe Trail” to the fire tower on the summit of Mount Grace before its final descent to MA 78.

Much of the trail in this section lies on state land and is designated as a “National Scenic Trail” inside state forests.

A state owned trail shelter is located inside Mt. Grace State Reservation.


Section 18: MA 78, Warwick to MA 32, Royalston (Worcester County) via Richards Reservoir and White Hill

From MA 78 eastward the trail enters a stretch of unbroken woodland and, after traversing the wilderness solitude of Richards Reservoir inside Warwick State Forest, the trail proceeds roughly parallel to the MA/NH state line to the end of this section.

Mainly the track follows narrow footpaths, old woods roads through once settled farmland, across rolling, wooded hills, and a steep sided, narrow valley with Grand Monadnock beckoning in the distance. This section was substantially relocated onto public lands along the north shoreline of Richards Reservoir in 2004 by BCAMC volunteers. Now, much of this section lies on state forest lands, and as such, was designated as a “National Recreation Trail” by the National Park Service in 2001. A connection is made with the 18-mile Tully Trail on Bliss road.

Hikers will find upon arrival on Richmond Road mile 3.3 that the trail does not go north on the road any more as the 10th edition of the MM guide shows. It now crosses the road and rejoins the old section of trail at the old mile 5.4 and just before a great view of Mount Monadnock. There has been 1.3 miles added to the trail in this section because of the winding nature of the trail here

Section 19: MA 32, Royalston to NH 119, Richmond, NH via Falls Brook and Monument Road

The trail leaves Massachusetts in this section. The hiker is rewarded with a splendid trail route, first co-aligned along with a section of the yellow-blazed “Tully Trail”, then adjacent to the scenic Falls Brook in the Trustees of Reservations Royalston Falls Reservation. A short 0.3 mile side hike downstream on the Tully Trail from the Trustees Shelter (2003) and bridge crossing leads to the dramatic waterfall. The M-M Trail heads north, upstream, entering New Hampshire south of Greenwoods Rd. From Greenwoods Road this first section of trail in NH runs for a mile northward through pathless woods. A junction is then made with an abandoned town road, which proceeds east and then north generally downhill towards the maintained section of Monument Rd to reach paved NH 119.


Section 20: NH 119 to NH 12 over Little Monadnock Mountain and Troy, NH

With the crossing of NH 119 the M-M Trail enters upon one of its longest, most remote stretches from NH 119 to the outskirts of Troy, NH in this northern section where few houses are passed.

This section is generally level at first with a few gradual ascents and descents. From NH 119, the trail goes first northward on old roads, then eastward down into, across, and then up and out of the broad and somewhat swampy valley where Tully Brook begins. At this point the M-M Trail resumes its passage climbing steeply over high, open hills with commanding views of the countryside and Grand Monadnock that appeal so greatly to the hiking community. The superb views of this incomparable mountain, first from the northern crest of Little Monadnock Mountain and then later from Gap Mountain in Section 21 are without peer in southern New England. They will live with you in that inward eye of memory down the years. Here at last is the goal, viewed from the most strategic and varied angles prior to the final ascent in Section 22.

This section of the M-M trail also passes through the southwest corner of Fitzwilliam, NH.

Section 21: NH 12, Troy, NH over Gap Mountain to NH 12 at the foot of Grand Monadnock

The trail follows NH Route 12 and then Quarry Road south and east from Troy Village. Leaving Quarry Road, it climbs to the summit of Fern Hill, dips down to cross a tributary of Quarry Brook and then ascends Gap Mountain. From its summit, the trail continues along the northern ridge with Grand Monadnock continually in view. The trail then descends steeply on the eastern side of Gap Mountain again crossing a number of tributaries of Quarry Brook to reach NH 124 at the base of Grand Monadnock.

Section 22: NH 124 to the summit of Grand Monadnock

The steep ascent of 3,165 foot Mount Monadnock begins almost immediately, following the Royce Trail and White Arrow Trail to the southeast of Fassett Brook and an abandoned picnic grove, just to the north of the site of the old Halfway House. From the abandoned picnic grove, the M-M Trail uses the White Arrow Trail which it follows to the summit of Grand Monadnock, the northern terminus of the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail.

Trailhead parking is forbidden where the M-M Trail crosses NH 124.