Long Mountain, feet above sea level, is a

traprock mountain Traprock or trap rock may refer to: * Trap rock, form of igneous rock exhibiting polygonal vertical fractures * Traprock Important Bird Area, Queensland, Australia * Trap Rock River, Michigan, USA * Walter E. Traprock, pseudonym of American archi ...

of the

Holyoke Range The Holyoke Range or Mount Holyoke Range is a traprock mountain range located in the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts. It is a sub-range of the narrow, linear Metacomet Ridge that extends from Long Island Sound near New Haven, Connecti ...

, part of the greater

Metacomet Ridge The Metacomet Ridge, Metacomet Ridge Mountains, or Metacomet Range of southern New England is a narrow and steep fault-block mountain ridge known for its extensive cliff faces, scenic vistas, microclimate ecosystems, and rare or endangered plants. ...

which stretches from Long Island Sound to nearly the

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

border. The mountain rises steeply from the surrounding landscape below and consists of five distinct peaks, from east to west: , , , , the high point, and the eastern summit, . It is located within the towns of Amherst and

Granby, Massachusetts Granby is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 6,110 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The census-designated place of Granby corresponds to t ...

. The

Metacomet-Monadnock Trail The Metacomet-Monadnock Trail (M&M Trail) is a hiking trail that traverses the Metacomet Ridge of the Pioneer Valley region of Massachusetts and the central uplands of Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire. Although less than from Boston and ...

and the Robert Frost Trail traverse the mountain. The Holyoke Range continues to the west as Mount Norwottuck and to the east as Harris Mountain.

Geology and ecology

Long Mountain, like much of the Metacomet Ridge, is composed of

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90 ...

, also called traprock, a

volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...

rock. The mountain formed near the end of the

Triassic Period The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period ...

with the

rifting In geology, a rift is a linear zone where the lithosphere is being pulled apart and is an example of extensional tectonics. Typical rift features are a central linear downfaulted depression, called a graben, or more commonly a half-graben wi ...

apart of the North American continent from

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and

Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago ...

Lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...

welled up from the rift and solidified into sheets of strata hundreds of feet thick. Subsequent

faulting In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...

and

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...

activity tilted the strata, creating the steep ridge and talus slopes of Long Mountain. Hot, dry upper slopes, cool, moist ravines, and mineral-rich ledges of basalt talus produce a combination of

microclimate A microclimate (or micro-climate) is a local set of atmospheric conditions that differ from those in the surrounding areas, often with a slight difference but sometimes with a substantial one. The term may refer to areas as small as a few squ ...

ecosystems on the mountain that support plant and animal species uncommon in greater Massachusetts.

Recreation

Several trails are located on Long Mountain, most notably the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail and the Robert Frost Trail which share the same footway on the mountain. Several ledges near the summit provide views of greater Amherst region and the

Fort River The Fort River is a river in Western Massachusetts and is a tributary of the Connecticut River and runs through the towns of, Amherst, Massachusetts, and ends in Hadley, Massachusetts. The Fort technically begins as Adams Brook which begins at ...

valley. Most of Long Mountain has been conserved as part of the

Mount Holyoke Range State Park Mount Holyoke Range State Park is a state-owned, public recreation area encompassing the eastern half of the Holyoke Range in the Pioneer Valley region of Massachusetts. The state park is adjacent to J. A. Skinner State Park, which occupies the ...

; local conservations commissions and private land holders own the remaining acreage. The nearest trailhead to the summit is located on Harris Mountain Road precisely as it crosses the Granby to Amherst boundary line. This location can be accessed either via Bay Road in Amherst or Batchelor Street in Granby. The trail leading to the west leads to the summit.

References

* ''The Metacomet-Monadnock Trail Guide''. 9th Edition. The Appalachian Mountain Club. Amherst, Massachusetts, 1999. * Farnsworth, Elizabeth J
"Metacomet-Mattabesett Trail Natural Resource Assessment."
2004. PDF file. Cited Nov. 20, 2007. * ''The Metacomet-Monadnock Trail Guide''. 9th Edition. The Appalachian Mountain Club. Amherst, Massachusetts, 1999. *

Raymo, Chet Chet Raymo (born September 17, 1936 in Chattanooga, Tennessee) is a noted writer, educator and naturalist. He is Professor Emeritus of Physics at Stonehill College, in Easton, Massachusetts. His weekly newspaper column ''Science Musings'' appear ...

and Raymo, Maureen E. ''Written in Stone: A Geologic History of the Northeastern United States''. Globe Pequot, Chester, Connecticut, 1989.

External links

Mount Holyoke Range State Park map

Berkshire Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club

The Kestrel Trust

The Valley Land Fund

Friends of the Mount Holyoke Range

Natural resource assessment of the Metacomet Ridge

{{Mountains of Massachusetts Mountains of Hampshire County, Massachusetts Holyoke Range Geography of Amherst, Massachusetts Granby, Massachusetts