Sunday, June 22, 2014

Getaway to the Berkshires

Since hiking Waumbek on Thursday, I've been taking it easy. Well, in terms of hiking that is.  The boy and I left Friday to head to Great Barrington, MA as a stopping point on our way to GFest (a BMW car event thing...clearly, not my idea). It left no time for a hike on Friday as I spent the morning packing, cleaning, and yoga-ing. (Which is an essential part in staying bendy and flexible, so when I run down mountains I don't get injured.) Then we were off!

Saturday was spent soaking in too much sun (helllllooooo sunburn!) while watching races at Limerock Park in CT and pretending I was intrigued by all the bimmer talk at GFest. However, it wasn't just a weekend of laziness. On the way back to NH we stopped at Monument Mountain in Great Barrington. 

Monument Mountain, as we did it, a 3 mile loop hike that boasts 360˚ views at the peak. It's located right near Monument Mountain High School on Route 7, and the parking lot is super easy to spot. 

We started off on Hickory Trail located on the right hand side. This trail is slightly steeper than the other option on your left (the Indian Monument Trail) and is 0.8 miles prior to the connector trail, Squaw Peak Trail, that is 0.7 miles and brings you to the summit of Squaw Peak where you'll be rewarded with views, intriguing rock (it's light pink because it's quartize), and slabs to sit upon and rest. HOWEVER continue on the Squaw Peak Trail to Devil's Pulpit and you'll see some amazing rock architecture. This was my favorite place, even though venturing out on the precipice was nerve wrecking. 
Not sure what happened to the coloring, but there's Butternut Ski Area
and some sweet rock forms

We continued on down using the Indian Monument Trail, granted we saw no Indian Monuments, running as we went. I found the summit to be quite rocky and the rest of both trails to be laden with roots. With that being said, round trip took 56 minutes. If you're in the area it's definitely a place to check out if you're into nature and such (which you probably are if you're reading this). 

Happy trails and possibly see you out there this week (it's going to be a gorgeous one!)

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