Long Mountain (Hampshire County, Massachusetts)

Long Mountain, 920 feet feet above sea level, is a traprock mountain of the Holyoke Range

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, Connecticut north through the Connecticut River Valley of...

, part of the greater Metacomet Ridge

Metacomet Ridge

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

which stretches from Long Island Sound

Long Island Sound

Long Island Sound is an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean, located in the United States between Connecticut to the north and Long Island, New York to the south. The mouth of the Connecticut River at Old Saybrook, Connecticut, empties into the sound. On its western end the sound is bounded by the Bronx...

to nearly the Vermont

Vermont

Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...

border. The mountain rises steeply from the surrounding landscape 600 feet (182.9 m) below and consists of five distinct peaks, from east to west: 685 feet (208.8 m), 775 feet (236.2 m), 795 feet (242.3 m), 920 feet (280.4 m), the high point, and the eastern summit, 906 feet (276.1 m). It is located within the towns of Amherst

Amherst, Massachusetts

Amherst is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States in the Connecticut River valley. As of the 2010 census, the population was 37,819, making it the largest community in Hampshire County . The town is home to Amherst College, Hampshire College, and the University of Massachusetts...

and Granby, Massachusetts

Granby, Massachusetts

Granby is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 6,420 at the 2010 census.It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.Part of the town is comprised in the census-designated place of Granby....

. The 110 miles (177 km) Metacomet-Monadnock Trail

Metacomet-Monadnock Trail

The Metacomet-Monadnock 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...

and the 47 miles (75.6 km) Robert Frost Trail

Robert Frost Trail (Massachusetts)

The Robert Frost Trail is a long footpath that passes through the eastern Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts. The trail runs from the Connecticut River in South Hadley, Massachusetts to Ruggles Pond in Wendell State Forest, through both Hampshire and Franklin County and includes a number of...

traverse the mountain. The Holyoke Range continues to the west as Mount Norwottuck

Mount Norwottuck

Mount Norwottuck, feet above sea level, is the highest peak of the Holyoke Range of traprock mountains located in the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts and part of the greater Metacomet Ridge which stretches from Long Island Sound to nearly the Vermont border. The peak rises steeply from...

and to the east as Harris Mountain.

Geology and ecology

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

Basalt

Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...

, also called traprock, a volcanic rock. The mountain formed near the end of the Triassic Period with the rifting apart of the North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

n continent from Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

and Eurasia

Eurasia

Eurasia is a continent or supercontinent comprising the traditional continents of Europe and Asia ; covering about 52,990,000 km2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres...

. Lava

Lava

Lava refers both to molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption and the resulting rock after solidification and cooling. This molten rock is formed in the interior of some planets, including Earth, and some of their satellites. When first erupted from a volcanic vent, lava is a liquid at...

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

Earthquake

An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...

activity tilted the strata, creating the steep ridge and talus

Scree

Scree, also called talus, is a term given to an accumulation of broken rock fragments at the base of crags, mountain cliffs, or valley shoulders. Landforms associated with these materials are sometimes called scree slopes or talus piles...

slopes of Long Mountain. Hot, dry upper slopes, cool, moist ravines, and mineral-rich ledges of basalt talus

Scree

produce a combination of microclimate

Microclimate

A microclimate is a local atmospheric zone where the climate differs from the surrounding area. The term may refer to areas as small as a few square feet or as large as many square miles...

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 110 miles (177 km) Metacomet-Monadnock Trail and the 47 miles (75.6 km) 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 valley. Most of Long Mountain has been conserved as part of the Mount Holyoke Range State Park

Mount Holyoke Range State Park

The Mount Hoyoke Range State Park of the Pioneer Valley region of Massachusetts, encompasses the eastern half of the Holyoke Range to traprock mountains. The park is managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation...

; local conservations commissions and private land holders own the remaining acreage. The nearest trailhead to the summit is located on Harris Mountain Road in Granby. This location can be accessed either via Bay Road in Amherst or Batchelor Street in Granby.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.