Metacomet-Monadnock Trail

The Metacomet-Monadnock Trail traverses the dramatic basalt cliff edge of the Holyoke Range through Mount Tom State Reservation, following the long-distance footpath that runs nearly 100 miles from Meriden, Connecticut to Mount Monadnock in southern New Hampshire. This section through Mount Tom features the most spectacular cliff scenery on the entire route, where columnar basalt formations drop 200 to 300 feet in near-vertical walls to the forest below. The exposed clifftop ledges—locally called the Eyrie—provide dizzying views over the Connecticut River Valley and create ideal nesting habitat for peregrine falcons, which have returned to breed on the Mount Tom cliffs in recent decades after their near-extinction from DDT. The trail threads carefully along the cliff edge through a mosaic of chestnut oak scrub, blueberry heath, and open basalt pavement. Rock ledge outcroppings provide natural benches for rest stops with unobstructed views south toward Springfield. The volcanic basalt here was quarried extensively in the 19th century and shipped throughout New England as road-paving material; evidence of former quarry operations appears along the trail in cut rock faces and abandoned equipment sites. Spring wildflowers including columbine and wild geranium bloom in the cliff crevices in May.