Mount Hitchcock

Mount Hitchcock – Hadley, MA

Elevation: 1005ft

Mt Hitchcock is located in Skinner State Park. The Metacomet-Monadnock Trail runs through it as it does for all the Holyoke Range. To the west is Seven Sisters and Mount Holyoke. To its east is Bare Mountain.

My favorite hike to summit Mount Hitchcock is to hike from one end to the park to the other. This is best done with two cars. One car parks near the Main Entrance of Mount Holyoke and the other one parks at the Notch Visitor center on route 116. I like starting at the Notch visitor center. The parking area does have bathrooms and such if needed. Then you cross 116 to start hiking the M&M trail to the summit of Bare Mountain (1010ft). This is a bit of a steep incline up but about 1mile in you reach the summit with awesome views. The summit of Bare Mountain is really grand.

Then you continue on the M&M trail going over Mt. Hitchcock (1005ft). After Mount Hitchcock, you will start on the Seven Sisters peaks which are seven small peaks for about 5-mile distance. Lastly, you hit Mount Holyoke which offers the best views (in my opinion) of the entire hike. Spend some time enjoying the summit house and head down to the car parking lot. The total distance of the hike is about 10miles.

Hiking Mount Hitchcock with you pup

This is a very dog-friendly hike and we always see lots of pups on this hike.

Fun fact: Mount Hitchcock is named after Edward Hitchcock, a former professor of geology at Amherst College. He studied the entire range from a geological and cultural point of view.