Mount Norwottuck

Mount Norwottuck
Mount Norwottock
Mount Norwottuck in the Mount Holyoke Range.
Highest point
Elevation	1,106 ft (337 m)
Coordinates	42°18′20″N 72°30′36″W / 42.30556°N 72.51000°W / 42.30556; -72.51000Coordinates: 42°18′20″N 72°30′36″W / 42.30556°N 72.51000°W / 42.30556; -72.51000
Geography
Location	Amherst and Granby, Massachusetts.
Parent range	Holyoke Range / Metacomet Ridge
Geology
Age of rock	200 Ma
Mountain type	Fault-block; igneous
Climbing
Easiest route	Metacomet-Monadnock Trail

Mount Norwottuck or Mount Norwottock, 1,106 feet (337 m) 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 the valley 1,000 feet (300 m) below and offers sweeping views of the surrounding countryside. It is located within the towns of Amherst and Granby, Massachusetts.

Mount Norwottuck received its name from Edward Hitchcock, a former professor of geology at Amherst College with a colorful history. Hitchcock coined the term "Scenographical Geology" in 1841 to describe the dramatic geologic landscape of the Holyoke Range. Originally called Hilliard Knob, Hitchcock applied the Native American name Norwottuck to the mountain. Norwottuck is the Indian name of the village of Hadley. Hitchcock is also famous for suggesting that local dinosaur tracks discovered in the Triassic sediments near the range had been produced by an ancient species of bird (the relationship between modern birds and prehistoric dinosaurs would not be established by scientists until the latter half of the 20th century). A summit of the Holyoke Range to the west of Mount Norwottuck is named after Hitchcock.

Many miles of hiking trails cross Mount Norwottuck including the 114-mile (183 km) Metacomet-Monadnock Trail and the 47-mile (76 km) Robert Frost Trail. Sweeping views of the Pioneer Valley to the north and the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus can be had from various open ledges on the mountain. A lower, eastern ridge known as Rattlesnake Knob, 813 feet (248 m), also offers ledgetop views. The Horse Caves, believed to have been used as a bivouac by rebels during Shays' Rebellion, are a series of sedimentary rock overhangs located beneath the summit of Norwottuck. Most of Mount Norwottuck has been conserved as part of the Mount Holyoke Range State Park; local conservations commissions and private land holders own the remaining acreage.