Monument Mountain in Great Barrington, MA, offers a great outdoor hiking adventure. At the top, you’ll enjoy magnificent views of the area, and, if you’re lucky, you’ll be accompanied by hundreds of chipmunks that will help guide you along the way.
If you go to Great Barrington, MA, and don’t climb Monument Mountain, can you even say you went to Great Barrington?
No, you can’t. At least according to Benny.
While we did enjoy the nearby leisurely Housatonic River Walk in downtown Great Barrington, we were ready for a more rugged outdoor experience. And how better to quell our thirst for adventure than by climbing up Monument Mountain?
So, we headed over to the parking lot on Route 7, which is only a few minutes from the downtown area. The parking lot has room for many cars, but make sure you get there early if you want to find a spot without much trouble. Also, there’s a parking fee. For updated information on the fee, check out the Trustees of the Reservation’s site.
Benny was itching to get this hike started. Little did he know that he would also be itching during the hike, because he got bit by a few mosquitoes along the way. Remember to bring bug spray!
After we paid the nominal parking fee, Benny started running up the trail. Then, I saw this sign.
Not wanting to run up the mountain chasing a bear, I tried to instill some fear into him.
“Benny, watch out! You could die!”
He froze, thinking he was in imminent danger. We reviewed the sign together. Of course, Benny told me that he would just hop in the backpack if things got too dangerous for him.
The Way Up
We chose a route that had a mild incline, leaving the path with a steep incline for the way down from the summit.
As we continued hiking up Monument Mountain, we heard rustling in the woods. Every time we looked in the direction of the noise, we couldn’t see anything abnormal.
“This mountain is haunted!” Benny exclaimed. “It must be the ghosts of Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne!”
I was impressed that Benny knew of such names. Apparently, the two literary figures had climbed up this mountain together in 1850, and Benny had done his homework before planning this adventure.
“Sure, Benny, it’s them,” I said, trying to sound nonchalant. In reality, I still didn’t know why there was so much rustling around us.
We continued climbing, looking in various directions every time we heard something afoot in the woods (another expression I’ve been wanting to use for years!).
Finally, we saw the culprits of the racket. We noticed small chipmunks everywhere.
Benny started crying out, “Shoot them! Shoot them!”
His yelling startled me. “Benny, what are you talking about? They’re just chipmunks!”
“With the camera! Get their pictures!”
Oh, right, of course. I tried my best to get photos. Benny even asked them if they wanted to pose with him. Unfortunately, they were pretty scared of us and ran away. I was able to get a few shots of them from a distance. I had to zoom in quite a bit, so I apologize that the chipmunks are bit blurry.
It wasn’t until after we started our descent did some chipmunks finally feel comfortable enough with us to pose for a photo. Stay tuned for later in the post to see that one!
We can’t understate the amount of chipmunks that we saw on the way up to the summit of Monument Mountain. We’ve been hiking many places, as followers of the blog may know, but we have never seen so many chipmunks in one place. Every ten seconds we heard scurrying, and every ten seconds Benny was calling after them, which just caused more scurrying.
It was along climb up this 1600-foot mountain.
Benny suggested that perhaps they were having some sort of chipmunk convention or extended family reunion.
Making It to the Top
Once you see this sign, you know you’re near the top. It’s similar to the sign we saw at the trailhead, but we hadn’t seen any cliffs up to this point. Judging by the red on this sign, you can tell that they mean business. In fact, even the chipmunks don’t travel far beyond this sign. Seriously. After we passed this point, our chipmunk sightings went drastically down.
For safety’s sake, Benny hopped into my backpack, but not before he posed with the engraved boulder below that commemorates when the Trustees were given the deed to the land.
This wasn’t going to be the only engraved stone that we saw.
Right around this bend, there’s an overlook. Benny saw a tree with, and I quote, “a wicked awesome photo spot,” and he begged me to take a picture of him. I was really afraid he was going to fall off, but he assured me that he’d be careful.
Believe it or not, we weren’t yet at the top. We followed the path and saw the cliffs that the sign had been referring to.
We also saw a stone engraved by climbers in the 1800s. It was a lot like when I got Stuck on Independence Rock in Wyoming.
Benny wanted me to clarify that we did NOT engrave our website on the stone. We adhere to the “leave no trace” ideology. That’s just a watermark.
We stayed at the summit for a while, taking in the views. We hope you enjoy these shots!
Cooling Off on the Way Down
After climbing and being on the summit of Monument Mountain, we were both a bit warm. As we descended, Benny started whining that he was too warm in the bag, but that it wasn’t safe enough for him to jump out and walk on his own yet. For the most part, I ignored him, as there was nothing I could do about it.
Fortunately for him, though, the chipmunks were listening. Finally, after all this time, they were warming up to us. Benny called out to them again, and yes, finally, they did decide to pose!
For me, getting two chipmunks in one photo counts as them posing. Just sayin’.
Anywho, Benny complained to them that he was warm. They started scurrying about in a “follow us” type of motion. After a few minutes of our following them, (and me thinking that I had lost my mind because we were following chipmunks), they led us to a nice, cool waterfall.
Don’t be fooled by the small size of it. The ice-cold water was exactly what we needed towards the end of our hike. We stayed here for a quite a while cooling off. I also took way too many photos from way too many angles. Benny didn’t mind; he used the time to rest and play with the chipmunks. I’ll only share a couple of photos here.
As you can see, we were very happy to have found this spot to cool off!
Knowing that we were nearing the end of our hike, we bid the chipmunks adieu, again thanking them for showing us this special spot on Monument Mountain, and headed back to the car.
Looking for another mountain hike in Western Mass? Check out Mount South Sugarloaf.
Check out these other places in Western Mass!
- Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum
- Climbing South Mount Sugarloaf
- Make Your Own Candle at the Yankee Candle Headquarters
- Check out Dinosaur Footprints
- The Titus Mansion Ruins at Ashintully Gardens
- The Housatonic River Walk, Great Barrington
- The Norman Rockwell Museum
Check out our map of places we’ve been in New England!
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