Hiking at Skinner State Forrest

Yesterday I went hiking with some friends at Skinner State Park in Amherst Massachusetts. This was a great hike that I would gladly do again. There are so many trails in this area that it would be quite easy to go here several times without running out of paths to explore.

We started off by parking in the Notch parking area. The entrance for Skinner State Forrest is located across the street. After hiking for a bit we could see the quarry across the street.

The view from the peak is great. There is a small park-like area around the summit house. This would be a fantastic area to bring a lunch for a picnic. Apparently the summit house is opened for concerts in the summer.

After we reached the summit, we decided to hike down a shorter side trail to see the devil's football. The devil's football is a very large rock sitting alone in the middle of the woods. It looks just as if it landed here after being kicked from some distance away. Looking at it, it appears likely that the boulder was originally transported from higher up the mountain, likely via glacial movement.

This was a really cool sign we saw alongside the road near one of the trail parking areas. It shows the level of flood water at various historic levels. We could see the river on the other side of the road and it is incredible to imagine the water in that area rising to this height.