Mount Orient

Mount Orient, 955 feet (291 meters), is a south-facing high point on an upland plateau overlooking the Connecticut River Valley in Pelham, Massachusetts (near Amherst, Massachusetts). Although the summit is wooded, a lower, south-facing ledge of exfoliating metamorphic rock provides views of the Holyoke Range and the east-central Pioneer Valley. Both the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail and the Robert Frost Trail (Massachusetts) traverse Mount Orient. The ledge is a popular hiking destination among college students and residents of nearby Amherst. Easiest access is via the Amethyst Brook Conservation Area parking lot on Pelham Road in east Amherst.

Mount Orient
View from Mount Orient
Highest point
Elevation955 ft (291 m)
Coordinates42°23′36″N 72°27′41″W 
Geography
LocationHampshire County, Massachusetts, U.S.
Parent rangePelham Hills
Geology
Age of rock400 million years
Mountain typeMetamorphic rock; dissected plateau
Climbing
Easiest routeAmethyst Brook trailhead

Mount Orient drains into Heatherstone Brook and Amethyst Brook, thence into Fort River, the Connecticut River, and Long Island Sound.

History

In 1909, writer and editor Mabel Loomis Todd, a resident of Amherst, purchased property on Mount Orient hoping to "preserve it from commercial exploitation." In 1960, her only daughter Millicent Todd Bingham gave an 87-acre wooded area, located on Mount Orient to Amherst College to be named the Mabel Loomis Todd Forest.

References
  • The Metacomet-Monadnock Trail Guide. 9th Edition. The Appalachian Mountain Club. Amherst, Massachusetts, 1999


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