Mt. Toby

Time: 98:26
Distance: 13 mi.


The view south of Mt. Toby from the top of the fire tower

I picked up Nick and we headed up to Mt. Toby in Sunderland/Montague/Leverett, MA. It is the highest peak in the Pioneer Valley, at 1269 feet. There is actually a race up and down the mountain, somehow making a 14 mile loop. I should have found out what that was before we headed out, but instead we ran somewhat aimlessly. We took the shortest way straight up to the top, which took 18:00 and was no more than 2 miles. We couldn't resist climbing the fire tower at the top to get the view of the area, ranging past Amherst and all the way to the Berkshires. After that we took a longer switchback trail back down which took just shy of 30 minutes and got us back to the start. We then did a different loop to the north of the peak and came back part of the way on the road. We were never really moving very fast (despite the good effort on the hills), and it ended up being a somewhat disjointed run as we tried to figure out where we were and where we should be going, but it was good to be out there on my feet for that long.

It was a beautiful day. I have seasonal affective disorder.