I was traveling through Great Barrington and was told about a cool trail going to the top of Monument Mountain. I was staying at the Briarcliff Motel just off highway 7, and just a minute from the Monument Mountain parking area.

Richard, the owner of the Briarcliff Motel, a great place to stay, told me one of his guest was a trail runner and had made it to the top in 28 minutes. It sounded like a challenge. Steeper and a little more technical than I had imagined, the top took me 22 minutes, including shooting this video.

The entire hike was only 2.5 miles and the trails are well marked. Below are my Garmin 910 XT stats. I pushed a moderate pace up to the Devil’s Pulpit. The gain is just under 900 feet and the elevation tops out a 1,600′. All I brought was water, but a sandwich at the top would have been nice.

The Great Barrington area is quite nice. Small artistic towns scattered throughout the Berkshires. There are lots of opportunities to run, bike, hike, with some great pubs and restaurants in every town. I even heard about a triathlon in the area that, now that I have scouted around, I’ll be checking into.

Lastly, being into yoga, Kripalu is in this area. I walked the grounds and checked it out because you know I would like to spend a couple days there. Danny Dreyer, the founder of ChiRunning® gives an annual workshop there, usually in August.

Monument Mountain is just the start and great training for full and half marathons. It also has those trails that you see so much ultra running.

Train Focused, Steve Mackel – Trail Runner