The Sunderland Bridge (49.4 to 49.6) offers a good view downstream along the natural levees (see [p. 2]) and westward to the cliffs of Mount Sugarloaf (see pp. [56]-58). The road rises above the floodplain (49.9) and passes the Sugarloaf trail (50.0) on the right. A right turn into Federal Highway 5 at South Deerfield (51.0) brings the motorist back to a section of country already described in connection with the Mohawk Trail tour (see pp. [95]-96), and another eight miles of driving brings him to Greenfield (59.1).
Greenfield, Turners Falls, Montague, North Amherst
A variant of the drive east from Greenfield is available in the route that turns right across the Turners Falls Bridge (3.6 to 3.8) and follows the east side of the Connecticut Valley southward. The road turns left in the center of Turners Falls (4.2) and climbs the embankment which the river excavated in the old lake beds. On the sand plain above (4.9), the left fork goes to Millers Falls and the right, to Montague. The Montague road skirts the west side of a low line of hills which terminate at a depression (8.6) on the pre-glacial course of the Connecticut. The road goes over Saw Mill River (9.4), in the bed of which Triassic conglomerate is exposed. Conglomerate also appears in the hills directly south, but the older crystalline rocks crop out in an exhumed ridge to the southwest and in the highlands eastward. The conglomerates form the south end of a Triassic basin extending from Mount Hermon and Northfield farther up the valley (see [p. 26]). Beyond Montague (9.7) Triassic conglomerate appears along the roadside (10.1) as far as the forks to Sunderland and Millers Falls (10.8).
The Millers Falls road follows the foot of a terrace which rises to the old delta level, and at the next fork (11.0), the route keeps right and continues southward to North Amherst. The delta of the glacial stream buried many ice cakes which left numerous kettle holes (11.0 to 11.5) when they melted. The stratification of the deposits is displayed in the many road cuts. The route crosses the Central Vermont Railroad (11.5) and follows an old outwash plain southward past the road to Roaring Brook (13.1) (see [p. 54]). The tour continues through a narrow stretch in which crystalline rocks predominate, as far as the Long Plain delta (15.6). Mount Toby rises steeply on the west side of the railroad. A third of the way up the mountainside can be seen (13.9) a conspicuous bench, which consists of an exhumed remnant of the ancient, sloping granite mountain front on which the Triassic sediments were laid (see pp. [20]-21). The bench level drops northward to the railroad at Roaring Brook, and southward it crosses the road (14.9). The conglomerate east of the road (14.9 to 15.3) fills an old mountain valley. A road east (15.3) goes to Leverett, and the lead vein is located just south of it at the hilltop.
The route skirts the margin of the crystalline rocks and crosses the railroad again (15.6). Just beyond the road to Leverett station (16.1) the motorist may exercise the option of returning to the Sunderland road (17.3) by going right across the Long Plain delta and thence to Greenfield (29.6) via South Deerfield (see [p. 95]). Or he may extend his trip by taking the left fork of the Mount Toby road, which follows the boundary between the Long Plain delta and the glaciated eastern highlands. Boulders and bare ledges feature in the landscape to the east, whereas the flat delta and the level beach margin (17.9) lie to the west. Beyond the limits of the delta lies a series of bare ledges of gneiss. After crossing Factory Hollow Brook (19.1), the route joins the Sunderland road (19.2) at the center of North Amherst, returning to Greenfield (34.1) by way of Sunderland and South Deerfield, as before (see [p. 98]).
Greenfield, Turners Falls, Montague, Sunderland
The Sunderland road (10.8) just beyond Montague turns right and climbs the terrace along the floodplain of Saw Mill River. The plain is the delta which this stream built into Lake Hadley. A few rock ridges project above it; buried ice has melted to form kettle holes (11.4) (see pp. [7]-8); and post-glacial streams have cut valleys in it; yet it preserves its deltaic form to the old lake margin (11.6). Low shed-like cliffs occur east of the road (11.9); the overhanging rock is Toby conglomerate, and the excavated shelter is a gray shale which was laid in a Triassic lake bed (see pp. [22] and [68]). These cliffs recede from the highway and end (12.3) at the Sunderland Caves (see [p. 55]). The route continues downhill and joins the river road on the floodplain of the Connecticut (14).
The road rises over a promontory (14.1) formed by the resistant Deerfield lava sheet (see [p. 26]) and then descends to the river floodplain and meander-cut terraces (see [p. 22]), which cross to the east side of the highway and continue south beyond Sunderland (15.5). In Sunderland junction is made with the longer tour through Amherst (see [p. 98]), and the return to Greenfield may be made by that route (25.4).
Trips from Springfield
In the vicinity of Springfield the most interesting drives are to be found on the west side of the Connecticut River, for the comparatively flat land east of the river is thickly settled and heavily industrialized, and geological phenomena are effectively masked. The country to the west offers a display of features which may be traced to the activities of the river, to the former presence of glacial Lake Springfield, to the prolonged erosion of the Triassic bedrock, and to the resistance of the pre-Triassic rocks in the western highland. Almost any trip will include this entire suite of geological phenomena. The distances which are given in the following tours have been taken from the west side of the North End Bridge.