A hiking destination popular among local college students, Bare Mountain offers a 270° vista over the surrounding valleys to the north and south, and a bird's eye view across Mount Norwottuck and the eastern peaks of the Holyoke Range.

Also visible from the top are the Round Mountain quarry and the campuses of the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Hampshire College to the north and Westover Joint Air Reserve Base to the south.

The lava from which the mountain is formed was erupted in the early Jurassic Period when North America was rifting apart from Africa and Eurasia.

Subsequent faulting and earthquake activity tilted the strata, creating the dramatic cliffs and ridges of Bare Mountain.

Hot, dry upper slopes, cool, moist ravines, and mineral-rich ledges of basalt talus produce a combination of microclimate ecosystems on the mountain that support plant and animal species uncommon in greater Massachusetts.