The Robert Frost Trail is a 47-mile (76 km) long footpath that passes through the eastern Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts.

One segment of the trail follows a narrow greenway that successfully weaves through a small suburban development; another passes through a revegetated landfill; and yet another follows a mowed path along railroad tracks.

[4] The middle section of the Robert Frost Trail traverses the Connecticut River Valley in the vicinity of eastern Amherst, south Leverett, and abutting towns.

Roaring Falls, located 0.25 miles (400 m) off the Robert Frost Trail on Mount Toby, plunges 100 feet (30 m) over ledges in a series of pools, chutes, and cataracts.

Both the Holyoke Range and Mount Toby were formed 200 million years ago between the end of the Triassic period and the beginning of the Jurassic.

The Holyoke Range, part of the Metacomet Ridge that extends 100 miles (160 km) south to Long Island Sound, are composed of basalt, an extrusive volcanic rock.

This basalt ridge is the product of several massive lava flows hundreds of feet deep that welled up in faults created by the rifting apart of North America from Eurasia and Africa over a period of 20 million years.

Basalt is a dark colored rock, but the iron within it weathers to a rusty brown when exposed to the air, lending it a distinct reddish appearance.

A good example of this layer-cake structure can be found on the Robert Frost Trail beneath Mount Norwottuck at the Horse Caves.

The trap rock Holyoke Range hosts a combination of microclimates including dry oak savannas, moist ravines dense with eastern hemlock and cooler climate plant species, and talus slopes, rich in nutrients, support a number of calcium-loving plants uncommon in Massachusetts.

The plateau, averaging 1,000 feet (300 m) above sea level, is geologically related to the higher White Mountains of New Hampshire, farther to the north.

[9] A third of the Robert Frost Trail is located within the bottomlands of the Connecticut River Valley, a relatively flat landscape with occasional rounded hills.

The underlying strata is sedimentary rock, and the area has a long history of successful agriculture dating back to pre-colonial times.

The area is characterized by wetlands, meandering brooks with deeply cut banks, agricultural land, and patches of northern riverine forest and red maple swamp.

[11][12] Guides, maps, and trail descriptions are available from a variety of sources, most notably the town of Amherst Conservation Department, and the Appalachian Mountain Club.