North Adams, MA Outdoor Activities

Adventure Racing enchants fun-seekers with a sprawling mini-metropolis of indoor and outdoor attractions. Drivers execute turns and passes around the indoor and outdoor go-kart tracks, which offer single karts for solo racers and tandem conveyances so adults can teach young passengers to flout traffic laws. Towering Star Wars figures lurk in the darkened passageways of a three-story laser-tag arena, where teams of up to 12 people test their marksmanship as they navigate between phosphorescent walls.

Inside Adventure Racing's indoor bumper-car arena, drivers steer circular vehicles on a constant collision course with their fellow vessels. The fun center's climbing wall tests the strength of grappling hands, and more technical tests of dexterity await at Adventure Racing's paintball shooting range, arcade, and knitting circle.:m]]

Owned by local horse lovers, Kimberly Farms is a thriving equitation facility that treats visitors to scenic trail rides and instruction from certified trainers. Its 60 acres of lush farmland include Vermont’s oldest marble quarry, a nature preserve, and Lookout Mountain, which treats eyes to majestic views of three states and the Berkshire, Green, and Taconic mountain ranges. Trail rides offer visitors a comprehensive tour of the compound as well as chances to spy wildlife such as deer, foxes, and wild cowboys performing mating dances with lassos. During riding lessons, instructors teach pupils various styles of riding including English, Western, trail riding, and bareback. Kimberly Farms also hosts groups for day camps, overnight camp, and special events.

Classic wooden rail fences surround the knolls and trees at Placid Hills Stables' 110-acre ranch, where trainers lead riding lessons and weekly clinics on several well-trained mounts, including resident school horses Yosie, Knuckle Puck, and Hermes. Tailored to accommodate riders of all experience levels, classes blend a survey of skills in a variety of disciplines—such as eventing, dressage, and the traditional western riding style—with proper care techniques. The facility can accommodate sessions in any sort of weather, thanks to the large indoor arena and the outdoor stone track, designed to be rideable after heavy rains or matches of the exciting hybrid of water polo and polo known as "wet horse ball."