Mount Grace
Where: Mt. Grace, MA
When: 3/27/99
With: Andy
When: 3/27/99
With: Andy
While reading through some hike reports on the Internet, I spotted a report of a hike up Mt. Grace. It described it as one of Massachusetts' smaller mountains and indicated it might be a good hike for a small hiker. So I did a little research and when a day of warm weather presented itself, I threw Andy and some gear into the car and headed toward Orange, MA.
As usual on my hikes with Andy, I overpacked a bit. Lots of extra snacks and emergency gear, extra clothes that we never need, etc. At the last minute I'd hauled an old, small polypro shirt of mine out for Andy so he wouldn't be out hiking in cotton. It was a little long in the sleeves for him, but it worked out just fine. He wound up hiking just in that for most of the day.
We made it to the trailhead with no problems in about an hour and a half. Orange turned out to be prettier than I'd expected. I was used to real run-down old factory towns out in this part of the state, but Orange seemed to be well kept up. Mt. Grace's town, Warwick, was also a pretty little hamlet. We pulled our car off the road into an obvious parking area, joining another car already there, and started up the trail around 10:30.
The route followed an old woods road at first, and there were a lot of mud and ice patches to contend with. We managed to skirt them and soon the path turned right and left the road for the woods. It was pretty well marked with the white blazes of the Metacomet-Monadnock trail and I had Andy act as navigator, following the marks and watching for trail turns. We took turns taking pictures and looking for birds and chatting as we walked. A few ice patches still remained in the shadier areas, but the trail was generally clear and dry.
After a bit, the path descended into a small glade and joined with another, wider trail. As we followed it a bit, Andy announced that the trail marks were gone. Sure enough, we'd gotten off the trail. Backtracking a bit, we found it again were it had made a sharp turn up a hill. I congratulated Andy on his navigation skills and we headed up.
We had a short climb and soon found ourselves up on a wooded ridge with views out over a pretty valley. At first I thought we might be approaching the summit, but a break in the trees revealed the true top a good ways further along. No matter. We took our time and explored the ridge area, checking out the views. The best spot was a little campsite, complete with a log seat, a fire ring, and a sweeping view. Perhaps an overnight spot for another day.
Continuing on, we began to see evidence of tree cutting, etc. and the trail soon descended to join the fire tower road in a muddy hollow. The meeting was brief, as the MM trail followed some power lines up the hill while the road went another way. Andy was starting to get tired, so we stopped for a snack and a rest in a sunny place by the side of the trail before starting our summit push.
The trail bore on along the grassy power line cut, climbing steadily until finally, the fire tower loomed above us. We were there. After all the walking, the summit was a bit of a letdown. No views from the ground and fairly trampled, but it was a summit nonetheless. I noticed the MM trail continuing on in the woods and read the guidebook to find there was a shelter a mile or so further along. Kinda neat.
Andy & I immediately started up the fire tower, hoping for a view. I assumed the tower itself was locked, but figured we could get some nice views from the top staircase platform. Andy got a good ways up, but the height started to get to him so we retreated. We were joined at the bottom by a family who'd just hiked up and we sat to have our lunch while they took a turn climbing.
They left pretty quickly and we had the summit to ourselves again. I wound up making a couple of trips up the tower to take pictures and check out the scenery before we decided to head for home. We made a quick call to Jane on my cell phone and then started down. I found a hiking stick for Andy early on and he used that to good advantage on the descent. Quickly enough we were back down to the wooded ridge, where we stopped again to look around. We both agreed this was the nicest part of the hike. There was hawk poop to check out (lots of fur and bones) and those views again. At the campsite, I posed Andy with his back to the valley and took a picture. Just as I snapped the shutter, a large hawk flew up just over his shoulder! We watched him fly for awhile and then continued on down.
The rest of the trip we just walked and talked and gradually made our way back to the car, playing a guessing game with the time we'd finish. Back at last at 2:00, we tossed the gear in the car and headed for home.
More pictures
As usual on my hikes with Andy, I overpacked a bit. Lots of extra snacks and emergency gear, extra clothes that we never need, etc. At the last minute I'd hauled an old, small polypro shirt of mine out for Andy so he wouldn't be out hiking in cotton. It was a little long in the sleeves for him, but it worked out just fine. He wound up hiking just in that for most of the day.
We made it to the trailhead with no problems in about an hour and a half. Orange turned out to be prettier than I'd expected. I was used to real run-down old factory towns out in this part of the state, but Orange seemed to be well kept up. Mt. Grace's town, Warwick, was also a pretty little hamlet. We pulled our car off the road into an obvious parking area, joining another car already there, and started up the trail around 10:30.
The route followed an old woods road at first, and there were a lot of mud and ice patches to contend with. We managed to skirt them and soon the path turned right and left the road for the woods. It was pretty well marked with the white blazes of the Metacomet-Monadnock trail and I had Andy act as navigator, following the marks and watching for trail turns. We took turns taking pictures and looking for birds and chatting as we walked. A few ice patches still remained in the shadier areas, but the trail was generally clear and dry.
After a bit, the path descended into a small glade and joined with another, wider trail. As we followed it a bit, Andy announced that the trail marks were gone. Sure enough, we'd gotten off the trail. Backtracking a bit, we found it again were it had made a sharp turn up a hill. I congratulated Andy on his navigation skills and we headed up.
We had a short climb and soon found ourselves up on a wooded ridge with views out over a pretty valley. At first I thought we might be approaching the summit, but a break in the trees revealed the true top a good ways further along. No matter. We took our time and explored the ridge area, checking out the views. The best spot was a little campsite, complete with a log seat, a fire ring, and a sweeping view. Perhaps an overnight spot for another day.
Continuing on, we began to see evidence of tree cutting, etc. and the trail soon descended to join the fire tower road in a muddy hollow. The meeting was brief, as the MM trail followed some power lines up the hill while the road went another way. Andy was starting to get tired, so we stopped for a snack and a rest in a sunny place by the side of the trail before starting our summit push.
The trail bore on along the grassy power line cut, climbing steadily until finally, the fire tower loomed above us. We were there. After all the walking, the summit was a bit of a letdown. No views from the ground and fairly trampled, but it was a summit nonetheless. I noticed the MM trail continuing on in the woods and read the guidebook to find there was a shelter a mile or so further along. Kinda neat.
Andy & I immediately started up the fire tower, hoping for a view. I assumed the tower itself was locked, but figured we could get some nice views from the top staircase platform. Andy got a good ways up, but the height started to get to him so we retreated. We were joined at the bottom by a family who'd just hiked up and we sat to have our lunch while they took a turn climbing.
They left pretty quickly and we had the summit to ourselves again. I wound up making a couple of trips up the tower to take pictures and check out the scenery before we decided to head for home. We made a quick call to Jane on my cell phone and then started down. I found a hiking stick for Andy early on and he used that to good advantage on the descent. Quickly enough we were back down to the wooded ridge, where we stopped again to look around. We both agreed this was the nicest part of the hike. There was hawk poop to check out (lots of fur and bones) and those views again. At the campsite, I posed Andy with his back to the valley and took a picture. Just as I snapped the shutter, a large hawk flew up just over his shoulder! We watched him fly for awhile and then continued on down.
The rest of the trip we just walked and talked and gradually made our way back to the car, playing a guessing game with the time we'd finish. Back at last at 2:00, we tossed the gear in the car and headed for home.
More pictures
