Upton State Forest

March 14, 2020 Sunny

This state forest, which is primarily in Upton, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It contains the last CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) camp in Massachusetts.

We decided to do the short hike called the Whistling Cave Trail. After a brief walk on a logging road past the main trail gate, we turned right and started to climb gently.

We stopped near a small pond when we heard what we thought was a huge flock of birds squawking nearby. It turned out to be the sounds of thousands of frogs croaking.

The trail soon branched to the left and down a rocky path. It bottomed out in an area that had been dammed by beavers and was kind of flooded, but we managed to cross on some rocks and logs to continue the hike.

We soon came to two very large boulders, which we thought formed the Whistling Cave, so we explored them for a minute or two and then continued. We were kind of disappointed in thinking that this was all we came for, but we were wrong about that.

Continuing along, we walked past a boulder strewn area with more in a small valley below us where a small stream flowed.

And then we came to the star attraction, the “Whistling Cave”, which was actually pretty impressive. It’s a huge boulder that’s piled on 2 others and really does form a cave with a short tunnel to the backside.

The trail soon met up with a wide road heading back to our starting point. From time to time, we came upon the remains of old cellars, some of which are apparently from 17th century settlers in this area.

We soon found a trail that simply said “Mammoth Rock” and thought we should explore a little. We came upon a huge, flat-topped formation in the middle of the forest, and we all went to the top for a look.

Although the view was mainly forested, it provided an interesting perspective across the open forest floor.

At this point, we headed back to rejoin the main trail, but paused to look at a few trees with large holes, clearly created by some kind of animal. From my quick research, it looks like the culprit may be a pileated woodpecker trying to make a nest in the tree or look for insects to eat.

The kids really enjoyed the singing frogs and the variety of terrain here, and the Whistling Cave turned out to be a big hit as well. It’s a very enjoyable walk with a lot to offer.

• Interesting hike with a boulder-strewn area and the “Whistling Cave” formed by giant boulders.
• We heard a lot of frogs but didn’t see any. We did see a garter snake. A pretty interesting walk with the boulders and the cave.
• wwweeeooo wwweeeooo. The tornado siren blared far away. But my parents tried to cover it up. “It’s just frogs.” Malarkey!
• There was a tornado siren but our parents wanted us to keep walking. You can see that at another state park there were broken trees.
• There was weird chirping and I thought it was a bird, but it was a frog. I liked the Whistling Cave.

For more information: Upton State Forest official site