Mount Grace State Forest

June 7, 2020 Cloudy

Mt. Grace is a monadnock in Warwick, MA just a few miles from the New Hampshire border. The peak is 1,617 feet and although it’s mostly wooded, it has a firetower on top that provides great views.

It’s named for Grace (Sarah) Rowlandson. She and her mother Mary Rowlandson were kidnapped by Native Americans and held for about 11 weeks in 1676. Her daughter died during the ordeal, and Mary later wrote an autobiographical account, which was a kind of “bestseller” of its time. It’s actually pretty short and interesting, and well worth the read.

We parked at the main lot and took a 2.6 mile roundtrip trail up to the top. The trail starts out fairly steep, with a steady climb up the side of the mountain. It’s mainly soft and pleasant to walk on.

The last half-mile is a gravel road that winds up to the peak.

After a final steep section of the road, we reached the firetower. A ranger was there in his pickup and he motioned that we were free to climb to the top.

Unfortunately due to Covid-19 the top lookout was closed, so we had to rest on the stairs.

I have to say that although the tower was solidly built, it was kind of scary for us (the parents) to climb the stairs, but the kids had no problem scrambling to the top.

In any case, the views are really good all around. Here you can see the view of Mt. Monadnock in New Hampshire, about 20 miles to the northeast. That summit is 3,165 feet and it’s cited as one of the most-hiked mountains in the world, according to Wikipedia. I highly recommend hiking it, if you haven’t already.

Coming down the tower, we checked out a large boulder with some early and modern inscriptions left by hikers, although the informational plaque was missing.

At this point, we turned and descended the trail on the same route, exploring the large field at the base of the mountain.

The forest was really pleasant and the trail wide and well-marked. I’m glad that the firetower was open. Very rewarding for modest effort.
This was a fun walk and a good workout. There were no views along the way however, until at the top of the fire tower.
Haha fire tower goes CREAKKKK
The mountain was a nice hike with a nice view from a unused fire tower.
There was a big mountain and we saw a fire tower at the top and there was a steep part and it was hard to get up.