A Hike! Mt. Toby, MA

The tower at the top. We did climb it (see below) but it was also fun watching the excited children dare each other up the somewhat rickety stairs.

One of the "caves".

Hiked On August 8, 2025

We managed to get out on a hot Friday for a warm-up hike over Mount Toby in Sunderland, MA.  Every state seems to have a Mount Toby so it is worthwhile noting the address.

We have been trying to get back up to "hiking shape" lately.  Allison has been wrapping up her doctoral work.  I have been getting settled in my new congregation.  We both engaged in an elaborate move. I put in a small garden and have been stretching myself with a great deal of "new owner" activities that have left me a tad fragile. Normally we are climbing 4,000 footers this time of year.  However, we aren't really ready for that just yet.  This hike--a 6 mile loop with a short spur that ends with a brisk climb totaling around 1,000 feet of elevation--was designed to get us moving once again.

Readers of this weblog will know that we already climbed a couple of local mountains across the street from our house. This time we drove 15 minutes to the Mount Toby State Forest.  Yes, this is part of why we moved west to Franklin County.  We--and especially I--have spent a lot of time out here in nature.  Now the commute is so much easier to manage.  It was a little eerie, in fact, to hop in the car with our gear, not stop for snacks, and end up at the trailhead in the amount of time it took to drink my first cup of coffee.

There are a number of places to park along the perimeter of the State Forest.  There is a veritable nest of trails, many of which intersect with a road. We chose one of the longer approaches for the reasons I already mentioned.  We needed the practice! On All Trails our route is labeled as "Mount Toby via Sugar Farms to Summit to Tower Loop".  It may go without saying that those are the trail names...but I said it anyway.  We went counter-clockwise to hit the mountain last.  Going the other way, I suspect, would have been a bit easier.  My legs were pretty tired by the time I hit the foot of the main ascent.  If that thing was just a little taller we would be having a different sort of conversation.

The highlight of the long approach was the spur off Sugar Farms Trail to the "Caves".  They weren't actually all that cave-like.  However...they were massive holes in the ground and that was fun.  We spent some time there exploring and then moved on.  The trail up to that point was fairly accessible and the caves seemed to be a popular picnic spot.  There were a few other groups there and evidence of at least one more.  The caves themselves seemed best not to mess with.

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A climb up the tower revealed some pretty nice views even on a hazy day. In this case, one can see Mount Tom and part of the Seven Sisters ridge. I have posts on both these hikes here as well.

Grass under the canopy right before it got steep.

Things remained flat for quite a while after returning to the main trail.  We passed through a forest of mixed trees and vegetation.  In many places the canopy was rather thin, particularly where maples dominated.  There we found a number of grassy areas which created multiple pleasing layers of green.

Heading up was--as I mentioned before--a bit of a chore for me.  Al sprinted ahead shouting warnings and encouragement as I grappled with the steepest parts.  I kept going by reminding myself that I was the one who chose the route for the day.  Also, I remembered that we have some bigger plans soon.  With this in mind, powering through was the only choice!  My personal philosophy is that all hikes are hard.  It depends on the day and the body whether we breeze through whatever challenge faces us.  Still, it was a good, solid test for things to come.  It could, for someone else, be an ultimate goal to work up to!  That is also fine. It is a lovely way to spend the day.

We didn't see anyone along our long, looping approach.  However, there were a few groups at the top, happily lining up to get the view from the fire tower.  The tower is the only panoramic view.  However, the general forest walk was also pretty. We went down the way they came along a relatively short--maybe around 2 miles--relatively gentle service road.  That was nice, too, though the gravel fill used to top the dirt road was slippery in places.  There were a number of other side-trails each promising a different distraction.  However, those will be for another day.

​ We hit the car with little trouble.  I suggest finding your own route to the top.  Bring plenty of water and snacks.

Earlier I mentioned two other hikes in the area.  ​Here are my posts for Mount Tom and The Seven Sisters.  These are both old posts from my "How It Began" series.

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A typical stretch of the way we took down, which is probably the primary route up!