April 20, 2003 (ed. note: This year we hiked section 17 and 18; up and over Mt Grace and back, then from the base of Mt Grace on Rt. 78 to Kidder Brook and back, and then from Richmond Rd heading South toward Kidder Brook again. We hiked 15 or 20 miles).
Hiking season on the M-M, or in any State Park or wilderness area at this latitude and longitude, is done in April and October-December. Bugs, I mean insects, own the wilderness the rest of the time. You can saturate yourself with poison if you like, to keep the buggers away, but I don't find that much fun. The warm spell in April gives you a unique opportunity to enjoy the trail and see the wilderness in the rebirth stage of the yearly life-cycle. April 20, 2003 was a beautiful day, in a stretch of 10 days or so of unseasonabley warm early Spring weather. I didn't know it at the time, nor would I have wanted to, that me and Bug would be taking our last good hike together in exactly 6 years; to Pisgah State forest and Kilburn Pond on just such a beautiful April day .
The view from the top of the Tower is amazing. To the Southwest you can see the Northfield Resevoir and the Erving St Forest. To the Northeast you can see Mt Monadnock and to the Southeast to can see the 'Lowlands' of Warwick.
