Mt. Toby LbNA #9605

Mt. Toby Letterbox Series (3)

NOTE 4/18/10: The 2nd Box (on the summit) has been decommissioned. It was reported to be in several pieces,
and the letterboxer who found it kindly recovered them.

(Sunderland, Massachusetts – Franklin County)

Location: Mt. Toby State Reservation, Sunderland, MA

Date placed: 7/10/04 by The L Troop

Time: About 4 hours, in a loop

Difficulty: Strenuous during the summit climb, otherwise moderate

Directions to starting location:

The parking area is located on Reservation Rd in Sunderland, which runs between MA 47 and MA 63.
From MA 47: If you are coming from Sunderland, Reservation Rd is a right (east) turn app. 4 miles north of the intersection of MA 116 and MA 47.
After approximately ½ mile there is a gate on the right. The parking is just past this, also on the right.

From MA 63: From Amherst, Reservation Rd is a left just north of the Leverett/Sunderland line. It was unmarked
at the time of placement, and unpaved. A sign also indicated that the road is not maintained
in the winter. Cross the RR tracks, and then pass the boat launch at Cranberry Pond. The road soon becomes paved. The white Reservation HQ building is on the left. The parking area is just past the building, also on the left.

General Notes:
This is a long hike, at least by letterboxing standards. Most of it is on wide horse trails and/or
Jeep trails, but the climb to the summit (between boxes 1 and 2) is on a narrower, and steep, trail.
Bring water, bug spray , etc., and your hiking common sense. The section from the summit to the
end is downhill (duh!), and on a wide trail. If you are a GPS geek, we have some waypoints that
are on the trail (no, they don’t show the boxes!)…email phil_langlois@yahoo.com if interested. All of the boxes should be easy snags, right off the trail.
There is a theme to the three boxes…read the log books for instructions on how to stamp properly.

Clues:
From the parking area, walk a few steps west on Reservation Rd to the main gate on the left.
Past the gate, take an immediate right onto a red/orange marked trail. There are also some fading dark blue
markers on this trail . After 10-15 minutes, bear right at the trail junction with double red/orange patches…there was a yellow diamond that said “open to public” at the time of placement. The trail is not blazed well at all, but heads NW. At the next trail junction, there is a painted arrow that points left…follow this arrow downhill to the SW. A few minutes later, there should be a sign in the trees to the left that says
“Bridle Path”….keep going straight at this junction. About 5 minutes past this sign, there is an old sugar shack on the left. After another 5 minutes or so, bear left at a junction of wide trails.
When you reach a wooden bridge across a stream, you might hear a waterfall. Just before this bridge,
there is a trail off to the right…..a few steps down this trail, one can view the falls. This is a nice spot
for a break, and we tried to place the 1st box around here…but no decent spots were found, and the
area looked frequented. Back on the main trail, cross the wooden bridge. Start counting your steps.
After 100 steps, there should be a stump about 5-6 feet high on the left of the trail. Mt. Toby
Letterbox #1 is hidden underneath an adjacent fallen tree.

Continue on the trail , in a generally south/southwest direction. After about 10 minutes, you will notice a large uprooted tree on the right, and about 5 minutes after that, a tree shaped like a “V” in the middle of the trail. Finally, you will reach a T-junction with another trail. At this point, take a left and start heading
uphill. The markers between this point and the summit are either inconsistent or nonexistent. A demolished shack will appear on the left, and a pair of faded red trail markers on a tree on the right shortly after that. Another pair of faded markers appears on the right at a Y-junction of trails. Go straight/right, following the blue arrow on the tree.

In a few minutes, the trail becomes narrower, like a normal footpath in the woods. When you encounter a double white patch , take a right, going steeply uphill. You will reach the summit in about 10 minutes (more or less, depending on what shape you are in). There is a fire tower with excellent views of Massachusetts, Vermont & New Hampshire. Mt. Greylock is off to the west, and Mt. Monadnock to the Northeast. Walk to the picnic table on the southeast side of the summit clearing. Take a bearing of 225 degrees (magnetic) and take 24 steps in that direction, and note a small path leading into the woods between two trees. Take
10 steps down that path…Mt. Toby Letterbox #2 is located under a boulder, hidden by some wood and/or rocks.

Leave the summit via a trail on the east side of the clearing, opposite the fire tower entrance. This is the
orange-blazed Robert Frost Trail, and is also known as the Summit Road. You will be heading south at first. About twenty minutes from the summit, you will reach a “T” junction . The Robert Frost Bypass trail
leads right (there should be a sign on a tree). You will go left and follow the orange markers. In another 5 minutes, you will pass the Upper Link trail on the left (sign on tree). In another couple of minutes, the
Robert Frost Trail will leave to the right….you will stay on the white-blazed Summit Rd. Roaring Brook
crosses the trail a few times, and in about 15 minutes you will see a sign on the right for the “Roaring Falls
Trail”. (There is a nice waterfall down this trail, but it seemed too steep and poorly blazed for a letterbox).
About 10 minutes past the “Roaring Falls Trail” sign, the Telephone Line Trail enters from the left. Starting at this junction, count the telephone poles on the left. At the third pole, face across the road and take 15
Steps to a “V” shaped tree. Look to your left, and the Mt. Toby Letterbox #3 is located in the roots of a
gnarly, low growing tree. It’s a bit open here, so use stealth.

To get back to the gate on Reservation Rd, continue on the white-blazed Summit Rd.