Dickinson Hill Fire Tower Trail is a 2.7 mile moderately trafficked out and back trail located near Petersburg, New York that features beautiful wild flowers and is good for all skill levels. The trail offers a number of activity options and is best used from March until October. Dogs are also able to use this trail but must be kept on leash.
dogs on leash
kid friendly
birding
hiking
nature trips
trail running
walking
forest
views
wild flowers
wildlife
bugs
muddy
Hike is very easy, a little muddy but pretty flat, so slipping isn't a concern. I followed Long Pond Road (it's a dirt road through Grafton State Park) to the trailhead, google maps got me there with no problem. Trailhead parking is very small, maybe 4 cars maximum. I followed the firetower signs for a while and came upon a house and barn - the path to the firetower is just beyond the house, don't stop! There is a red gate blocking a gravel trail up a hill, this is the firetower trail. The firetower itself was amazing, probably 60 feet up and provides incredible views. Definitely worth the trip, I plan to do this again with more people, as there is a nice clearing and a picnic table at the base of the tower. Be careful if you have a car with low clearance, the road to the trailhead was muddy!
I had a bit of trouble finding this trail. After reading another comment about not using Google maps, I used Waze. It brought me to the maintenance access road, rather than the hiking trail. There was only a very small pull off, so I did and walked up the access road to the tower, which only took a few minutes. This route is definitely not a hike.
The view from the tower was great, even on a gloomy day. I look forward to going back, and doing the actual hike.
The trail is easy to find if you follow Long Pond road (paved) past the Grafton winter access gate, to North Long Pond road (dirt)
this route will also bring you to other trails, as well as the ponds for fishing & kayaking.
This was a nice hike to a firetower that's not in the Adirondacks. It was a gentle hike that offered views of the Greens, Taconic Range, and the Helderberg Mountains.
Great views at the top of the tower! My children and I were almost run over by a group of 5 dirt bikers on the way down, even thought they were not allowed on the trail. Just be aware of your surroundings. Overall a great hike!
Incredible views at the top of the fire tower
Good hike for kids!
go into the grafton lakes state park winter entrance road go about 1 mile down look for the fire tower trail on your right for a longer more scenic hike to the tower.
okay....dont listen to google for directions. If you are looking for the fire tower, take rt 2 to babcock rd and turn on fire tower rd. google was all over the place...including a quad trail. views from the tower are amazing. you can see vermont, mass and ny.
Great easy trail and beautiful views from the tower! Have to go around a gate to get up to the tower but pretty clear other than that!
Easy hike to do with kids. More of a walk along a gravel road. The directions take you to a gate which is about a tenth of a mile from the fire tower. The trailhead and parking are along north long pond road not where the apps. Directions bring you
This really isn't too much of a trail per se; it's more a nice walk in the woods up a wide woods road ... easily wide enough for an vehicle. I brought 6 of my kids with me aged 4 to 12; they had no problems other than a grassy area at about the 1 mile mark that was very wet and quite muddy. When thru us off was that there wasn't a clear marking to turn off to get to the fire town ... just a gated road saying don't not block, emergency vehicles only ... we assumed this was something that was a "no go" area and kept walking until a half mile later I thought it felt like we went too far. We turned around an went up the access road, and sure enough there was the tower. It was very buggy at that time in the grass at the top and the grassy area around one mile. But lots of newts on the way down, and good time was had by all.