Owl's Head Mountain Lookout - Groton State Forest - Peacham, VT
Posted by: 
NorStar
N 44° 17.770 W 072° 17.675
18T E 715824 N 4908328
The lookout provides great views of the landscape, hills made of granite of the Knox Mountain Pluton, and many lakes and kettle ponds formed from glacial forces.
Waymark Code: WMWF84
Location: Vermont, United States
Date Posted: 08/27/2017
Views: 3
In the Peacham-Groton area within the Groton State Forest, is an area of hills and lakes formed from both magma and glacial forces.
Groton State Forest is a large conservation area maintained by the state of Vermont, located east of Barre and southwest of St. Johnsbury. Vermont State Route 232 runs northwest to southeast right through the forest and is free to drive on. Within the forest is the New Discovery entrance, which leads to a road that goes up the spine of Owl's Head to a parking lot near the summit. From there, walk up the stone steps and pathway to the summit. You can also park and walk up a trail to the summit - consult the park maps for trails and parking areas. At least some are free.
Owl's Head is similar to other hills in the area. Generally, they are isolated peaks roughly 1500-3000 ft high with a long slope on one side and a steep drop on the other, generally aligned north-south this way. Owl's Head is about 1700 ft high and the summit ledges with open views roughly southwest to northwest. There is a sign about 50 ft from the stone structure that has the following text:
"You are looking west, into the Green Mountains. On the right is Kettle Pond, with Kettle Mountain and Hardwood Mountain on either side. You may be able to see VT Route 232 and the old railroad grade through the trees, some 500 feet below. Far to the left is Lake Groton.
The mountainous landscape before you was sculpted by glaciers. Continental ice sheets two miles thick have swept south over these mountains four times in the past 1.5 million years. The slow-moving ice rounded off the mountains, gouged valleys and re-shaped the entire landscape. Water bodies, like Kettle Pond, were created where ice-deposited gravel dams obstructed drainage, as the last ice age ended only 13,000 years ago. All the lakes and ponds in Groton State Forest were formed by glacial action.
Large boulders strewn across the hillsides are known as glacial erratics, which means the rocks may be different from the bedrock that makes up the local landscape, having been transported by moving glacial ice from the north."
The sign also includes a topographic map and an image with landmarks marked.
Other sources state that the area is part of the Knox Mountain Pluton. This pluton is comprised of granite created from magma that formed deep in the earth's crust more than 350 million years ago and slowly cooled. Over time, the upper layers weathered away, revealing the resistant granite. Then, as mentioned in the sign, four glacial periods scoured and smoothed the rock to the landscape today.
Sources:
State of Vermont (Geology of Groton):
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visit link)
Longstreet Highroad Guide to Vermont Mountains:
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visit link)