Located approximately 27 miles (43 km) from the city of Concord, New Hampshire, the trail traverses a rural, heavily glaciated and metamorphic upland studded with lakes, heath barrens, the rocky summits of several monadnocks, and dense woodland of the northern hardwood forest type.

[1][2] Notable features along the route include the summit of Mount Monadnock; Eliza Adams Gorge; the classic New England town commons of Nelson and Washington; the New Hampshire Audubon Society's Nye Meadow Refuge; Otter Brook and Andorra Forest; the high heath barrens of Pitcher Mountain, Hubbard Hill, and Jackson Hill; Lovewell Mountain; 8 miles (13 km) of the Sunapee Ridge; and Lake Solitude, a mountaintop tarn near the summit of Mount Sunapee.

The MSG passes through the following incorporated communities: Jaffrey, Dublin, Harrisville, Nelson, Stoddard, Washington, Goshen, and Newbury, New Hampshire.

[3] Eliza Adams Gorge is a scenic and rocky eastern hemlock-clad ravine located just below the dam spillway on Howe Reservoir.

The Nye Meadow Refuge is an important great blue heron rookery managed by the Audubon Society of New Hampshire.

Lovewell Mountain, 2,473 feet (754 m), is a rugged monadnock contiguous with the southern part of Sunapee Ridge; several scenic outlooks on ledges provide views of the surrounding countryside.

The ridge offers scenic vistas from more than a dozen distinct peaks along its length and from the Mount Sunapee ski area on the summit.

The commons of Washington and Nelson are small and bucolic classic New England town centers with little commercial development and with architecture dating back to the early 19th century.

[7] The MSG was first suggested by Allen Chamberlain, formerly president of the Appalachian Mountain Club, in 1919 and was laid out in 1921 by the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests (SPNHF).

[9] As the crow flies, the MSGT route is never more than a mile or two from a public road, however, cliffs and steep terrain make access much more difficult in some areas.