So Saturday started off with this crazy idea of mine. I wanted to drive to Rhode Island, "hike" (read: walk) the extremely short distance to the top of Jerimoth Hill (highest peak in RI), get back in the car and drive to Bear Mountain. From there we were going to hike to the top of Bear Mountain, Connecticut's highest summit, then find this not well marked trail that would bring us out to the Mount Frissell Trail. The summit of Mount Frissell is actually in Massachusetts but the trail has CT's highest point AND a tri-state marker (MA, CT, NY) and I thought that would be pretty cool. Needless to say we decided to do Jerimoth Hill on the way home but didn't feel like doing the extra 1 1/2 hours of driving and we never found that not so well marked trail to bring us to the Mount Frissell Trail. We did however hike the very well marked trail to the summit of Bear Mountain and then followed the Appalachian Trail for several miles into MA before heading back.
Trying to find online information or trail maps for Bear Mountain was difficult. There wasn't even a decent map posted at the trail head but the Undermountain Trail, Paradise Lane Trail, and the Appalachian Trail were all very well marked. We parked in the Route 41 parking lot in Salisbury, CT and started up the Undermountain Trail. This trail is listed as strenuous. I guess I can understand that rating but I would say it's more moderate to moderately strenuous. Yes, there were some steep climbs and some rocks to scramble up but it wasn't undo able. I found it work but fun to hike to the summit. We stayed left on the Undermountain Trail when we arrived at the Undermountain Trail and Paradise Lane Trail junction. Shortly after passing that junction we came to the Undermountain Trail and the AT junction. We turned north to continue to the summit. There were several people at the summit. There were a couple through hikers and several day hikers. There is a tower of rocks at the summit and there were many people sitting up there but we managed to find a spot to stand to take a pic of us there. 
From here we continued over the summit and down the other side. We again came to a junction for Paradise Lane Trail but we weren't ready to head back to the car. We were still thinking about trying to find that not well marked trail that would bring us to Mt. Frissell. Climbing down from the summit was fun. There were a lot of rocks to scramble down and it was a little slow moving through that section. We soon realized it might be hard to find that trail and we decided that if we couldn't find it we would just continue on the AT until we decided to turn around.
While I liked hiking to the summit of Bear Mountain the AT was my favorite part of that afternoon hike. It was simply gorgeous. There was a small but very pretty waterfall, several stream crossings, some with log bridges and some without, and a few sections were rocks became staircases. Kona loved that the trail followed the stream and that there were many opportunities for him to go for a swim. Not only does he love to swim but we took his backpack off when he went in, although he didn't seem to mind that he was made to carry his own food and water. 
On the way back we simply back tracked along the AT until we came to the junction for the summit and Paradise Lane Trail. We took Paradise Lane Trail which was a little narrow and over grown but pretty flat and easy. We were able to move quickly even running for a while on that trail before joining back up with the Undermountain Trail to return to the car. On our drive back home we stopped at a little sandwich shop called Marty and Jim's in Great Barrington before getting on the highway. It was sooo good! They make the soups, salads, and even meats for the sandwiches. We had their beef and barley soup which was super tasty as well as two sandwiches. One was turkey, cheese, bacon, garlic aioli, lettuce, onion, and tomato on a tomato wrap (this one was my favorite), the other was chicken breast (not sliced but a large piece of chicken cut into strips) with cheese, lettuce, onion, tomato, and a chipotle type sauce. Both were good and left my belly very happy. It was a great day, 17.5 miles in 6 1/4-1/2 hours, yummy food, and a very sleepy puppy.
Have you hiked the AT or part of it before? What's been your favorite hike?
No comments:
Post a Comment