Despite living in Connecticut for 20 plus years some 20 years ago, it wasn’t until today that I bagged Mt. Frissell. The opportunity presented itself and I took advantage of it.
This is the official marker. The actual site is not particularly impressive.
Mt. Frissell is a bit of an odd high point because it is not actually the high point of the actual mountain. The actual summit of Mt. Frissell is located in Massachusetts. A portion of the mountain is located in Connecticut and that elevation is the highest point in the state.
I was visiting my parents and my boyhood home in West Hartford, Connecticut. They were planning to move to Maine after residing in Connecticut for about 40 years. I was helping them get the house ready to sell. We worked most of a Friday and Saturday and got more done than my father had planned for. We did some additional work on Sunday morning. I floated the idea that they could drive me to Mt. Frissell and let me bag this peak. And so off we went. It was a very nice day and it had been a while since I had been to this part of the state. Connecticut is classically New England. My parents had not been to this portion for a while as well. We headed northwest toward Salisbury. The drive was very nice.
We drove to the trailhead which required about a mile drive on a dirt road that was in decent condition. The actual trailhead was a bit unremarkable and it was hard to know for sure if we were at the trailhead. Luckily there was another person who was also trying to bag this high point. Hew as visiting from Ohio and had just bagged Massachusetts high point. We hiked together and within about 45 minuted reached the actual summit of Mt. Frissell. The hike up was was moderate with an initial uphill, some moderate distance travel and then a short climb to the top. There is not much of a view.
The actual summit is not impressive. After many years of hiking out west, not being above the treeline leads to some degree of disappointment.
I then hiked about another ten minutes south to make it to the actual Connecticut high point. The trip was downhill which is understandable but a bit strange. High point bagged. Another fifteen minutes and I got to a very old marker that was the point where New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut all meet. This was kind of cool.
My new hiking companion chose not to go to the Tri-State marker and started heading down. I was able to catch him and make it down to the bottom pretty quickly. My parents were waiting for me. Mission accomplished on this five-mile out and back to the 1,059-foot peak and Connecticut high point. A good hike and very nice to bag my home state’s high point.