Take a scenic drive down I90 to Rte5N to Rte 9 to Rte 112 to Rte 8 to blah blah blah......navigator are you still with us? We are driving along Saturday AM toward Clarksburg State Forest in the NW'est corner of Massachusetts. Some scenic little towns look great for a day of shopping......ah hem....back to the hikes. We arrive in Clarksburg SF at 3 PM and find a dandy spot for $6/night. These spots are small and pretty tighly packed but it does have a nice bathroom with hot showers. We get some info on the Greylock hike and find that many state forest rangers find it difficult to believe that people actually want to hike up the mountain....crazy huh?
We choose to have "dunch" at Pizza Hut (the only game in town) and order a New York style bacon pizza.....bad bad move. It sat like a rock. The road up to Grey was something something road and the Westy drove up no problem. We all grab our day packs, cameras and water and we are off. It is a very sunny and humid day and the sky is looking like showers may occur (yeaa!). It takes about 20 minutes to get to a split, we take a left to a sign in box - and a nice overlook, it is feeling toasty here! It begins to drizzle....ahhh a bit of relief. We head back to the split and hike towards the peak. It is raining now and it feels nice. The trail is single track but wide enough and lined with low grass to make hiking side by side no problem. We get to the top to view this awesome monument - overpowering in view. We take a few snaps and check out the tower and the cool AMC like hut here at the top, this would make a killer house!
After a nice lounge we head back to the Westy. It takes probably less than an hour to hike back - that was the perfect timing hike, not too long, not too short. We drive back to Clarksburg and apparently a heavier storm came through here as our chairs we left as a marker (strange since we paid for the spot but they still suggested marking it) were quite waterlogged. No problem. We took a quick walk to the pond (mosquitos!) and headed back to the van to change and cook up dinner. Freeze dried this time and mashed potatoes and soups by Mid-East....yummy, pea soup and red rice and beans.
We line the perimeter with anti-mosquito citronella torches and off incense....not bad, lights up the camp too aside from the duralog fire we have going......dooooh we forgot the after dinner beverages!
Sleeptime......
Day2 - We take a straight shot down Rte 7 toward Connecticut to Mt. Frissell - kind of winging the driving / hiking directions (Alison in charge) but in a few hours we are there with no hitches, bravo Alison. We did pass by Greater Barrington Brew Pub which we would stop by for "dunch" after the hike. The trail is NW of Canaan and Salibury in CT, up a road that reads "Drive at own risk beyond this point".....After refueling we head for it and drive past South Pond "beach" where locals like to stand in the road and stare at you as you lose all of your momentum going uphill. We finally get to the parking lot, any further and you will see a big stone marker on your right which marks the MASS/CONN border. We load up out water and snacks and head for the mountains (snicker snicker...:-) The hike is nice and rolly but soon we are upon a steep section that brings us to a faux peak....it is very scenic up here and a bit exposed but this is actually Round Pk. It is another 20 - 30 minutes until we are at the peak of Mt Frissell. The trail leading to the peak is a bit obscure, the trail looks like it only turns left but it also goes off to the right under a canopy of trees (no markers here). There is a box to log your group and such here, Frissell is actually in Massachusetts and the CT line intersects the side of the mountain...if you follow the trail to the left - it will bring you to a brass pin in the ground that marks the highest point of Connecticut.
NOTE: If you see a dual red marker (one on top of one another) the trail continues to the direction of the upper marker, it will be offset to one side.
Special equipment:
