South of Frissell: Connecticut's Highest Point, plus the CT/MA/NY Tripoint

In county highpointing, there are several counties where the high point is not a summit, but somewhere along the county line on sloping terrain. We call these "liners". Only one state high point can make such a claim and that's Connecticut. Yes, Tennessee and South Carolina have their highest points along their borders, but these are actual summits. A dozen or so others have their high points within a few miles of another state. But Connecticut is the only one with a prominence of 0 feet. Not even a summit, the official high point is the South Slope of Mount Frissell. The summit of Mount Frissell lies 150 yards inside Massachusetts. Most of the hike to the high point lies inside Massachusetts. Bear Mountain, a couple miles to the east and 50 feet lower, is the highest summit inside Connecticut itself. Connecticut's true high point is the south slope of Mount Frissell, an elevation of 2,379 feet marked by a survey spike. It's not as fancy as other states, but the view isn't something to sneeze at, either.

There are three ways to hike here, and all are surprisingly difficult for a state like Connecticut. Easiest way is from the east, and that is what I'll write about here. You could also hike from the southwest over Brace Mountain or from the northwest near Alander Mountain, but each of those is a strenuous hike starting well under 1,000 feet. The eastern trailhead is just shy of 1,900 feet and, while you need to climb over Round Mountain and Frissell itself, it's a moderate hike.

The trailhead from the east is on East St in Mount Washington, Massachusetts. A small amount of parking is located near the state line, with room for a few cars on the east side of the road just north of a boundary marker.

CT/MA boundary marker along road

Having left slightly later than I intended, I set out at 10:45 AM From there, I hiked west along the blue blazed and aptly-named "Mt. Frissell Trail". This trail generally runs along the state line, first heading northwest and ascending ever so slightly. After roughly 1/5 mile, there's a sharp turn to the south. Just after entering Connecticut for the first time, it turns west and the trail became steeper as I climbed Round Mountain, with a couple minor scrambles for good measure. Maybe 3/4 of a mile into the hike, the trail levels off at the bald summit of Round Mountain. Round Mountain, elevation 2,296 feet, is the second-highest summit inside Connecticut.

Cairn marking Round Mountain's summit

View south from Round Mountain

After taking a 20-30 minute break on a rock for water and an early lunch (it was already quite warm at 11:15 AM) while enjoying the view of the mountain I was about to climb, onward and downward I went. Steep at times, the trail descends into the col separating Round and Frissell and we eventually start to climb Frissell. Near the summit of Frissell lies a very short spur trail to the true summit, marked by a sign, cairn, and register, along with directions from here to the CT high point. Sign your name, head back to the main trail, and continue on (and DOWN) the remaining 300 yards to the high point, which is located at the right (north) side of the trail, approximately 1.5 miles into the hike.

A little anticlimactic, isn't it?

Well, there we go. That little survey spike lies on the highest piece of land along the Connecticut/Massachusetts border. There's an ammo box here containing a register. While its main claim to fame is being the only state high point that isn't a summit, this place does have a nice view, even if it is only to the south. Much better view than the highest points of several states, actually.

Two looks south from Frissell

Once you're done at the high point, you have some options. Either you can return now, or you can continue downhill to the tripoint marker (and to Brace Mountain if you're so inclined). I continued on. After a short gentle downhill section, there are some steep scrambles. Roughly 1/4 mile west of Connecticut's highest point, we reach the tripoint lying on the trail.

The CT/MA/NY tripoint marker

MA occupies the entire north half of the marker (right side if coming from the east). NY is the southwest corner, CT is the southeast corner. For some reason, Connecticut's name is not etched on the marker.

From here, many people continue on to Brace Mountain, highest point in Dutchess County, New York. Since I wanted to get to Rhode Island's high point before it closed for the day, I hightailed it back to my car and did Brace a few months later from the spectacular western approach (future post).

Saw this sign across from the trailhead on my way out

While only 3.2 miles in length, this hike took me 2-2.5 hours, including breaks. Lots of rock scrambles to slow you down, plus I took plenty of time to enjoy the view and make sure I had water. A large amount of the difficulty here stems from the amount of rock scrambles and how exposed the trail is.

Getting Here

Connecticut might be a relatively-dense state, but its high point is in a pretty remote area. The trailhead is located on East St just north of the CT/MA state line at the southern edge of Mount Washington State Forest. No services are anywhere near the trailhead There are three main ways to get here:

1. From MA Routes 23/41 to the north. This is the most direct access from points north and the Mass Pike/Interstate 90 and how I got to/from the trailhead. Roughly 2.5 miles is unpaved.
2. From NY Routes 22/344 to the northwest. This route goes past Bash Bish Falls and merges with the above route near the trailhead. Doing this, you could easily add a stop at the falls. A minimum of 2.5 miles is unpaved (as above), more will be unpaved if you cut a corner and bypass Mount Washington Center. 
3. From US Route 44 in Salisbury. A minimum-maintenance road heads northwest from Salisbury and is the only way to reach the area of the CT high point through CT itself by car (though you cannot get to the high point without entering another state). Most of this route is unpaved and it does not get a ton of use. About 6 miles is unpaved.

Resources

Mount Washington State Forest: On the MA side of the border in this area

South Beacon Mountain and Scofield Ridge

Beacon, Newburgh, and the bridge from the fire tower.
(All pictures mine)

South Beacon Mountain may be one of the most underrated hikes in New York. The trailhead is within the city limits of Beacon, but there are tons of ruins (including an abandoned incline railway), a fire tower, and the high point of Putnam County. If you look carefully, you can see the fire tower and ruins from the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge and the route of the incline railway is impossible to miss. Really easy to get all of these in a hike of around 6 miles (with most of the ascent being in the first mile out of the trailhead). That being said, it's a climb. From the trailhead to the summit of South Beacon Mountain and the fire tower is a vertical ascent of over 1,400 feet. Need to lose and regain a little bit to get over to the summit of Putnam County on Scofield Ridge. But definitely a climb I'd recommend making, as the views are stunning and there's quite a bit of history on this mountain.

The parking area at the corner of Wolcott Avenue (NY Route 9D) and Howland Avenue can hold a few dozen cars and contains portable toilets and a kiosk with trail maps. If the lot is full (likely on weekends when the weather is nice), ample parking is available on the side streets. But parking wasn't an issue when I showed up around 10:00 on a Thursday morning (yes, I did plan my class schedule so I'd have a day open to hike every week). The first 0.2 miles or so is a wide gravel path with a slight upgrade. Trail markers are RED. Soon, the ruins of the old Mount Beacon Incline Railway come into view.

Former incline railway station

Looking up the incline railway

When constructed, the Mount Beacon Incline Railway was the steepest incline railway in the world. It was abandoned in 1978 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. Groups are fundraising to rebuild the railway.

Oh, right, the trail

The trail begins to parallel what was the world's steepest incline railway with a long metal staircase. 100+ feet further above the Hudson River Estuary, the staircase ends and there's a sharp left turn away from the railway around an elevation of 400 feet.

The views start near the top of the stairs

A short distance and 100 vertical feet later, you're faced with a decision. Continue straight onto the yellow trail, or take a hairpin turn to the right and continue climbing on the red trail. You want the red trail, as yellow takes you around the mountain.

Yeah, it's steep. Keep climbing. It's worth it.

Getting closer...

If you keep climbing along the red trail, you'll reach the ruins of the Mount Beacon Casino and Incline Railway at around 1,200 feet, approximately 1 mile from the parking lot. There's roughly 1000 feet of vertical ascent from the parking lot to this point.

First, we reach the former powerhouse for the incline railway.

The powerhouse

Hoist mechanism 

Looking down at where people boarded/alighted

Continue a short distance further to reach the ruins of the Mount Beacon Casino.The Casino was once a major tourist attraction, with panoramic views of the Hudson Valley and Hudson Highlands. While the building is gone save its foundation, the view remains.

View of Beacon, Newburgh, and the bridge connecting them.
The Shawangunk Ridge is in the background.

Looking southwest

Looking south toward Storm King Mountain

Old steps

The casino once stood here

South corner of the foundation. Fire tower is at the top left.

View south toward the Hudson Highlands

If you want, you could turn back here, which is what most people do. I'm going to tell you to continue along the red trail, as the hardest part of the hike is over and the rest is a cakewalk. The first part of this trail is along an old road, but the trail diverges as the road heads north to the Beacon Reservoir. There's a slight descent into the col between North and South Beacon Mountains, but the climb soon resumes. Just under 2 miles from the parking lot is the junction with the white trail. You want to turn onto the white trail to get to the fire tower. It's really hard to miss the junction.

That's the junction, white trail diverges to the right.
I counted no fewer than 7 white trail markers here.

The white trail climbs moderately, but it's a short climb.

Compass painted near the summit

The fire tower

Soon you're standing on the summit of South Beacon Mountain, not even 1/4 mile from the red trail. The summit and fire tower are a short distance off of the main trail, but very east to find. South Beacon (elevation 1,610 feet) is the highest peak in the Hudson Highlands and far above the Hudson River less than 2 miles to your west. 

Looking toward Beacon

Looking toward Storm King

As if the view from the ground isn't good enough, the fire tower gets you higher.

Beacon, Newburgh, and the bridge from the fire tower

Looking south

Looking east

Looking north at the Beacon Reservoir

I would not be surprised if you could see the Manhattan skyline from up here on a clear day. Sadly, the day of my hike was not clear.

Once I was done bracing myself against the day's high winds, I made my way down the tower and retraced my steps to the red trail. Unless you want to do a long loop or are a county highpointer, you'll probably turn left to return to the trailhead. Not much interesting stuff beyond this other than the high point of Putnam County. turning right at the junction to continue on. The red trail ends shortly later, and I turned right on the yellow trail to continue to the Putnam high point. Some minor scrambling awaited me on the yellow trail as I neared my destination about half a mile from the end of the red trail. The high point of Scofield Ridge (elevation 1,540 feet) is pretty darn easy to find because there's a giant yellow X on the exposed rock.

X marks the spot

To make your life easier if you're a highpointer, it is where the trail has a 90 degree turn, the trail going NE and SE from the point, approximately 1,500 feet due east of the South Beacon fire tower. 

Looking west toward the fire tower

View east from Scofield Ridge

Scofield Ridge isn't a "liner" (high point on a county line", but it's darn close, being less than 200 feet inside Putnam County.

From here, I could have continued around to make a loop, but I had other plans for the day, so I retraced my steps back to the red trail and down to my car. Aren't a ton of amazing hikes within the limits of a city in New York, but trust me, this one is worth it, even if there are crowds.

Getting Here

This is one of the easier trails in the region to get to. NY Route 9D is a relatively major road and it's not too far from Interstate 84 and the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge. Plenty of services nearby if you need a last-minute snack or the like. The popular Breakneck Ridge trailhead is a few miles south along 9D, but that trailhead will be closed until mid-2019 for improvements.

Resources

• Hudson Highlands State Park. The majority of the trail lies within this park.
• Avenza Maps Navigation App. The NY Department of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation makes all of their maps available for free using this app. The maps have GPS tracking and I make use of them when hiking in a state park.
• Hike the Hudson Valley's Mount Beacon Page. This is the main hiking resource I used to find out what I was getting into.