Table of Contents
On this page: On other pages:- Overview of the Long Weekend
- Friday: Alander Mountain
- Saturday: Mount Greylock
- Sunday morning: Berlin Mountain
- Sunday afternoon: Crum Hill
- Resources for Highpointing in the Berkshires
Routes to Mount Frissell and Brace Mountain
My main peakbagging web site has a long page on routes to Mount Frissell. All of them can easily be modified to include Brace Mountain. The only reasonable route for doing Brace Mountain alone is from the southern end of the South Taconic Trail, the route that I describe in my trip report. For those without paper maps I have inclded a Topozone map of the area.Trip Report
On Monday morning I again had breakfast in the motel, then checked out a little after 8 AM.The drive down almost the full length of the Berkshires was again slow, especially the couple of times I found myself behind a school bus. I eventually reached Rt 25, which I followed through South Egremont and into New York State.Here I took 22 south, passed the junction with 344 to Copake Falls, and continued until I reached the White House Crossing Street (well signed). I then went east on White House Crossing to its end, and went north for 0.3 miles on Rudd Pond Road to the Rudd Farms development, reached by the well signed Deer Run Road. After a short distance I took a left on Quarry Hill Road, and followed its curve until I reached a small parking lot on the left.
The South Taconic Trail started off as a gentle woods road, but very soon started climbing steeply over rather rough terrain. I soon passed a waterfall that fell for quite a good distance, but the flow of water was moderate so it was not too impressive. I then reached an area with a bit of exposed climbing. I definitely used my hands to pull myself up, so it clearly went beyond "hiking". The footholds and handholds were big and numerous, so going up was not too bad. The exposure was such that I decided to go down another way, but I do have a very low tolerance for exposure.
After the climb the trail flattened out, and the trees became much shorter and leafless (lower down leaves were out). For the next couple of hours there were almost constant views in one direction or another, and as it was a sunny day I got my full share of sun!
I will not comment on all the trail junctions I passed. The main trails are very well blazed, and the major intersections are well signed. There are many unblazed trails diverging in all direction, most of them not shown on any map. Since the main trail is blazed and these trails are unblazed there is no problem.
The first summit reached was South Brace, with excellent views over the Riga plateau to the south. Shortly thereafter I went over the main summit of Brace Mountain, with a large cairn and even better views. The trail then went down, and soon reached a well marked junction with the Mount Frissell Trail.
I took the Mount Frissell Trail eastwards, and after about half a mile came across the tri-state marker, where New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts meet. After a while I saw the rather large cairn that marks the Connecticut highpoint, and after looking around a bit saw the brass rod that marks the highpoint. A herd path led north from the cairn through scrub oak of increasing thickness; I followed it but it seemed to peter out without leading anywhere. I would be curious to know what that herd path leads to, neither of my highpointing books mentions it.
Passing the highpoint I ascended to the summit of Mount Frissell, passing a great viewpoint to the south. The summit itself was completely in the trees, so after signing the register I returned to the southern ledges for lunch.
After lunch I returned to the South Taconic Trail. It was only 2.4 miles to my car the way I had come, but I really did not want to climb down those steep ledges. So I decided to continue going north on the South Taconic Trail to its intersection with the Robert Brook Trail (a couple of miles, eyeballing the map), then take that trail to the road (about a mile) and walk back along the road to my car (three more miles). This would be quite a bit longer than planned, but it was a beautiful day and I was not at all tired.
The South Taconic Trail stayed high on the ridge for about one more mile, with almost constant views above or through the scrub, then started dropping into taller trees. It was a pleasant walk with good footing, and a few ups and downs but no serious climbing. The Robert Brook Trail was very steep, but with excellent footing. A short section of the trail is on the New York - Massachusetts state line, with two stone markers.
Since I was not really tired when I reached the road I did not attempt to hitch a ride. When I reached the Rudd Farm development the road went up quite a bit. I asked one of the homeowners whether I was in the right place (I really did not want to climb that hill and find that it was the wrong road!!) and he kindly offered me a ride to my car, which I gladly accepted.
I could not change as the parking lot was near several homes whose owners were out, so I just changed into my sneakers and drove off. A look at the map convinced me that I would be much better off following NY 22 all the way to US 90 (Mass Pike) rather than fighting the southern Berkshires traffic, and it was indeed an easy drive. Then the long highway drive to Boston.