New England Day 14, Travel At Your Own Risk

 Day 14

Thursday, October 21, 2021

     The Monument Mountain Motel didn’t do breakfast, so I asked the owner for suggestions. 

     He raved about the bagel shop up the street.   It was the right call.  I ended up having a corned beef bagel sandwich that covered me well into the afternoon.

     There was only one thing on tap for the day, Mount Frissell, the highest point on Connecticut.  That’s why I stayed in Great Barrington.  But, there was one stop to make along the way.  

    I was passing through Sheffield anyway.  A detour of a few blocks brought me to their covered bridge, long closed to traffic.

     On the other side of the bridge is this curious plaque.

     And this one from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

    Back in 1966, six year old Thomas Reed was in his bedroom on the family farm.  He sees strange lights and strange figures in the hallway.  The next thing he knows, he's in the woods looking at a UFO.  Then he and his younger brother find themselves in some sort of strange craft.

     A year later there are more strange lights, slamming doors and they find themselves back in the UFO.  Two years after, they're in the family car with their mother and grandmother.  The car stalls, bright lights start flashing and all four are inside the UFO with "ant like" creatures.  This time, numerous townspeople also reported seeing bright lights in the sky.  

     It was time to head off to find the trailhead.  To get to the state high point, you need to head to Salisbury, Massachusetts.  From town, it’s seven miles of a single lane dirt and gravel road. The fastest I felt comfortable to drive was 20MPH, and only in limited sections.  Otherwise, I felt myself staring at the road fifty feet in front of me looking for potholes and rocks. Yeah, it was slow going.  Fortunately, I never met anyone coming the other way.

       The trailhead to Mount Frissell begins just over just over the state line in Massachusetts. 

     Sure, it said one mile to the top of Mount Frissell, but it’s a mile you earn.  It started out with a fairly sedate hike uphill to Round Mountain.  It’s mostly forest floor, with a few steep sections over large rocks.

     Eventually, you come to a clearing atop Round Mountain.  Great view!

    That’s Mount Frissell. The peak isn’t exactly the state high point.  But, you do have to hike all the way up first, then back down a bit.

      From here, the trail actually heads down for a while, before heading back up to the peak.  Suddenly the trail dead ends at a large rock cairn.  Thirty seconds to the right and you'll find the sign in box for bagging this short, but challenging peak.

      Continue on and you can complete a loop trail that also goes passed the tri-point marker where Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York meet.  If you go left at the cairn, there's a another trail that loops around the peak, then down.  Mount Frissell actually sits on the border with Massachusetts.  The Connecticut high point in on the south-eastern slope.  This is from the side trail down to the high point.

     Eventually, the trail curves back into the trees, until you come across this small marker.

      For those of you scoring at home, this makes thirty-one state high points.  The view from the marker...

     As always, the sign in box for bagging the state high point...

   From the hike back down...

     Back at the car, I was about to pull out when a car drove by.  I knew I had to face that seven mile drive back to pavement.  I also knew pullouts were few and far between.  With all the blind curves and hills, I really wasn't looking forward to this.  

     I still had  little time.  So, I followed Hwy 7 south to Cornwall to check out their covered bridge.

     Then a very brief stop in Kent at the Kent Falls Brewery to celebrate one more high point in the books.  This is a small lake I passed en route to the brewery.

   I only had time for one pint, but it was all good.. Nice place, great staff and a smooth Porter!

    Twenty minutes later, I was pulling into Karen and Paul's driveway.  I've known Karen since freshman year in college.  We've been a part of each other's lives ever since.  As her two dogs sniffed and barked, we started catching up.  

    We met Paul for dinner at a local chain called Maggie McFly's.  Great food, great conversation.  The conversation continued well into the evening back at their place.  They both had to work in the morning, so eventually we called it a day.

      

Coming Up,

A Day in Southbury

New England Day 13, Mount Greylock, the Hard Way

 Day 13,

Wednesday, October 20, 2021

     The road brought me to Adams for one reason only, its proximity to Mount Greylock, the highest point in Massachusetts.  There are two ways to get to the top.  You can drive, then walk across a parking lot, or you can hike in.  Considering the weather, I chose to walk.

    The route I chose is named the Cheshire Harbor Trail.  From the trailhead, it’s a steady 3.3 mile climb.  It starts out easy enough.  There are plenty of rocks to step over, but you can maintain a fairly decent pace.  

     As you climb, the rocks get a little larger and the trail turns into a shallow stream.  It just means you have to watch your step a little more, especially in the muddy patches.

     Around the two and a half mile point, it joint the Appalachian Trail north.  Now it’s a little steeper with larger rocks acting like stairs.  

      

    Eventually, you cross the road again for the final stretch.  

     The trail finally ends across the road from the Veteran's Memorial.  The tower was partially obscured by fog when I arrived, but that burned off quickly enough.

     

    

     The tower from the inside...

    The view from above...

      The stairway down...

      With my thirtieth state high point behind me, it was time for the hike back down.   Somehow the mud seemed even thicker on the way down.

     It was almost 1P when I made it back to the car.  The GPS said the motel was an hour away, so I had plenty of time.   But, what to do?  Across town is Natural Bridge State Park.  It sounded perfect. But alas, it was closed for the season. 

    Seen on the exterior wall of a Goodwill in Adams.

    It was still early afternoon.  I had read about Chesterfield Gorge.  It looked like an hour out, and another hour back.  It seemed a bit out of the way for such a short visit,   Instead, I drove to the town of Cheshire to check out the cheese.

     When Thomas Jefferson became President in 1801, there was a fear among the evangelicals of the time that he would undermine the churches and sweep religion out of the country.  Baptist Pastor John Leland wasn't buying it.  He had met and campaigned for Jefferson.  He came up with an idea to show the nation religious folks still believed in him.

    Every dairy farmer in Chester chipped in milk from nine hundred cows.  A cider press was reworked to create a giant cheese press.  The result, a block of cheese weighing 1,235 pounds.  At four feet across and fifteen inches thick, Leland declared it the "greatest cheese ever put to press."  

    Due to its size, it had to be floated downriver on a barge, then onto a horse drawn carriage from Baltimore to Washington.  It was presented to President Jefferson on New Years Day, 1802.  

     There's a monument to the cheese, though not exactly to scale...

    By this point, it was already late afternoon and I was thinking food.  The Barrington Brewery  was a few miles away.  They also serve food, so the decision was easy.

      I found the brewery easily enough.  I just wasn’t expecting this sign.  

      And they do take it seriously.  Just inside the door, I was asked for proof of  my vaccination status. In anticipation of this possibility, I had taken a photo of my vaccination card.  They were patient as I scrolled through two weeks of vacation photos to find it.  That’s when the owner told me, “Carol at the bar will take care of you.” And she did!

      The day was waning as I left the brewery.  Having passed a pond a half mile back, that was my next stop.

     Just up the road, in Great Barrington was the Monument Mountain Motel.  It’s owned by the same family who runs the neighboring Marriott Fairfield Inn and the Days Inn up the street.  For a room on a main road, it was pretty quiet. It was also really clean.

     As sunset approached, I took the camera out and walked around to the back of the motel. That’s where I met Gary.  He’s a regular at the motel and comes out for sunset, too. While I bring a camera, he brings rum. 

     Sunset wasn’t all that spectacular, but the conversation more than made up for it.  Somewhere along the way, Gary became fascinated with New England history of the 1740’s.  This was the decade before the French and Indian War, and Native American culture was still thriving.   He's also fascinated with museums and told me about a few he's found in his travels.

    The conversation lasted over an hour, until the rum started taking its toll and Gary called it a night.  I did, too.

Coming Up,

Seven Miles of Bad Road