Everett and Bear Mt. Questions

[MattC]

Does anyone know the distance on the AT between Bear Mt. in Conneticut and Everett Mt. in Massachusetts?
Could this be done as a day-hike traverse w/ a car spotted at the side trails to each mountain?
Is there a shelter between the two? What's the road mileage between the trailheads for the side trails? By side trails I mean the Undermountain Trail for Bear Mt. and Race Brook Falls Trail for Everett, both on RT 41.

Matt

 

[dr_wu002]

Matt.. the trail distance looks like it's 3 miles or so, give or take. It's really easy hillwalking though -- I've been in that area recently. It looks like there are 2 campsites on the trail and one on a side trail (Race Brook Falls Tr). The road distance between trailheads, to me, looks like about 2 miles.

It's a really pretty region. I don't know what the crowds are like though -- when I hiked in the Frissell area I didn't see anybody at all and while I wouldn't describe it as solitude, these ancient mountains really make you feel lonely when you have them all to yourself.

-Dr. Wu

 

[onestep]

Does anyone know the distance on the AT between Bear Mt. in Conneticut and Everett Mt. in Massachusetts?

Matt - According to my 1996 AT Data Book the distance between the summits of Bear Mtn & Mt Everett is 6.3 miles and there are 3 campsites (one is 0.4 E).
I am not familiar with the side trails leading to the AT from RT 41.

 

[poison ivy]

This area was one of my favorites along the AT in CT/Mass. -- Mt. Race has beautiful panoramic views. You could easily hike these in a day... the terrain is particularly difficult, especially if you're used to hiking in the Whites or VT.

OneStep is right... it's 6.3 miles along the AT between Mt. Everett & Bear Mt... and another mile along the Undermountain Trail from Route 41. I assume you already know that the Race Brook Falls Trail to Route 41 is about a half-mile before the summit of Mt. Everett. I'm not sure of the distance but on a nice weather weekend, it should be an easy hitch.

There aren't any shelters but there are three campsite options --

Sages Ravine, which is an incredibly beautiful area -- this one has tent platforms and is a mile from Bear Mt.
Laurel Ridge Campsite -- which only has two group platforms, the rest are just dirt. This one is around 2.8 miles from Bear Mt.
Race Brook Falls campsite, which is only 1.5 miles from Route 41. I didn't make it to the campsite there, so I can't comment on that one.

-- Ivy

 

[askus3]

When doing the AT from Salisbury to Jug End, I hiked it in one day with a car shuttle. Then when I took my ten year old daughter with me, I returned and broke it into two sections using the Race Brook Falls Trail down to CT/MA 41 as an access trail. Decent off road parking for about 8 cars but fills up on weekends. This trail is not well marked and you need to follow closely. If going in from 41, right at the falls (really spectacular at this time of year and worth seeing) look for the trail going off to the right (north), then it makes a switchback. If descending from the AT, look for a sharp left (maybe 50 yards) before the cliffs edge and the top of the falls. Either way, watch markers closely. That second section over Race, Bear & Lions Head pushed her a bit, but at least the last three miles was all down hill from Lions Head. Yes Frisell, you will find solitude, but the AT is the I-95 of hiking. If you are looking for solitude - go mid week before May. Also, if I had to rate the peaks, Race is my favorite in that section - absolutely lovely. By the way, you could bicycle along 41 (excellent country road for that purpose, not too much traffic) if you don't have two cars for the car shuttle.

 

[dr_wu002]

Matt - According to my 1996 AT Data Book the distance between the summits of Bear Mtn & Mt Everett is 6.3 miles and there are 3 campsites (one is 0.4 E).
I am not familiar with the side trails leading to the AT from RT 41.

Hehe -- I looked at my legend wrong. I should have estimated 6 miles -- and I would have been close (6.3) had I read that zero in the right place.

 

[Lovetohike]

Matt:
This is one of my favorite areas, I spend a lot of time there year round as it's a lot closer to me than NH and VT. Crowds generally aren't bad, except for the Undermountain Trail up to the AT and Bear Mt. The rest is much less travelled. One of my favorite nice days is to do a bike shuttle along 41, but to park my car at the Berkshire School and hike up the Elbow Trail to the AT (a little over two miles). Then turn south (left) go up over Everett, Race, Bear and down Undermountain where I've left a bike for the 7 mile road ride back to my car. Of course you could do this with a car shuttle. The whole trip is about 12-13 miles and quite doable as a day trip. The Race Brook Trail up to the AT then doing Everett is fine too. Of course you'll have to turn around and back track to head over to Race and Bear. This cuts a few miles off it.

There's also a trail that goes up to near the bottom of Sages Ravine that starts from a side road off 41 in the general vicinity of the outlet of the stream from Sages near the CT/Mass border on 41, but I've never done it.

I agree with the consensus that the ridge south of the summit of Mt. Race is absolutely beautiful. No matter how fast or far I'm going, I always force myself to stop and sit or lie down on the flat rocks on that ridge and take in the panorama unfolding below me. There are frequently some large soaring birds in the area too that add to the allure, turkey vultures I think.

If you're interested in exact directions to the Elbow Trailhead let me know, it is a bit tricky to find the first time. Once I got lost and bushwacked the whole way up to the summit of Everett, an unexpected adventure.

 

[MattC]

Gotta love this site. Post a question early Sunday morning, go back to sleep for a few hours, and whammo! Thanks for all the informative and inspiring replies, gang.

Matt

 

[askus3]

What else do you have to do on a rainwashed weekend when hiking is out of the question (except for the few diehards) but answer questions on VFTT? But if you want solitude, I am sure you would get it out there this weekend. I imagine places that never have streams are even swollen. This probably was the worst rain since the hurricane came thru at our VFTT gathering last September and with snowmelt the conditions are even worse.

 

[ken]

This probably was the worst rain since the hurricane came thru at our VFTT gathering last September

this one was worse - hiked hunter & sw hunter for septembers VFTT hurricane & hiked halcott yesterday - i came home more drenched from a shorter hike yesterday - and also had more than 12" of snow to hike through (that's how deep we were sinking with snowshoes in the soggy stuff).