Round Mountain, Mt. Frissell, Mt. Brace Loop (Mount Washington State Forest; Taconic State Park; Mount Riga State Park)

Round Mountain, Mt. Frissell, Mt. Brace Loop (Mount Washington State Forest; Taconic State Park; Mount Riga State Park)

Hike Type: Loop w/ Spurs

Distance: 5.78 miles

Elevation: 1,102 feet

Time: 2 hours, 10 minutes

Parking: Parking for 6 cars at the end of East St. (3 on each side of road), more parking on CT side.
Hiking Challenges: Taconic 12er, Operation Alaska Benchmark Challenge

The Hike 

...AND we're right back to it! I had a short stop at my car after my Bear Mountain Loop, and now I was planning an out-and-back over Mt. Frissell to Mt. Brace and back. I saw on AllTrails there was maybe a loop option that's not on the official map from the Round-Frissell col back to the trailhead, so I planned to check that out.

[10:16am - Mt. Frissell Trail]

My hike started on the Mt. Frissell Trail, blazed in red. The trailhead sign said 1.0 miles to Mt. Frissell, 1.5 miles to Ashley Hill Trail jct., and 1.8 to the South Taconic Trail. To no surprise, the hike started on a flat old road an a vast sea of, you guessed it, mountain laurel! At least the trail was wide now, I don't think I could have emotionally handled another leg-drenching narrow trail.

I hiked past the loop trail in question that I saw on AllTrails and it was clearly closed and in the process of being taken back over by vegetation - that option was out! The trail turned at this phantom junction and began to easily rise with tree views toward Round Mountain. I could hear people ahead of me, but I did not see them. I came up to a little scrambly section that was steep but fun! I wasn't thrilled that I'd have to come down this, but it was nowhere near as bad as Bear Mountain's scrambles.

There was a brief reprive followed by another steep scramble, which kind of kept steeply climbing until the top. I started to catch up to the voices ahead and could see some nearby peaks from the top of a few of the scrambles. There were some COLD wind gusts that I wasn't ready for!

[10:34am - Mt. Frissell Trail/Round Mountain Summit]

I was almost caught up to the group ahead of me, which was seven-ish people strong, at the top of Round Mountain, which had very nice views to Mt. Frissell on one side and Bear Mountain on the other. This area reminded me a lot of the Wyanokies in New Jersey. There was a brief open plateau walk on Round Mountain before it descended to the col. I caught up to the big group here, and it took me at least 6 "hey mind if I squeeze past you?" to finally get past all of them. At least one guy complimented my hot dog shirt?

Naturally, once I got past all of them I rolled my ankle pretty painfully, but nothing too bad. I saw a little pond off-trail on the right in the Round-Frissell Col and I could hear a grouse thumping while I answered nature's call. The climb up Frissell was similarly steep, but now slabby too, and my watch was being rude about my heart rate (telling me I was at 100bpm when I was closer to 170bpm, ridiculous!). I pushed to the top and hit a very very short spur to the true summit!

[10:49am - Mt. Frissell Trail/Mt. Frissell Summit]

The summit was marked by a busted cairn (I think) and a Summit Reigster. I didn't open it because it was (to no surprise) misting again), but yay! One more peak to go! I was still lamenting about coming down the slabs and scrambles, but we do what we have to do.

The Mt. Frissell Trail descended with rocky footing on sharp rocks, similar to the Kittatinnies in New Jersey, soon opening to what I'm sure would be a wonderful view out into the Hudson Valley and the Catskills, but today it was just more clouds! After a few minutes, I made it to the MA/CT state line!

[10:55am - Mt. Frissell Trail/CT State High Point]

The State Line also doubled as Connecticut's High Point. Writing this now, I do find it fun that I hiked both Connecticut's highest peak (Bear Mountain) and Connecticuts highest point in teh same day. The area was marked by a survey disc with a comically tall pole sticking out of the middle and what looked like another register box (it should also be noted that the Mt. Frissell Trail goes between MA and CT before this point). 

After this point, the trail narrowed and became scratchier and began to descend again over a few tricky wet slabs, bringing me back into the land of mountain laurel. 

[11:03am - Mt. Frissell Trail/Tri-State Monument]

I then came to the Tri-State Monument, which interestingly enough marks the point where MA, NY, and CT meet, but only says MA and NY (the same style monument as at the MA/CT line at the trailhead parking. There was an older piece of broken marble, maybe that used to say CT? A mystery! I ran into the first human in a while just afterwards, and then I was at the other end of the Ashley Hill Trail!

[11:06am - Mt. Frissell Trail/Ashley Hill Trail]

It was fun to see both ends of this trail, it felt like my hike up Alander Mountain was forever ago! The Mt. Frissell Trail continued ahead, the Ashley Hill Trail continued right, and an unblazed herd path to presumably nowhere traveled left, which was labeled "other way ->" in pencil.

Again, the trail narrowed and began to easily rise. I was finding this hike to be mentally a lot longer than it actually was, probably because I was approaching 10 miles in the day, even though this hike was still under two miles. The Mt. Frissell Trail turned a corner, passed a pond on the right, and then came to the South Taconic Trail.

[11:15am - South Taconic Trail (North)]

[11:19am - South Taconic Trail (South)]

There were finally good views! The South Taconic Trail/Mt. Frissell Trail junction had a wonderful view down to the farmland below with a glimpse at a few Catskill slopes beneath the clouds. I was curious about the pond, so I followed the South Taconic Trail northbound to see if I could get a better view. Turns out 1) I was not on the South Taconic Trail, just an old road that parallels it, and 2) there was now view of the pond. I came to the spot where the South Taconic Trail turned off of the road bed and turned around there, now actually following the blazes and enjoying the beautiful views.

[11:24am - South Taconic Trail/Mt. Frissell Trail]

[11:27am - South Taconic Trail/Mt. Brace Trail]

I was mentally gearing up for the climb up Mt. Brace, which looked not-too-far but not-too-close. I could see some flag and structure up top, which felt exciting! My hip belt continued to keep popping off, which was very frustrating, but thankfully the hike up Mt. Brace was pretty gentle. I came to an unmarked junction with the unblazed Mt. Brace Trail. Naturally, my brain started thinking about turning it into a loop hike, but that would add at least a mile and I was nervous not knowing how that trail would be. Later problem!

[11:30am - South Taconic Trail Mt. Brace Summit]

I crossed paths with a duo just before the summit, which appeared before I even knew it! The climb was actually delightfully easy, and the top was neat! The structure was a massive rock cairn with a wind catcher on a flag pole. The summit was motly meadowed with flagging tape all about (curious about that). I loved seeing Bear Mountain, Mt. Frissell, and even Alander Mountain! It was chilly and I was tired, so I of course didn't stay long. I think I might go for the loop?

[11:35am - Mt. Brace Trail]

I descended off the summit, and decided to do it! The grade looked easy the whole way, and time-wise it would probably be the same because I'd have to go slow over the scrambles down Frissell and Round. I also didn't want to see the group of seven again... Here goes nothing!

I did see the humor in that by making this a loop, and turning Bear Mountain into a loop, I effectively added mileage to my day and was essentially doing the originally planned hike, but I didn't care! The air was starting to warm up as the skies CONTINUED to drizzle. The trail was one big long old road with loose rocks and occasional streams. The wet part of the upper trail eventually drained into and crossed a real stream, and was better afterwards with wonderful flat dirt.

I then saw a red eft, took a bunch of photos, and offically killed my phone battery. Tragic! I started hiking even faster, just grateful that I knew where I was going. I also dropped my phone immeaditely after it died, scratching the screen protector.

I caught up to a trio in a very wet, flat spot, as they were admiring frog eggs. The trail continued to descend, getting progressively wetter and wetter, which kind of sucked. It reached a low point, crossed a bridge, and climbed up through more wet trail. Eventually, it flattened out and dried out, which led to the gate onto Mt. Washington Road!

[12:06pm - Mt. Washington Road]

[12:22pm - Mt. Washington Road/Bear Mtn. Road]

There were a bunch of signs for the Mt. Riga Corp. Inc. on Mt. Washington Road, basically saying "stay off of our land." It also made it seem like some people may reside on land owned by the corporation? It's very hard to find info on it online. Thankfully, the road was in great shape and I was able to truly cruise! The walk to the Bear Mtn. Road junction was longer than I thought, but the Bear Mtn. Road junction to the car was significantly and wonderfully shorter than I thought!

[12:28pm - End of Hike]

Naturally, I ended my hike with blue skies and a shining sun. Either way, it was a fun day of exploring this little corner of Massachusetts. It was fun to hit the CT high point, and hike in three states in a day! I've also now finished the Taconic 12er peaks outside of Vermont - yay! I had a nice long drive home, and then off to the Belknaps with Christien tomorrow!

One fun thing that happened on my drive home - a Mercedes SUV from New Jersey was weaving in and out of lanes on I-90 (there were people on the road, but all driving at highway speeds) WITHOUT using a blinker. Five minutes later, I saw that same car pulled over getting a ticket. Karma!

Step-by-Step

- Start hike on Mt. Frissell Trail.

- Near summit, turn right onto summit spur.

- At summit, turn around.

- At jct., turn right onto Mt. Frissell Trail.

- At jct. with Ashley Hill Trail, continue straight on Mt. Frissell Trail.

- At terminus, do a quick loop northbound on the South Taconic Trail, then hike south towards Mt. Brace.

- At summit of Mt. Brace, turn around.

- At jct., turn right onto Mt. Brace Trail.

- At terminus, turn left onto Mt. Washington Road.

- Follow Mt. Washington Road to car.

Map of Mount Washington State Forest

Photo Album

Alander Mountain via Alander Mountain Trail (Mount Washington State Forest)

Alander Mountain via Alander Mountain Trail (Mount Washington State Forest)

Hike Type: Out-and-Back

Distance: 5.95 miles

Elevation: 1,194 feet

Time: 2 hours, 2 minutes

Parking: Parking at Mount Washington State Park Headquarters for many cars.
Hiking Challenges: Taconic 12er, Operation Alaska Benchmark Challenge, 52 Hike Challenge 2026

The Hike 

I had the day all to myself and it was flirting with being kind of nice out with a bit of residual rain first thing in the morning. I had my sights on the four southern Taconic peaks on the Taconic 12er Challenge: Alander Mountain, Mt. Frissell, Mt. Brace, and Bear Mountain. Planning looked like I could do these in two hikes, and the trailheads were just a few minutes apart! I set a comical 3:00am alarm and was out the door at 3:20am. It was naturally pouring on my drive, but I was staying optimistic! The further west I drove the drier the roads became, thankfully. Originally it said 8:00am would be the end of the rain, but as I got closer it got bumped up to 7:00am - yay! I needed gas once I got off the pike and was horrified to see that it was averaging $4.50/gallon in the Berkshires, but I eventually found one for $4.20... ugh. 

I made my way towards Mt. Washington State Forest and East Street was down to a one-lane road in two sections due to road work, but since it was so early there was no one else out. I passed four deer and two turkeys living harmoniously on the side of the road, and eventually made it to the parking area at the State Forest Headquarters - with a porta potty! My stomach had been in a bad mood (I got a half and half pizza from Bertucci's last night and had two slices of Verde and two slices of Nolio for dinner and brought the other four slices for today, but I think the Nolio is now on my "treats my body like ricotta cheese does" list). I had my breakfast pizza, used the porta potty, which was in pretty good condition, and got started on adventure #1!

[6:25am - Alander Mountain Trail]

It was a brisk 41 degrees out with a few residual raindrops, but peeks of blue skies! There were endless birds singing, including a rooster (Merlin said White-throated Sparrows, Northern Flickers, Hairy Woodpeckers, Chipping Sparrows, Black-capped Chickadees, and Common Ravens). I was back with my orange 32-liter pack (versus my blue 40-liter pack) for spring - I did a little hiking pack restock last night for the warmer seasons. The Alander Mountain Trail started right at the parking area and traversed a nice, open meadow and is marked with blue blazes. 

Following the meadow, the trail entered the woods on a wide, well-blazed trail that felt like an old road. The trail turned left at a closed section of trail (but recently mowed) at another meadow and then crossed a stream on a bridge at another unmapped intersection. The trail had been averaging flat with minor easy ups and downs so far. Footing got a little muddier after the bridge, but nothing was too bad so far!

[6:35am - Alander Mountain Trail/Charcoal Pit Trail]

I soon passed the junction with the Charcoal Pit Trail, which did not look appetizing to me. It looked wildly wet, muddy, and grassy. I did have a couple option to extend this into a loop hike, but now I have eliminated one option! The Alander Mountain Trail crossed another stream and then came to the junction with the Ashley Hill Trail, which looked to be another wide road.

[6:38am - Alander Mountain Trail/Ashley Hill Trail]

I would keep this one in mind for my return trip if I was feeling inspired to extend my hike! I took my fleece off here, but kept my Frogg Togg jacket on as the rain had mostly stopped, but the leftovers from treetops were still falling. Off-trail, I saw a little herd path to a nice waterfall that was only a little sketchy to descend to - it was so pretty!

The Alander Mountain Trail descended for a minute to an area where two brooks meet - Lee Pond Brook, which had the waterfall from before, and the Ashley Hill Brook. I crossed over Ashley Hill Brook on a nice, large bridge and enjoyed the beautiful area. The water was so beautifully clear! There were also old stone foundations, maybe an old dam or mill?

The trail began to gently rise from this point, so I officially took my rain jacket off. Higher up, the trail entered the clouds (bummer) and passed a sign indicating the campground was a half mile away. There were a few cars from Connecticut at the trailhead, I wonder if they were camping?

After the sign, the trail flattened out in a really pretty area of open woods and young spring greens dotting the floor. The clouds were really trying to burn off, but without much success. I climbed a little steeper (but not steeply) to the junction with the Campground Trail.

[6:58am - Alander Mountain Trail/Campground Trail]

I pinned the Campground Trail for a possible return loop, as it links up with the Ashley Mountain Trail later on. The birds were back singing as I descended gently after the junction (I kept singing "the birds are back" to the tune "the boys are back" from High School Musical 3) before crossing a flat wet spot that led to a mountain laurel grove.

The climb officially-officially began when the trail momentarily became a literal stream. I kept thinking about how pretty it would be when the mountain laurel is in bloom! A massive bumblebee zoomed past me as the trail began to parallel a stream in a really lovely conifer grove. There was a metal sign with "last water in dry season" "written" via pinholes, and then the trail opened up again on a now rocky and eroded footbed.

The trail entered a very confusing wet, eroded area just after - some bird was trying to tell me which way was correct, but it wasn't overly helpful. Higher up, I re-entered the clouds as the trail steeply climbed up to the ridge. To my surprise, I came to a building!

[7:23am - Alander Mountain Trail/Watchmen's Cabin]

The building was the Alander Fire Watchmen's Cabin, thankfully indicated by a sign. It looked like the door could be opened, but I have a firm policy of not f-ing around to find out what creepy things may be lurking inside. The sign read:

"Historic Structure

Alander Fire Watchmen's Cabin

c. 1920's

Please respect this historic structure!

Alander Mountain Fire Tower, 1928-30 and associated Fire watchmen's Cabin at Mount Washington State Forest. The former site of this tower, located just tenths of a mile within Massachusetts from the state line, was managed by New York State froom 1928-1930. It was then dismantled and stored at Taconic State Park. In 1933 the tower was again erected on Washburn Mountain in Copake Falls, NY. Moved once more in 1963-64 to Beebe Hill, where it stands today.

Although the fire tower is gone form the original site on Alander Mountain, the 4 concrete footings remain. Also, this original Watchman's Cabin is actively used as a campsite for the Mount Washington State Forest.

Please be respectful, carry out all trash, and be diligent about your fires!"

There was a short, steep, ledgy push just after the cabin, which led to the terminus of the Alander Mountain Trail! I turned left onto the South Taconic Trail, which would lead to the summit of Alander Mountain.

[7:25am - South Taconic Trail]

This South Taconic Trail was fully socked in, but a beautiful short walk! It had tall bushes lining much of the stretch and puddles on the trailbed, kind of like Buck Hill in the Blue Hills, but I could tell there would be some nice views if I weren't in a cloud. 

[7:27am - Alander Mountain Summit]

And just like that, I was at the summit of Alander Mountain! The true summit is marked with old fire tower footings, an USGS marker, and a summit sign that was off on a tree slightly in the woods. I didn't stand here for long, in part because the only view was of the cloud I was residing in, but it was also damp and cold up here with a breeze. Plus, I had more hiking to do! I took a swig of Nuun and started my trip back to the Alander Mountain Trail and back to the car, still unsure if I was going to do a loop or not.

[7:33am - Alander Mountain Trail]

I wiggled down to the cabin and started... well, attempted to blast off back to the car! I made it to the top in one hour and one minute, I wondered if I could match it, or be faster on the return... I was also noticing I was two minutes ahead of the schedule I set for myself for the day - yay!

Back in the woods, the clouds were visibly higher up and if I stuck around for maybe 30 more minutes I would have caught a view, but oh well! I had work to do! I had been noticing all day the hip belt on my pack was feeling weird, and I learned why on the way down - the bottom tooth on the main buckle snapped off at some point in the past! That also explained why it unbuckled a few times. Bummer.

My toe got a little wet in the wet, eroded section, and I was moving slower than I wanted because of the water and footing, but overall it was good-going. 

[7:57am - Alander Mountain Trail/Campground Trail]

I decided to not do a loop at the Campground Trail junction since I had another hike to do just after this one. It smelled like a pine candle after the campground junction, and to my delight I saw some of the first red trillium of the season! I noticed first the three leaves, and then the droopy flowers! No pink lady slippers, though... There were also some droopy purple flowers in the area.

I was still impressively gassy throughout most of this hike, and it was really giving me a boost on this descent. I could start to hear the Ashley Hill Brook and soon made it back to the low point of the trail where the two brooks met. I crossed the bridge and started huffing it back uphill, which I was really cranky about, but it was also literally fine. 

[8:14am - Alander Mountain Trail/Ashley Hill Trail]

[8:17am - Alander Mountain Trail/Charcoal Pit Trail]

I hiked past the Ashley Hill and Charcoal Pit Trails through some wonderful rambling pine forests, passed the second meadow, rambled some more, and then finally entered the trailhead meadow. I didn't see a single human on this hike, and even with the wet trails, it was an absolute delight! I'd love to come back sometime to see the view, or even flirt with hiking the South Taconic Trail in it's whole (EDIT: wait of course that's what I want to do, it's only 14 miles).

[8:57am - End of Hike]

Back at the trailhead, I used the porta potty once more for good measure, changed into another set of dry hiking clothes, had my second two slices of pizza, and started my trek down to the MA/CT state line at the Mt. Frissell Trailhead!

Step-by-Step

- Start hike on Alander Mountain Trail.

- At terminus, turn left onto South Taconic Trail.

- At summit, turn around.

- At jct., turn right onto Alander Mountain Trail.

- Return to car.

Map of Mount Washington State Forest

Photo Album