bear mt. road in ct

[tuffnuts]

im looking for a place to get on the trail in ct. According to my book the trail crosses bear mt road but i cant find it on the map. There is an unnamed road off of Mt washington rd and i was just wondering if this is bear mt road.

[canoehead]

Off Washington Mt Rd, there are two roads (caretaker/cart roads) you may be talking about.
There is a AMC parking area with a metal gate across it. The road is also the access point for the Northwest AMC Camp. It is also North of Bear Mt. and if you walk it down to the AT, it's about 20 minutes to the junction
A quarter mile South of that is where you'll find the Bear Mt parking area, this cart road will bring you south of Bear Mt. summit and headed towards Under Mountain Trail South on the AT.

[Hiker8261]

It is the second one. It is no longer maintained as a road but is an easy, level walk to get to the AT.
However, Mt Washington Rd (or Washington Mtn Rd), is closed in the winter at the MA line. It will add an additional 15 minutes walk but you have to approach on the road from the North. (East St in the town of Mount Washington, MA)

chris

[Driver8]

To Everyone:

How late into the season is Mt. Washington Road in CT open? I plan to get back out there and use that road, if available. Thanks in advance for your help.

To the OP:

It might be helpful to know that the approach to Bear's northward foot on the AT from Northwest Road, whose parking area is closer to the CT-MA state line (denoted by a stone marker), is level, more or less, just as is the Bear Mtn Road approach. The hike southward up Bear from NW Road/AT junction is, however, much more strenuous and treacherous than is the hike northward from the Bear Mtn Road/AT junction. Southward, you climb just over 500 feet in about 0.4 mile, and it's by all accounts especially difficult in wet or worse weather. Northward, you climb about 400 feet in 0.7 mile, with most of the climb in the first 0.4 mile.

Also, be advised that Mt. Washington Road is no picnic. It's very narrow and uneven in places, and in some places it's hard for two vehicles to pass each other. Proceed with caution! The road from Mass is paved most of the way, on the other hand. If distance is not an issue, I'd recommend driving in from the north, though Mt. Washington Road is beautiful.

Bit of trivia: Mt. Washington Road and the town of Mt. Washington, MA are so named because, in the early days, Mt. Everett, the dominant and tallest peak of the southern Taconic range, was named Mt. Washington.

Finally: hiking north from Bear Mountain is not to be missed if you have the time. Mt. Race has excellent 360 views from the summit and the cliffs to its south are awesome - very steep and long drop-offs to the east. Mt. Everett is a difficult climb from the south but rewards with amazing views to every direction but the northwest. Between them lies Race Brook, with a side trail leading to its very pretty falls comprised of 5 cascades - a steep side journey to get to the falls, but highly rewarded with very fine views. And Sages Ravine just north of Bear near the CT-MA line is an amazingly beautiful old growth forest.

Hope this is helpful.

-Driver 8

[tuffnuts]

ill be coming north out of salisbury, so it sounds like ill be looking for the first dirt lane i come to off of mt washington rd.(at the bear mt. parking lot, which hopefully has a sign). Thanks for the help.

[canoehead]

Once you past the old dam, it's a dirt road and you'll drive it for 15 /20 minutes maybe. you'll go past some private road and private drive ways / gates in the beginning. The sign is up in a tree and the parking lot is on the right and marked Bear Mountain Parking. The trail head is in the parking lot. Head east down the trail/cart rd, it'll be a twenty minute walk to the AT junction. Heading North here will bring you up to Bear Mt summit.