Bear Mountain (Connecticut)

Bear Mountain
Bear Mountain
Highest point
Elevation2,323 ft (708 m)[1]
Prominence447 ft (136 m)[2]
Parent peakMount Frissell[2]
Coordinates42°02′41″N 73°27′16″W / 42.044860°N 73.454480°W / 42.044860; -73.454480
Geography
Map
LocationLitchfield County, Connecticut, U.S.
Parent rangeTaconic Mountains
Topo mapUSGS Ashley Falls
Geology
Rock ageOrdovician
Mountain type(s)Thrust fault; metamorphic rock
Climbing
Easiest routeAppalachian Trail

Bear Mountain is a peak of the southern Taconic Mountains in Salisbury, Connecticut. At 2,316 feet (706 m) (note, per references 1 and 3, there is disagreement about the precise elevation), Bear Mountain is the highest mountain that lies wholly within Connecticut. However, it is not the state highpoint: in the 1940s, the United States Geological Survey determined that the highest elevation in the state, at 2,380 feet (725 m), was actually on the nearby Connecticut-Massachusetts border, on the southern slope of Massachusetts’ Mount Frissell.[3] There is a stone monument on the Bear Mountain summit. The Appalachian Trail crosses the mountain in a generally north-south direction.

Mount Frissell, on which is located Connecticut's highest elevation, as seen from Bear Mountain
A panorama off a side of Bear Mountain.
  1. ^ "Bear Mountain". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved 2024-05-19.
  2. ^ a b "Bear Mountain, Connecticut". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved 2024-05-19.
  3. ^ Marteka, Peter (January 30, 2020). "Scaling Salisbury's Bear Mountain, one of the highest peaks in Connecticut". Hartford Courant. Retrieved 2023-02-19. It wasn't until the United States Geological Survey using modern equipment in the 1940s determined that the highest spot was actually the southern slope of Massachusetts' Mount Frissell at 2,380 feet above the sea.