Bear Mountain | |
---|---|
Highest point | |
Elevation | 2,323 ft (708 m)[1] |
Prominence | 447 ft (136 m)[2] |
Parent peak | Mount Frissell[2] |
Coordinates | 42°02′41″N 73°27′16″W / 42.044860°N 73.454480°W |
Geography | |
Location | Litchfield County, Connecticut, U.S. |
Parent range | Taconic Mountains |
Topo map | USGS Ashley Falls |
Geology | |
Rock age | Ordovician |
Mountain type(s) | Thrust fault; metamorphic rock |
Climbing | |
Easiest route | Appalachian 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.
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.