[Bill Menke's Journal for May 2, 2009] We were lucky that an AMC workcrew has just arrived at the hikers parking lot along East Street, for had it been empty we would have probably driven right by it. A crew member pointed out the Mt. Frissell trail to us, which on the opposite side of the road from a granite Massachusetts-Conneticuit boundary marker. Mt. Frissell The trail is blazed in red. It heads west from the road though open woods. The trail is level for a while but then rises, climbing a series of rock ledges that, while not technically difficult, nevertheless require some care with footing. Zeke, the five year old with us, like the scramble. We took turns escorting him, ready to catch him if he lost his footing. We were huffing a bit when we reached the first high point. This rocky knoll, well below the summit of Frissell, still afforded a great view, expecially of Bear Mountain, to the southwest. The rock was mostly a low grade schist or phyllite, tightly folded, grey to brown in color, with a little mica and occasional quartz veins. We spotted a few turkey vultures soaring above the hills. The trail then descended into a saddle, and the rose again past another set of rock ledges to the summit. Zeke was getting a bit tired, so We stopped in the saddle and had water and a snack, including some plantain chips that Gigi had brought. Most of the trees has blossoms and a few leaved, and some wildflowers were blooming. We passed several patches of the herb, wintergree, which Zeek sampled.The summit is wooded and without a view. We signed the logbook there and headed over to the the Connectuit High Point. It's marked by a cairn and a benchmark, and commands a nice view to the northeast. We could see Riga Lake in the foreground and the southern Adirondacks in the distance. We continued on for a bit to visit the marked at the New York - Massachusetts - Conneticuit triple junction. The trail descents a broad rockly ledge in that area. Glacial grooves, though now quite wathered, were still barely. We returned to the high point and had lunch. The day, which has started overcast, had cleared considerably, adding to our comfort. We then headed back. We stopped for a while on the lower knoll, enjoying both the view and the sun, before heading back down the last, short path. I found the carcass of some sort of weasel along the side of the trail. Its small mouth was full of long, sharp-looking teeth.

Before getting back into our cars, we walked a little east along a track to the AMC's Northwest Cabin. It is located near a beautiful little stream, full of lively water, mossy rocks and skunk cabbage.

As we were driving back, just a mile or so north of the hikers parking lot, we noticed a beautiful little beaver pond just east of East Street. We stopped and stood along its shore for a few minutes. An extremely long beaver dam empounded it northern end (perhaps the longest any of us has ever seen, in fact) and a tall lodge rose out of the lake's water. One distant dead tree seemed to have an osprey or eagle net at it stop. It was a stunningly beautify spot, especially lit in the late afternoon sun.

About five hours, overall.