Date: October 12, 2001

Trails: Undermountain, AT, Old Logging Road, Riga Road & Frissel Trail
Distance: About 9 miles round-trip
Difficulty: Moderate mostly
Conditions: Warm, 60’s, light wind, trails – dry
Equipment: Bee spray, sunglasses, camera, champagne

Trip Report: I went as one of the guest of Al & Carol Rich. They exchanged wedding vows at the summit of Bear Mountain. The brides group went up Riga Road, the old logging road & the AT north to the summit. The guys took the old NW road to the AT & headed South up the steep side of Bear. I was running late I though so I just parked at Route 41 & made a beeline up the Undermountain trail & the AT. Colors were pretty good but a tad early down low I thought. Few brook crossings were meager. In 63 minutes I was on top. I was there about 30 minutes before the wedding party arrived & at 12:15 the ceremony began.

It was a great day, a little hazy & very warm. The yellowjackets were abundant. The JP & the bride & groom wrote some really great vows & by 1:00 the cheese & crackers & bubbly were open. As I had other engagements & peakbagging to take care of, I bid the Bride & Groom farewell (until Saturday Night’s reception) & headed to Round. Getting up Round involves a bit of a scramble after easy road & trail walking. View IMO may be as good or better than bear on this day as color on Bear was more visible from Round & so was Riga Lake. I’ve also seen Race & Everett 11 times from Bear so the view from Round was a different angle that I’d only seen twice before & had not been to Round in Autumn previously.

Submitted by Michael Paggioli
Colchester, CT
Tue, 16 Oct 2001