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Doing the Octopus Crawl LbNA #38639

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Mar 31, 2008
Location:
City:Salisbury
County:Litchfield
State:Connecticut
Boxes:1
Planted by:Rubaduc
Found by: phynstar
Last found:Aug 30, 2019
Status:FFFFFFFFFFFF
Last edited:Mar 31, 2008
Originally planted by Rubaduc and adopted in January 2012 by The Quackers.

One letterbox high at the summit of Mt. Frissell which is in Massachuetts but the parking and driving directions are in CT. Not to be done with small children.

From the center of Salisbury ( where Rt 41 & Rt 44 run together for a short time) go North on Washinee Street (just South of the Town Hall). Take the first right fork staying on Washinee Street. At the next fork take the left fork onto Mt. Riga Road. Follow Mt Riga Road to where a gate is (closed with the first snow) take the right (or straight) fork which is Mt Washington Road.
It is 3.2 miles to the Ct/Ma border parking area from the gate. Park directly across from the border marker.

Follow the red blazes from the parking area all the way to the summit. The beginning of the hike is more like a washed out stream bed but soon you come to the base of your first steep climb and in many places you’ll need to be using your hands as well as your feet to get up the steep parts. Looking up at the people ahead of me made me think of an octopus crawling up the mountain. At the top, rest snack, enjoy the view...it’s a Kodak moment. Continue on, coming to a pretty steep downhill and then again you’re at the base of the last steep up. Do the octopus crawl once again and at the top catch you breath, look around, ignore the red arrow pointing you on your way (you don’t have any way to go). Walk northeast and find the trail registry hanging in a metal box in a tree. The book is intended to celebrate climbing the 2,453 foot Mount Frissell summit and was full when we tried to log in so I left an extra letterboxing log book with it. Be sure to stamp in here.
From the registry, walk (if no one else is around) northeast about 17 steps and look right for a slanted stone with a cave underneath. Stamp in here as well and when returning the box to the cave make sure it’s in far enough not to be seen. In good weather this could be a busy place.

Return the way you came. Downhill proved just as challenging as up, except I used a different part of my body to slide down.