Mount Frissell
Connecticut
May 2014
A group of hikers is parked at the nearby pullout. One guy, the loudest one, the one with the New York accent, is holding forth on the terrain, the history and the trails of the area. As there are at least three different trails that go off into the woods here, I ask him, because it sounds like he might know, “Is this the trail to the summit of Mount Frissell?” I also figure that if he doesn’t know, he’ll bullshit me convincingly.
“Is this the trail to Mount Frissell?” I pronounce it “Friss-ELL.”
He responds, “Hmm. Mount Frissell.” He pronounces it “Frissle.”
“Yeah. We want to hike to the summit. Is this our trail?”
“I don’t know,” he says. “We’ve never made it all the way.”
“Yeah, but do you know which trail goes there?”
“Um, no.”
“Okay, thanks.”
We pick what we think to be the most likely trail to get us to our high destination. Good bet as it’s the only trail leading from Mount Washington Road into the woods to the west. And we are pretty sure we are currently situated east of the mountain. Pretty sure.
Very soon after entering the woods we meet up with a hiker coming off the trail. He’s overweight, wearing blue jeans and two shirts and he’s sweating like a faucet.
“Hey there. Is this the trail to Mount Friss-ELL?” I ask.”
“Yeah, this goes to Mount Frissle,” he says. But I’ve never made it that far.”
Wow, must be a tough trail.
Some time later, Lisa and I are proudly taking our summit photos on top of Mount Friss-ELL. I wonder if it’s one of those magical situations. Pronounce the name according to its (secret) true name — Friss-ELL — and you get to the summit. Pronounce it incorrectly — Frissle — and you never make it, almost like it isn’t real.