Columbia County High Point Trip Report
On East County Line on shoulder of Alander Mountain (2,110+ ft)
Date: November 9, 1999
Author: Michael Schwartz
I combined this one with a visit to the monument at the southwest corner of Massachusetts, via the
shoulder of Brace Mountain, and thus approached Alander from the south on the white-blazed Taconic
Crest Trail. For Alander alone, the shorter approach is to take the blue-blazed Alander Brook Trail from
Under Mountain Road (rte 63), which intersects the white trail on Alander.
Once on the white trail, climbing the southwest ridge of Alander, the trail passes next to a three-foot high
stone NY-MA border marker. The next, and most prominent knob on the ridge, straddles the state line,
and the county high point appears to be a few feet west of the knob's peak. The monument shows on the
Copake NY-MA quad, but is not shown on the Bashbish Falls MA-CT-NY quad, which contains the CT
state high point, and has an extension to show the westward bulge of Massachusetts that includes Alander
Mountain.
Alander can also be approached from the east on the blue blazed Alander Mountain Trail, which starts at
the Mt. Washington State Forest HQ in Massachusetts. You pass over the summit and drop down about
100 feet to the county high point.
Allow two hours round trip via shortest route.