Fairfield County High Point Trip Report

on NY State line one mile south of Branch Hill (1,290+ ft)

Date: February 13, 2003
Author: Michael Schwartz

Revisited Fairfield with a GPS. Access situation seems unchanged since last reports about a year ago. Drove up driveway at state line and parked in cul-de-sac at the mini-mansion mentioned in other reports. The gate was closed, and the road had been plowed, but showed no signs of having been driven.

I had marked a way-point for the monument shown on the topo east and down-slope of spot elevation 1325 feet in NY, hoping and trusting that GPS would lead me to the monument I had visited three years ago. Sure enough, the GPS zeroed out at the three-foot high, square concrete monument described in my January 11, 2000 report.

I emphasize that this monument is plain concrete, uninscribed, and well-covered with lichens. This does not sound like the "beautiful white stone, about three feet high, inscribed with a NY and CT", described in a previous report.

If we are indeed talking about two different markers, then in my opinion, the nondescript monument is the one that needs to be found to claim Fairfield County. It can be and has been found by bushwhacking with nothing more than a compass, but GPS makes the job very easy.