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Ragged Mountain Scouting Mission
The Eastern States are small, at least a lot smaller than what I'm used to. Therefore, it was with great novelty that we hopped into the car Sunday morning to drive to Connecticut for the day. We were to meet up with Dan's friend Aaron and do a little rock climbing and then have a good dinner before heading home.
September 11, 2009
GoogleMaps isn't very impressive-looking, but here it is ---->
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It was only a 2 hour drive to get to Timberlin Park in Southington, CT. We left a little late, made later by a not-so-quick stop at Dunkin' Donuts and then hit the highway, as well as toll roads, bridges (I love the name: Tappen Zee Bridge!!!) and a beautiful road called the Sawmill Parkway. Aaron was waiting for us when we got there and we hauled our gear from our vehicles and started to look for the trail. The guidebook wasn't very helpful and the trail markings weren't making it any easier. We traversed one section of trail near the parking lot four times before finding the actual trail. At least it was pretty.

From where we parked, we'd have a short hike through a Nature Preserve, up a private road, across a main road, up another private road and then, somewhere beyond that, was the Rugged Mountain Climbing area. Or so I gathered. I just knew that I was planning on hiking today and it was a gorgeous day for it. I let Dan and Aaron worry about where we were going.

With some meandering and lost-and-found trail blazes, we made our way to the private drive, across the road and to the next section. The blazes picked up again and we found ourselves at the base of a small section of wall, already with two climbers getting ready to ascend.
Old stone wall, possibly a dam
View near the small section of climbing wall
The other climbers' ropes
Dan at the base of the stone staircase

Aaron was sure that this wasn't where we wanted to be, so after much consulting with the guidebook, the climbers and another hiker, we headed off in search of the main face. Up we went.

And still further up. After some more missed trails we finally found ourselves on a large outcropping of rock. A sheer face dropped off before us, disappearing into a carpet of trees. The distance offered up a resevoir, houses and a nearby town. Not to mention the changing colors of trees on the distant hills. The sun shone brightly and puffy clouds scuttled their way across the sky in the brisk wind. It was breathtaking.
Dan and Aaron consult the guidebook
And consult some more
Finally at the top
Dan approves
Other climbers' ropes hang off the edge
The boys scout out possible climbing sites
Looking across the valley
More scouting out of future climbing activities
The boys scouted out the area. We were supposed to be at the bottom of the rock face, not the top. The idea was to climb to the top with ropes, not hike up via some ill-marked path. Oh well. They inspected some ropes already laid out by climbers down below and made plans about how to make our own equipment work for this situation. Eventually we headed down the other side of the top, following an almost non-existant trail to the base of the main face.
Heading down off the top of the main face
Free-form tree
It was more waiting. Dan and Aaron consulted the guidebook, matching the rock face in front of them with the sketches on the pages. They moved about 10' and consulted again. I sat down on a rock and watched a plane fly overhead. It was a good day to be outside, regardless of the situation. I also knew that I wasn't going to climb anything today, no matter what the boys decided upon. I have never climbed anything other than a quarry wall some 20 years ago and as tired as I was, I wasn't about to start now. So when Dan and Aaron caught up to me and told me that today had turned into a scouting mission, I was happy to agree with them.
Trail along the base of the cliff
Berries
The boys, consulting yet again
The proposed route (for next time)
More scouting
Other climbers, actually climbing

Now it was time to go back to the car. With our position at the base of the main face, we figured that we could simply continue along the same direction and meet up with the trail we took to get to the small cliff. We were right. What we weren't right about was the trail once we crossed the road. We followed blue blazes for quite some time before guessing that we weren't going anywhere near the car. We consulted the handy compass I happened to have on my backpack and made a directional change. After some fun "Blair Witch" and "I found a camera in the woods and this was the last picture on it" jokes, we stumbled our way through the woods onto the right path. Mere minutes later and we were within sight of the car. Success!

The next time we come here we should be able to hike directly to the base of the main face and get started earlier in the day. And now I know that I can hike for at least four hours with my climbing gear and still be perfectly comfortable. Thank you, Dan, for my new backpack!
Heading back from the main face
Forgotten stone wall
Autum berries and foliage
The boys, heading down the road
The last known reference point before we got "lost"
Whoops - wrong way!