| August 18, 2005 |
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Leaving Riga Shelter at 7:55am. For some reason I trouble
getting up and started this morning. It was a beautiful
sunrise this morning from the shelter over looking the valley.
You could see the white fluffy clouds in between the valleys also.
It was just beautiful!
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The trail is pretty good this morning.
Some rocks hiking through the laurel bushes. A lot of ferns.
Pretty morning. The sun is starting to come up and warm it up
a little bit. It was cool enough that you had to have a jacket
on this morning. My index fingers got numb. Last night
was a good sleeping night. I think it's going up to 80 degrees
today. |
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There must be a airport around here.
EJ (son-in-law) must be sending out all of his forces. I've
heard several plains go over. I'm certainly that there's a
good under cover. because he surly can't spot me. |
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There's one creek after another with big
boulders. At leas there's water in them so I can't complain.
The laurel is really growing close to the trail making it difficult
to hike on. In some places it's growing together. |
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I'm beginning to climb up Bear Mountain.
After that the locals told me that there was tower up here, then
after the tower comes Sages Ravine. I have some concern for
Simon because there's a big drop of. The ridge runner said it
was probably doable. So I decided not the go the Paradise
Trail a 1.7 mile detour. We'll find out what happens. |
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The trail going up Bear Mountain is
straight up with some nice rock steps which really helps. Also
the boulders that are in the trail are vertical, but have enough
ridges on them making them easy to navigate. There are some
tremendous view from up here. The trail is also closed in with
a scrub oaks, blueberry bushes and laurels. Actually a decent
trail through here. I'm over looking the same valley from a
higher view. |
 I'm standing at the rock tower which is the
highest point in Conn. 2,364 feet. This monument is just a
huge big rock pile that you can climb and stand on the top of it.
I'm going to hike around the side of it and look at it this way.
Most of the views I see from this point on are to the north.
WOW!!! Is this gorgeous. You can see lakes, farmland, a huge
big mountain ahead of me. Probably have to cross that one.
This is worth coming up here. They need a flag or something up
here. A lot of tree coverage, not very many open spaces.
Looks like there's some swamp land down in there. Everything
I'm seeing is to the north. I should be in Mass. today. |
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Coming off Bear Mountain isn't as hard as I
thought it was going to be. A lot of huge boulders in front of
boulders coming up off, but most of the time I able to pick my way
around and find steps where I could step down. There was 2 or
3 places where I couldn't reach the next step, so I had to sit down
and scoot down until I could get a footing. I'm glad I took a
chance and came on this way. |
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Now it's opening up into a big ravine area
full of ferns. The color is just brilliant through here.
Brilliant shades of green and brown. I'm at Sages Ravine
camping area. It says you are entering a very fragile
environment. |
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I'm hiking right now down into Sages Ravine
right along the brook. Crystal clear water, a little water
falls, pine forest with ferns underneath., and a little laurel here
and there. Beautiful, beautiful area. Huge big rocks all
around the ravine area. A little steep and little harder to
hike because you have a lot of roots and rocks that slow you down. |
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Going toward Bear Rock Falls. This
stream has large rock outcropping in it, and a lot of water falls.
I'm looking overlooking a fairly neat little place right now, where
I can see the bottom. There's a lot of places where you bathe
or swim a little bit and cool yourself off. The water is
crystal clear and come right out from underneath the rocks.
Most of this water is on solid rocks. |
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I now have boulders on my right side and the
stream to my left. More water falls, the is deep but I don't
see any fish in there. |
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The welcome sign says
Welcome to Massachusetts!
Glenbrook Shelter 1.6 miles. Coming up out of the ravine along
rocky switch backs. A lot of Birch ahead of me. The
trail took me up over the hill mostly on switch backs. I'm
going around the side of the mountain. Couple of boulders in
the trail, nothing very hard |
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I'm seeing a lot birches, maples, oaks and
big trees in this area. The trail is taking me straight up the
mountain now, through the rocks, laurel and the pines. I
stopped to eat lunch at Laurel Ridge Camp site. |
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I'm going through a large hemlock forest.
From the little bit I can see from on top of the top of the mountain
Mass. is pine trees. I'm going up Race Mountain, it's very
rocky and very steep. On my right I can see a big huge lake.
It looks like fall has already started in the mountains. I'm
amazed at the amount of maple leaves that have already turned and
fallen off. The leaves rustle underneath my feet when I hike.
Also the ferns have completely turned yellow and are dying back.
The cherry trees are doing the same thing. Wow! Is this a
view. I'm still seeing the lake that I was seeing before,
except I'm on an open rock with no trees or anything in front of me.
I can really get a good view. You see a lot of trees, but the
open places are small. I hiking right along the cliffs edge on
top of big boulders. It sure scary up here. There just
went a baby red tailed hawk. This is not the place to be if
anyone is afraid of heights. The valley really flattens out
between these mountains. I'm completely on top of the mountain
now and back into the scrub oaks and real little pith pine looking
trees. They're very low to the ground and bent over from the
wind. I've been hiking on big boulders for 30 minutes at
least. |
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Now I'm in nothing but pines. This is
a gorgeous area here. Coming off Race Mountain is one of these
trails that you don't take you off the trail because you got big
boulders to go up and down. A lot of little rock to try to get
around. There's no way you can see anything unless you
actually stop. |
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I'm at the point where the Fire tower use
to sit on MT. Everett. Coming up Mt Everett was nothing but a
mile and half of larger boulder rock piling straight up. It's
a good thing that there is a lot ledges on these rock facings
because that keep them from being so slick. |
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I'm on what used to be the old road to the
fire tower. Back off the gravel road into the woods again
going down hill. I'm going by Gilder Pond Trail. On of
the locals was telling me that I have been the Berkshire National
Park in the last day or two. |
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I just meet Rag Man on the trail. I
hiked with him coming up through the south. In June he got off
the trail and got back on the trail the 16th of June and went to
Maine and started hiking south. It's 4:30pm and I at the
Hemlock Shelter. There's plenty of water here. It's been
a rather rough day, so I'm going to make this a short day and just
stay here tonight. |
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Swing'n Jane and
Simon |
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