Date: 2004-06-30
From: Belchers Campsite, CT

To: Day 88: Laurel Ridge Campsite, MA
Miles today: 19.9
Weather: light rain

On AT Day 88 I got up at 3:30 a.m., hit the trail around 5:50 a.m. and surprisingly finished by 5:10 p.m. I was surprised by the early finish since the topographic profile showed even more hills than the day before and I was planning on going over 18-miles. However, this was ¢one of those days¢ where I made great time all day and I got to the Sages Ravine campsite just across the MA border before 4:00 p.m. so I decided to push on to the Laurel Ridge Campsite two miles away for a total day¢s hike of 19.9 miles.En route to this final destination I first stopped at the Falls Village Hydroelectric Plant to load up on water at the spot they had created specifically for AT through hikers. Noting that I was wandering around the ivy-covered maintenance buildings one of the nice guys working at the plant came over and showed me where to find the spigot and the shower head should I want a cold shower. I thanked him for water, but declined the shower, as it was only 7:15 a.m. and still quite cool ¢ boy what a change from the hot humid mornings we have in early July at my home near Gainesville, FL! The hydroelectric plant worker also took the time to warn me about the other local ¢attractions,¢ poison ivy and ticks carrying Lyme disease. I asked, and he confirmed, that the latter are becoming a MAJOR concern for parents in the area as they have to check their children for tick bites every day. Surely the development of a Lyme disease preventative ¢immunization¢ must be a high priority for government, academic and drug company scientists ¢ at least I hope it is¢¦A few minutes after leaving the hydroelectric plant, I followed the AT across the Housatonic River via the same type of iron bridge, built around 1870 that was relocated to PA to allow the trail to cross the Swatara Creek, the only difference being that the Falls Village bridge still allows a single lane of auto traffic. The AT then paralleled the river as it approaches the ¢Great Falls,¢ that gives the town its name, only now the falls are only great after heavy rains or snow melts as the hydroelectric plant¢s dam diverts most of the water through a canal to the plant¢s turbines.This canal also marks another interesting historical (or ¢hysterical¢) footnote for Falls Village since the idea for a ¢grand canal¢ to divert the Housatonic River to supply a power-generating plant was first hatched prior to the Civil War, but when time came to open the canal as part of a large ceremony in 1851 and begin the transformation of this sleepy little town into an industrial city, they discovered that the engineers had neglected to use motor in the rock-lined canal and the water leaked out as fast as it poured in! In 1921 the Connecticut Power Company built the canal that is still used today.After leaving the Great Falls, I followed the AT up a 1000-feet climb of Mt. Prospect and then a long plateau that included such notable features as the ¢Giant¢s Thumb¢ and ¢Billy¢s View.¢ The former is an isolated outcropping resembling a huge upturned thumb that stands perhaps 12-feet high, whereas the latter was notable to me as my non-AT name is also ¢Bill¢ and thus I couldn¢t pass up the opportunity to take pictures of the view and demarcation sign and eat my morning snack.After the steep descent down the Barrack Matiff the AT crossed another relatively level plateau followed by a 5.5-mile, 1500-foot ascent that included the challengingly steep climb up and down Lions Head and Bear Mountain. Clearly these are popular hiking routes as I met a number of day and sections en route to and atop these peaks. As the highest mountain entirely within CT the 2,316-foot summit of Bear Mountain is marked by a huge stone cairn formed by the remains of a much larger tower built in 1885. The steep trail down from this peak, like many others in the area was a challenge but the footing was aided by the raged parallel indentation scrapes in the large boulders (similar in appearance to the marks left by a rake scraping the ground) made by the receding glaciers at the close of the last Ice Age.This steep trail also crossed an unmarked border into MA as it descended to the lovely Sages Ravine Campsite. The latter is marked by the huge size of the trees in its virgin forest, and the numerous waterfalls and quiet pools made by the Sawmill Brook as it passes through the rocky ravine. As mentioned above, I got to the campsite hours earlier than expected so I decided to move on to the next designated campsite at Laurel Ridge. As lovely as the Sages Ravine site was, one of the advantages of this decision was that by climbing out of the deep ravine I once again regained radio transmission, so I could lessen the loneliness by listening to music and news as I made camp, filtered water, cooked and ate dinner and filled out my trail journal.