Ragged Mountain

A couple of Saturdays ago, I met my cousins halfway between Boston and New Paltz, NY. We ended up in Berlin, CT. A town not too far from my hometown, but I had never known there was a Berlin in Connecticut. Go figure. We met for breakfast at The Pepper Pot in Southington which was quite adorable. If you ever make it out to the Southington/Berlin area, I highly recommend the diner. It was large enough for bigger parties, but small-town-esque with the friendliest waitresses. After a filling breakfast, we headed to Ragged Mountain for our 6-mile hike. Except it turned into a 10+ mile hike. We're not exactly sure how much we actually walked since we got lost. Bad. We ended up out of the preserve and had to walk around a reservoir. Thank God it was warm enough to take a little break and go swimming! But getting around the reservoir wasn't the easiest task... the brush got so bad we couldn't pass. So we ended up on private property walking through their apple orchard and reached the street on the other end of the farm. We walked the road until we found a path back into the preserve. We thought we had missed the trail that lead to the peak of the "mountain" (I put that in quotes because in CT there aren't really mountains, just really large hills that disguise as tough terrain every once in awhile). But, we found it! We made it to the top. And it was so worth it.

More of a photo blog today - so enjoy!

We felt like we were on LOST. There were turned over cars in the middle of the trails, no road in sight. It was extremely puzzling. But seriously, how did they get there?

Gina and Laura... before getting lost :)

So many bugs! Swatting them away all... day... long... Good lord.

Calm part of the trail. Little did we know what was just ahead.

The climb! (Please no Miley references)

Thank God we stumbled across the apple orchard eventually. We had walked completely out of the preserve and we didn't know how long it would take us to get back to our car. We were hungry! And the apples were just ripe enough 0:)

The orchard

FINALLY made it. The detour took too long in my humble opinion. But oh! was it worth it. This shot was to my left.

To the center...

A little to the right... (yes, that's the reservoir we walked around)

All the way right.

Photo opp.

You can tell I'm tired, but happy!

The ropes by our feet are rock climbers... yikes!

Up close.

Can you see us?

We did it!

So tired by the end... we had to take a little nap :)

Ragged Mountain

Near where we parked our cars there were 30 pairs of shoes hanging on the electrical lines. We're not sure why. But Gina wanted to join in on the fun without losing her shoes forever. This was her compromise. Ha!

Seriously, what is up with Ragged Mt? Cars in the woods, shoes in the sky?

The end. Another adventure to be posted tomorrow!