Sunday December 6th 2009

I had the idea for this blog a few months ago while making one of my frequent treks out into the woods but it wasn't until this morning when I was climbing a mountain in Kent CT that I really decided to do it. I'm not really sure what purpose this serves other than for me to share a little bit about myself but hopefully there are some of you that will read it and find some enjoyment because it may relate to your life as well.
I'm not going to get real deep into my emotions and bare it all here for the world to see. I think the messages will be more subtle than that. This is a blog about things that I find in the woods. There are many great things just out of eyesight from the roads that we all travel, probably more than you realize if your not the type that is inclined to do a little exploring. Sometimes they are well hidden and other times they will glare at you and say "what took you so long to find me?". I'm not going into this looking for specific types of things to share with you all. You are going to notice that I will usually make these explorations with my trusty metal detector in the hopes of finding the long lost treasure of ages past but that is certainly not all that I'm looking for. Sure, I want to find that old Mason jar full of gold coins that someone tucked into a special hiding place many moons ago but I will also have my eyes open for the strange and interesting naturally occurring wonders.
I'm going to just stop this introduction here because I'm not a writer or poet, my words aren't going to be enough. I need to show you what I find with pictures to help me tell the story. I hope you find something here that interests you but if you don't, it's OK too because in the end...I did it for me.

Sunday Dec 6th 2009
I woke today with the urge to go exploring. If you know me at all you also know that I have this underlying need to find stuff. This is my form of adventure. It carries over into my work as an antiques dealer and my chosen recreational activities such as metal detecting. I just like discovering things. So when I see a mountain, I tend to look at it and say "I wonder what's up there?".
That's exactly what prompted me to go explore this particular mountain in Kent CT this morning. I had been looking at it because it looked like a difficult climb. I figure that would be enough to deter 99% of the population from ever going up there so the likelihood that I may find something that most are not aware of is greater....at least in my mind.
Last night it snowed for the first time this year. It was only a dusting but when I was young I had a tradition that I would go hunting on the morning of the first snowfall every year. I never once shot anything on those hunts but it was never really about that anyway. One time I did see a family of Bobcats making their way across a steep rocky slope and I knew that this was something special that not people had ever seen before. It was things like that which kept me going back into the woods.
I drive out to Emory park in Kent which just happens to sit at the base of this mountain I want to climb.

This gave me a good spot to park where I wouldn't have to worry about getting towed or being on private property. I started into the woods carrying my metal detector in one hand and a small shovel in the other knowing full well that both of these are going to make this climb a lot more difficult. I think I was testing myself though. I wanted it to be hard today. So I started up toward what looked like the steepest area. There wasn't a lot of snow but the inch or so accumulation still made for very slippery and dangerous conditions. I almost immediately came upon a very rocky area that looked like it contained a lot of jumbled rock caves and hiding holes.

My first thoughts were that it looked like a great place for a bear to hibernate. Maybe this was because I saw a bear just a week or two ago which was the first time I had seen one in this area.
I made my way along the foot of these high cliffs and steep slopes until I saw a route that I thought I could manage going up. Just as I reached the foot of the area I wanted to ascend I noticed some large tracks in the snow. I'm not expert on animal tracks but given the size and shape of the tracks I figured that they had to be bear. So I felt my earlier concern was now justified. Here I had to make a decision, should I continue on my chosen path in the direction of the bear tracks or pick another route? Keep in mind that these tracks were made after the snow stopped falling which was only a few hours before this. Well, maybe it was due to some frustrations that I have been having in my personal life lately but I decided to ignore the potential dangers and continue on toward the bear. Probably not a smart move but I wanted an adventure today and the sense of danger made me feel alive. I moved cautiously pausing frequently to listen for any bears or angered animals that might give me a warning before I came too close to their home. In the difficult climbing, I lost the tracks but I could see a big overhang area with a flat spot that just looked like a place a bear would call home. I fought with myself for a couple minutes trying to decide if I should go right over there to that spot....and I did. I didn't find any bears but the adrenaline level was high and it felt good.
I pushed further up the mountain climbing the rocks which were covered with moss. Moss gets incredibly slippery when it is wet or frozen, this was a combination of both. I checked my cell phone to see if I had a signal (I did) so I knew that if I fell and was injured that I could make a call and hopefully be rescued, at least that's what i told myself. Finally the slope became more gentle (still like 35 or 40 degrees which is very steep) and I could walk without really climbing anything. There was a lot of underbrush and fallen wood here which made it difficult still but at least the danger of falling was behind me for now.
At the base of this mountain not far from where I started up there is a camp of sorts that caters to wealthy NYC types who want to experience the "country". As I was nearing the summit I could see an area that had been cut and most of the bigger trees were felled. I guessed this was probably a scenic lookout on a hiking trail that most likely originated at that camp. I was right. I got up to the top and there were trail markers and nice place to look out over the village of Kent in the valley below. I spent a while just taking it in.
After I felt I had my fill of the rewards of the climb I thought that I owed something to the mountain for this experience so I took out my wallet and speared a dollar bill on a tree branch near the lookout spot. This probably seems silly and pointless, obviously the mountain didn't need my dollar but I felt that I needed to make a small sacrifice for what the mountain had given me so I left it....right or wrong.
After deciding on a direction to head down I picked a route that looked like it may offer some interesting sights but wasn't too steep because I was pretty tired from the climb up. Well...it was like that for a short distance but then it got very steep and had a lot of underbrush making it super hard to find a path down. I fought my way down cursing the whole time. This wasn't really fun, it was just hard and again very dangerous. Finally I made my way to the base of this area only to find that the slope was gentler but the underbrush was 10 times as thick. I pushed through prickers and a tangle of saplings for about 15 minutes while snow was falling off of them and going down the back of my coat. Finally that misery was over and I was in open woods again and not far from where I had started.




There was some signs of people camping in this area which was the first I had seen on this trip. There was even a primitive shelter which I snapped a picture of. I turned on the detector here as I had done a couple times so far but nothing was to be found. I'm glad, good campers don't leave behind any traces of their stay.
Another couple minutes and I was at the bottom of the mountain and back to my car which is always a welcome sight after these treks. Can't say that I found much up there on the mountain but I had a great time and it helped to clear my mind of things that I wanted leave behind for a little while.

On my way out of the parking area I noticed this sign. I couldn't tell you any good reason for it having a depiction of ET buckled up and holding up his glowing finger....I'm just glad it exists.