I have been anticipating a return to Castle Craig for quite some time now, and we finally made good on our return yesterday.
Everyone met in Norwich at Sof and Rob's house at our usual time of 8:30am. Deb and I were a few minutes early, and therefore we were able to arrive a minute or two before Bob, which always makes me happy. :-)
It was a long drive through Norwich, along RT 2 west, and eventually past Middletown and to our parking spot along the side of the road somewhere in Meridan at the trailhead.
We donned our hats, gloves, coats, and walking sticks and started up a short hill overlooking, but hiking away from, the road. We immediately realized that the layer of fallen leaves were covering up all of the loose rocks under foot, making us be more cautious with each step. It was rough on our ankles and I probably should have been wearing boots with more support, but it was too late to be changing shoes now. The trail meandered through numerous rocky hills and valleys which slowed us down quite a bit, but eventually we made our way to the best scenic overlooks in the state, including our walk up to the top of Castle Craig.
After a few pictures, we continued on past the castle towards a part of the trail we haven't seen yet. This part of the trail was just as rocky as before, but with the added bonus of including a 400ft decent through piles of loose rock with a layer of multi-colored fallen leaves on top. It was fairly easy going down, but slippery, sliding on the rocks as we went.
At the bottom, we came across a fairly large 4 way intersection in the middle of the woods which didn't indicate where the trail went off to, so we checked our pedometers and decided to turn around while we still knew where we were. So we began our ascent back up that 400ft pile of rocks and leaves which can only be described as tortuous. Sof and I both agreed that the ascent back up that hill was among the most challenging we have attempted.
Back at the top, close to where Castle Craig is, we saw a pair of turkey vultures looking down at their world below, and I snapped a few pictures of them. They were a bit nervous, but didn't move a bit while we all moved closer and passed them. We eventually made our way back down the other side of the ridge where we came, and to our cars. We ate lunch at Macaroni Grill and then headed home. A very good day indeed.
Deb seems like she has the hike picked out for next week, so
Talk to everyone next week.
Joe
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