Planetary Stories Project

"To Act Globally, Think Locally – Through Stories"

Black Earth Institute

Place: Salisbury, CT, USA

Sage's Ravine
By Jason Shaver

View Larger Map

There are places on this earth that seem to come from a story, places where you speak a little quieter and walk a little softer.  Sage’s Ravine is such a place.  The trails are unmarked, most made by deer.  The water from the falls washes out the background noise of a state too developed.  It’s a place where the air is cooler on a hot humid day, and a person can dry off from a swim on a thick bed of moss.  At Sage’s, things quiet down and a person hears things they haven’t before, both around them and inside.  Sage’s is a place where a person should listen.

I’d heard about Sage’s Ravine from a couple of friends who I’m sure have hiked every wooded acre of the state.  They said it was one of the beautiful places they’d found in New England, but were vague about its location.  During a summer’s day off, I decided to find ravine, traveling up Rt. 7 and connecting with the Appalachian Trail.  After dropping down the north side of Bear Mountain, I followed a stream off-trail between the Massachusetts/Connecticut border that I’d seen on a topo.  A few hundred feet off the trail, the falls begin and continue into almost a mile of Tolkien landscape.

The first thing you notice about Sage’s is the cool temperature.  Even at the peak of summer, the shade of the trees and constant movement of the water keep things cool.  The trees often form a canopy above the ravine, keeping the sunlight from heating up the walls of rock and shallower water.  The water flows quickly, cascading over, around, and under crazy rock formations into pools deep and shallow.

The pools stand out to me as the classic “swimming holes” I’d hear of in stories, but never had as a kid.  The only people you see are those you bring, and each pool seems to be its own secret.  There’s Moss Pool, with the deepest, coldest water and three spots to jump from.  It has thick beds of moss on the southern bank that sometimes catch the sunlight filtered through the trees, heating them up like a dark beach towel on the concrete of a town swimming pool.  There’s Split Rock, where the water is forced between a cliff and a boulder, both worn smooth by the endless movement.  Here, you try to beat the current, swimming upstream but always moving backwards.

The hike would be classified as difficult, but it’s high on entertainment value, scrambling over rocks and hopping across the water.  Very few sections of trail are obvious.  You basically work your way downstream and occasional paths stand out, sometimes veering away from the stream, but usually keeping close.  Eventually, a legitimate trail takes shape and leads you to a nook on the side of Rt. 41.  If you haven’t parked there, you can walk the asphalt back to the Appalachian Trail crossing or try to thumb a ride (which seems to have a pretty low success rate in this part of the country).

Throughout the summer, I head to Sage’s Ravine when I need to pray and escape.  I usually bring a good book, a Bible, and a journal, stopping at each pool along the way to worship and reflect.  Sometimes, the release in itself is all I need, letting my stress and fear wash downstream as the shock of the cold water shakes things loose.  Other times, things are quiet enough that I can find direction and guidance for the heavier decisions.  No matter how things play out, Sage’s is a place that I consistently connect to.  I feel completely free to be myself before God and Nature, and that in itself is a worthy reason to visit.

If you head to Sage’s, prepare for some time to be quiet and to take everything in.  Let things go, if even for the hour, and go deeper.  Explore the pools, nap on the moss, climb the rocks; but let your soul listen.  It’s rare today to find a place where you can truly rest.  For me, such a place is Sage’s Ravine.  Maybe for you as well…