West Rock Clean-Up Recap with Cove Geary

On Sunday, April 30, the Ragged Mountain Foundation partnered with West Rock Crag Steward Cove Geary and a whole host of volunteers, including longtime RMF Member, formerly of the Board of Directors, Nate McKenzie, current Board members Jen Chmiel and Matt Conroy, for a clean up of West Rock State Park. Over 30 volunteers showed up to help out, even in the downcast weather. Cove’s breakdown of work accomplished follows. - Paige Guthrie Cox

West Rock Clean Up Volunteers - April 30, 2023. Photo by Nate McKenzie.

Indeed, we were very fortunate with many helping hands! The turnout was quite heartwarming honestly. City Climb, RMF and others were all super helpful in advertising to their communities, and the Yale outdoor climbing club further brought a couple carloads of people out.

West Rock Clean Up Volunteers - April 30, 2023. Photo by Josue Ricardo Campos.

Our trash pickup crew covered a wide range: from Blake St. following the West River, we went from the West Rock Playground to Amrhyn Field, along the Blue/Yellow Trail, cutting right along the Teal Trail, passing under the Slabs climbing area, continuing to the far east edge of the Quarry climbing area, then back to the ballfield and parking lot via the Teal/White trail. We also swept through the Quarry area and the "Upper Quarry" for trash, especially larger pieces of glass. I'm glad to say that the trash and debris situation overall was not as bad as it has been in years past, but the cleanup crew still filled up plenty of big bags (and picked up some folding metal structure thing -- pictured in the back of Nate's photo of the bags).

Trash and debris removed from West Rock, April 30, 2023. Photo by Nate McKenzie.

The trail maintenance crew also had a big impact. Throughout the area mentioned above, we cleared away a handful of fallen trees or bigger limbs, and we covered up any trails that were obviously shortcuts/"social" trails. But most of the time spent on trail maintenance focused on the trails around the Slabs and the Quarry climbing areas. The climber trail to the Slabs was trimmed back and leveled, so it is much more inviting. One crew spent some time with rock work along the base of the Quarry area; they mitigated tripping hazards, reinforced a couple of stone steps near the west side of the Quarry, and built a small set of stone steps along the east side of the Quarry. Overgrowth was also trimmed back.

Trail maintenance volunteers celebrating a job well done. Photo by Nate McKenzie.

Revegetation zones were established in a number of spots: volunteers gargoyled redundant trails and placed nice signage at some tactical spots. This focused on the multiple trails to get to the "Upper Quarry" area: a short trail section at the Quarry, and a trail that parallels the Teal trail going from the climber's kiosk towards Wintergreen. (Thanks to Nate for the expert graphic design on all our signage.)

Lastly, the kiosk was buffed for graffiti prevention and it now has an anchors practice station on the backside. (Thanks to Nate and Matt C for all of the engineering and tooling there.) A lot of the climber volunteers were excited to see that addition, and I'm hoping it will be a nice addition for safety at the crag.

Anchor Practice station on the West Rock Kiosk, West Rock State Park. Photo by Nate McKenzie.

Special thanks for organizing this great event go out to Cove and Nate, who have have continued to advocate and support climber access to West Rock. Also, many thanks to City Climb Gym for supporting and spreading the word about this event, Yale Climbing Team for getting involved and Koffee? for donating coffee and breakfast to all volunteers.

Look for more opportunities to join us here.