The highway landscape: Mount Higby, seen here from southbound Interstate 91 near Meriden, is probably the section of the Metacomet Ridge most familiar to Connecticut residents. Mount Higby's steep western cliff and gentler eastern slope are character- istic of the Metacomet Ridge. The Metacomet Ridge derives its prominence from a hard backbone of erosion-resistant traprock. Here, a jumble of broken blocks called talus collects at the bottom of a traprock ridge in Meriden.