It had stopped raining enough, and the humidity was dropping a bit, so I wandered out for a short run on the Metacomet today, in West Suffield.  A quick quiet 3-miler. 

View from the high-point, about a mile north of Phelps Road / Mountain Road intersection.

 

View from the slightly north of above..

  

Lady Slippers along the trail (my wildflower ID technique stinks).

Looking up through a nice patch of Black Birch.

I brought a sapling branch back home with me, to present to Donnalee.  She loved the smell.

Additional Note:

On this day in 2009, Wuzzam and I completed a McClean Reservation Marathon in roughly five hours.   This was my 39th marathon completed.  I recall it being a fairly easy day for us.

Trying to stay out of the afternoon heat, and stick close to home, so I drove out to Penwood State Forest in Simsbury / Bloomfield, Connecticut today.

I've been running and hiking in Penwood since 1990.  It is a rugged landscape, with traprock throughout most of the trails.

I was fortunate to act as a volunteer with Connecticut Forest and Park's "Ridgerunner" program during the summer and fall of 2014 at Penwood.  I conversed with over 300 visitors that summer, gathering demographic data from them, and giving back park information and a positive attitude.

The big "selling" point of the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail from my 2014 Ridgerunning experience was that it had become part of the New England Trail (NET) network.  The New England Trail is a 215-mile long-distance hiking trail from Long Island Sound in Connecticut to the Massachusetts & New Hampshire border (no Monadnock or on to Sunapee for the NET!).

My plan was to go out on the Orange and Yellow Trails south from Wintonberry Road, and take the Blue Blazed Metacomet Trail back north.  I navigated the Yellow and Orange just fine, but when I arrived at the park road I was tuned out and took the park road to Lake Louise, missing the turn for the Blue Blazed Metacomet Trail.

I followed the park road to the summit, and from there grabbed the Metacomet for the remaining loop back.  6.5-miles in 1:23:00, with 1550' of climb.  It didn't get hot until the last mile or so.

On this day in 1995 I completed my 6th marathon, Vermont City.  I had trained for a year specifically to run sub 3:10 at a marathon, so that I would qualify and gain entry into the 100th running of the Boston Marathon.

I recall feeling awful for the first couple miles, and beat from around  10 - 13 miles.  At some point, my training kicked in, despite the heat, and I finished in 3:08.  Qualified for Boston!

It was such a rewarding run in Florida and Rowe last weekend, we returned to explore the "newer" Hoosac Tunnel Loop and Bear Swamp Trail.  Ended up with about 13.5 Miles in over 4 hours.  Tough going, 3500' climb, and the Bear Swamp and Hoosac Tunnel Trail are rough (more footprints and visitors would be a good thing).

Along Tunnel Road in the Rowe Land Trust Area.

Old Foundation remains.

Wuzzam on or near Pulpit Rock, with Dunbar Brook Start-Finish below.

On the Hoosac Tunnel Loop, near a swamp, there were several large stone effigy piles or mounds.  This one is about 5' tall.

 Stream outlet, stone bridge on Tunnel Road.

The View west toward Whitecomb Hill and Reed Brook.

Wrapping up the run along the single-lane bridge over the Deerfield.

On this day in 2006, I completed a Tunxis Marathon in 5:41:50.  I had Johnny Bandit along for company, as well as Tippi.  It would be my 32nd marathon completed, and Tippi's 8th.

John Scalise rambling through the meadow.

We rambled from Route 20 to Route 219 in East Hartland, Connecticut, and back for the first 19.5 miles.  We finished up with the Route 20 to Pell Road near the Massachusetts border for the final 6.5-miles. 

Small Waterfall on the northern section of Tunxis Trail.

Old Notes:  Another great day;  started out 45 degrees at the 9:15 A.M. start time.  It reached a high of maybe 60 degrees during the day, with majority in the mid 50’s.  Sunny and blue sky entire time, occasional strong breeze every once and a while.  Started the run at 9:15 A.M.

 Tippi taking a look down from the climb a mile from Pell Road.

John and I both felt that it was the easiest marathon either of us had ever done.  We finished strong, running all but the very start of Trillium Hill from mile 24.5 onward.  I believe we could have easily gotten thru another hour on this day.  Plenty of water for Tippi, no problems with her other than the porcupine around mile 18.  We escaped from that ok. 

 The Pell Road TurnAround.

  

After years of trying, I finally got Wuzzam to climb Negus.  We had K2 along for the day as well, and he was planning on the Mohican-Mohawk Trail across the street.

Climbing Up, almost to the boulder.

Wuzzam on the north-east side of the boulder.

The climb up Negus is still very tough, but at least the route is marked with white and blue metal markers from Brookfield Power.  These markers now mark a route from the bottom of Negus, across from the Nelson Family Graveyard and Zoar Picnic Area, all the way to Monroe Bridge.

Nelson Family Graveyard and Zoar Picnic Area.

Wuzzam on top of Negus, with Greylock in the background.

The route from Negus to Tunnel Road is crisscrossed and lined with awesome stone walls, worth viewing on their own merit.

We visited the graveyard on top of Tunnel Road, I have not been able to locate it's name.  The long descent along Tunnel Road includes a magnificent section through Rowe Land Trust.  The rock formations have to be seen to be believed.

Cemetery on top of Tunnel Road.

Rowe Land Trust Property, Nature Preserve.

Rowe Land Trust Property, Nature Preserve, really worth spending an afternoon at.

Once at the bottom, we crossed the single lane bridge, and ventured towards Reed Brook Preserve (A Nature Conservancy Property).  Up Torrey Mountain Road to South County Road, and a quick bushwhack to get us to the Mahican-Mohawk Trail along the Clark-Todd Ridge.

Single Lane Bridge across the Deerfield River. 

View from Reed Brook's summit.

We were on time to extend the run, so we took the spur to "Indian Lookout" on Todd's Peak.

Lookout on Todd Mountain Peak.

After the jog back to the saddle, and four-way intersection, we descended north toward the Deerfield River, and enjoyed the Elder's Grove section of the trail.

Four way on top of the ridge.

The Elder's are the group of White Pine in the very middle of the picture below, as seen from Florida Bridge along River Road.  Saheda is the White Pine to the far right of the group, with the flat top.  We feel the power in these trees, several over 160' tall, with Saheda at 170'.

 A look back at the Elder's Grove, Mohawk Trail State Forest.

Made it to our car in 4:07 total time, 12.5 gps miles.

 

Additionally, on this day in 2005, I completed my 26th marathon (and Tippi's 2nd) at the Mount Greyklock Marathon '05 version {AKA Molitori 50th Birthday Bash & Annual Celibacy Run}.  Total time of 6:47:02.  Five out of twelve starters completed the full 26.2-miles.  

Full story and results available in pdf.

First "speedwork" of the season;  two runners, three mountain bikers and one dog performed a 3.1-mile run in Soapstone during early evening hours.  I managed a 27:50, top time of the night.

It felt good to run sort of fast.  It has been far too long.

A good trip out to Bigelow Hollow, former home of the "Breakneck Trail Race", which I participated in all 13 years it was held.  Fond Memories for that great event.

The Old Goat was joining me, after all, he did invent "Breakneck".

We took trails I don't get out on much, and it was really special.  I should make this drive more often - there is a lot of exploring for me to do here.

10.5 miles total, good conversation catching up.

 

Prior to completing our Mashapaug Loop...

Another angle...

Entry Sign.

Mapped Route.

It seemed like a long while since I visited East Granby Farms.  Got out late in the day for about 4 1/2 miles, with some exploring mixed in.  One of the trails I used to run often, to connect in a roundabout way to Sunrise Park in Suffield, seems to have houses instead of woods.

The area and trails are heavily used by motorbikes;  it's always been that way, and the motorbikes most likely are responsible for the majority of trails into the eastern side of the ridge.  Seriously, they always had been pretty well maintained and not overused by any means.

Top of the Grassy Hill, Bench and Signage.

Another view.

Old Chimney along base of Ridge.

Abundance of Stone Walls throughout the shelf between the fields and the Ridge.

 

 More Stone Walls.

 

 Close up.

           

Interesting "Mound" with a stonewall.

     

Close up of "Mound" stonewall.

 Large interesting rock formation.

Same rock in relation to the stonewall leading to it.

A balanced rock along the stonewall.

Route for the day.