Goals 2018

One Goal I've set for 2018 is to visit a dozen "The Trustee's of Reservation's properties".  I whittled my list down to eleven, and used as a final twelfth location Keystone Arches, a "non-TTOR site".  This is a spot I want to visit, and it is right in the vicinity of Chesterfield Gorge and Glendale Falls, so it makes sense to include it with this set of "goals".

The Trustee's of Reservations (11 total, plus a bonus site, average one per month)...

• Notchview                                      Windsor
• Bear Swamp                                    Ashfield
• Chapel Brook                                  Ashfield
• Bullet Reservation                          Ashfield
• Bryant Homestead                          Cummington
• Bartholomews Cobble                    Sheffield
• Peaked Mountain                            Monson
• Glendale Falls                                 Middlefield
• Keystone Arches                             Middlefield (non TTOR)
• Chesterfield Gorge                          Chesterfield
• Monument Mountain                      Great Barrington
• Tyringham Cobble                          Tyringham

And from the "Twenty-Years Ago Today" department....

M. SPRINGS & SMILING SNOWMEN

Seeing as we missed out on BD’s FA50 and also TW’s Gruba Dupa, a few leftover wannabees considered multiple loops around the forest of Hawley, specifically Moody Springs. Although we wouldn’t come close to the holiday achievement of 50Km, we did spend a wonderfully long time sampling the unseasonable warm temperatures and deep wet snow that Hawley State Forest had to offer. And oh yes, drink from the spring we did...

The Basin Brook Trail is a particularly beautiful section of this forest during the winter months, so much so we ran it in both directions. There is something wonderfully relaxing and peaceful about running in snow along side a frozen snow covered brook rolling along slowly not in any hurry. Infrequent blast of hot blowing air contrasted sharply with the cold wet pocket of air within the bottom of the steep banks of the brook, causing us to wonder and laugh each time we felt the change of temperature. This was a real charge for us, for at this point of the day each of us was feeling tiredness creep in and our judgment may have been a bit cloudy. As each of us admitted feeling the difference, all became sane again. Well, sort of.

We actually circled Moody Springs twice, filling our bottles and drinking long and deep both times. The shelter had a huge snowman perched on it’s roof, looking out for approaching visitors and greeting them with a welcoming hand raised in salute. None of us could figure out how anyone managed to raise the big balls of snow up onto the roof, but the frosty thing sure did look happy sitting there alone at the magical place known as Moody Springs. Come to think of it, so did we.

MOODY SPRINGS SNOWSHOE RAMBLE I

JANUARY 3, 1998 HAWLEY, MA

K2               12km             5:45

JT                15km             3:05

Keen-Eye    13 miles        3:59

Bandit         13 miles        4:05

Farmer        13 miles        4:05