Two old marathons completed on this day, the first in 2008 and the second in 2014.  

In 2008, Curly's Marathon was held in Pittsfield State Forest, and it was a beautiful day to run.  I recall wearing old shoes rather than a new pair I had just purchased, and it was a bad decision.  The pain in my feet and lower legs was incredible for the last 6 or 8 miles, and I was lucky to finish in 5:54:36.  This was my 38th completed marathon.  My dad ran the Half-Marathon option as well.

In 2014, Wuzzam and I conquered Dunbar-Whitcomb-Jambs in 6:21:34.  This expanded from an old run the Bandit and I did, from Whitcomb Summit to Windsor Jambs.  This time, we began at Dunbar Brook in Monroe State Forest, and ventured out a new snowmobile trail to the windmills to Whitcomb Summit, over Crum Hill, over Flat Rock Hill and the old Viewing Platform for the Hoosac Tunnel, crossed the Cold River on an obscure grown in path, past Savoy Mountain State Forest at North Pond, past Bog Pond, over Lewis Hill and Borden Mountain, through Windsor Bush into Windsor State Forest and the Jambs.  Outstanding day with outstanding sunny weather.  This was my 52nd completed marathon. 

 Unfortunate Windmill site.

The Elk Monument at Whitcomb Summitt.

Viewing Platform for the Hoosac Tunnel construction.

View from Flat Rock Hill with Greylock in view.

 

Crossing of the Cold River.

Stone Carving on rock, obscure path.

Bog Pond.

The Dunham Lot, off Tannery Road.

We are getting close!

The Jambs!

Dwarf Forest and the softest ground-cover imaginable.

Made another trip to detail the "Goathead" trail in Hawley.  The out-and-back run was very enjoyable, especially experiencing the trail in both directions.

Some things noticed that lead to additional research were:

• The swampy marsh area at the height of land, which is the headwaters of the Swift River.
• The stonewalls crossed throughout the route are all the same wall;  there is a fantastic network of stonewall in this area.

 I only had a short amount of time, but the 4.3-miles was really worthwhile.

Sugar Maple along the way. 

 Stonewall Crossing.

 

 Goathead Rock.

 More Stonewall.

Took a run later in the day along the Metacomet in West Suffield, Phelps Road.  Pretty good run, with a surprise near my turn-a-round spot....  last photograph gives answer.

Hueblin is visible to the south.

My Turn-A-Round location near the sign in log.

Surprise of the day!

K2 and I visited Tunxis, this time running from Old Route 20 to Pine Mountain Road and back via the shortcut.  Good for around 10k.

I witnessed a large porcupine early on rambling across the trail.  Roberts Brook was running but barely... continues to be very dry in the northeast.

Took the short cut on the way back, just after the Roberts Brook crossing.  There appears to be additional paths leading off this old route, which I have not seen before.

My porcupine pictures ended up too blurry due to low light and my hurrying.  The rock is above the ravine prior to Roberts Brook;  its right on the trail and you can not miss it.

Took a drive to North Adams to settle up some family business, and on the way home I made a stop in Goshen to the D.A.R. State Forest for a short run.  I had a goal of hopefully capturing a few photographs of DAR's Balanced Rock.  

I had enough time to take a few shots of the Balanced Rock, and the line of large stone that exposed itself along the surface very close-by to the Rock.  Last photo is of a smaller perched stone that sits up top along the Turkey Trail.  This one can be missed during spring and summer, but with leaves off it is pretty noticeable.

Had some time to visit Dubuque State Forest in Hawley, Massachusetts for an ongoing trail monitoring project.  Explored from South Road to the north and east in the forest, covering about 5-miles of trails.  

The area has several cellar holes, at least one capped well that I located, and an incredible network of stone walls.  Photos are mostly of stone wall crossings, which are a true highlight of this trail.  Map of Lumpy Bumpy Trail in the area provided.

A rewarding and educational trip to Mohawk Trail State Forest to learn from the master, Bob L.  As is normally  the case, I arrived early to take a run prior to the interpretive portion of the day.

My goal was to run up Thumper Mountain via the newest trail that popped up a year or two ago, and take some photos of "The Gateway".

Several pictures of "The Gateway", a fine place for meditation... and an ending with a photo of the top of Thumper Mountain.

In the past, this day witnessed me finishing two marathons.  The first was in 2008 and the second was a year later in 2009.

In 2008, Tippi and finished Metacomet II, which began at Phelps Road in Suffield, and covered north to Route 57 and south to Route 20.  Running time of 5:32:00.  This was my 37th and Tippi's 13th completed marathon.

In 2009, Wuzzam joined Tippi and I at Tunxis II (South), which meant we ran from Route 219 to Satan's Kingdom, and also north to Roberts Brook I believe.  Our time was 6:04:44.  This was my 42nd and Tippi's 15th marathon.

The somewhat regular Friday afternoon run at Cowles has been brutally hot and mostly humid.  K2 has been good company along with the flying insects.  Kept short but glad we got 5k on our legs.

Stuck to "Inside Job" to the sign for Shagbark Hickory, and back.  It's a winding, fun route, and I can understand the appeal for mountain bikers.

Another friendly run with Wuzzam and K2;  McCann-Whitiker trails are awesome, and the terrain is hilly enough, with some wonderful happenings in the woods here.  Still very humid in Connecticut, but we managed about 5.5-miles.  The streams are still bone-dry.

Climb toward the top

Stonewalls, magnificent!

Opening in the wall

A look back

Just one more

Another visit to Hawley, to the Dubuque State Forest to work on some of the southern trails.  Did a nice inventory of the bridges, hit the Stone Wall, Root Ball, South Hawley, Gould Connector, Cookstove, Ring and some others not named.  Totaled 11.7-miles in about 3:30, with many stops for pictures.

Spent some time at several cellar holes, thinking I may remember the "old schoolhouse" from Harrison Parker's book.  We shall see.

Stonewalls

Stonewalls

Stonewalls

Bridge over beaver activity on Ring Trail

Pond off Middle Road

 

Hawley to work on the SnoShu and Notch Trail bridge locations.  Ended up with 7.5-miles, beautiful day in the low '70's (at least in Hawley).  Surprised and disappointed to see some illegal trail work being developed along the Notch Trail.

The day gave me a great run and good GPS coordinates for the bridge work.  As a bonus I located the old spring off Notch and Aunt Charity's Chair.

Stonewall through the Notch Trail.

The Notch.

The Notch again.

Oddly positioned Rock along the Notch Trail.

I've been photographing this old Maple since the late '90's.

Aunt Charity's Chair.

Old Stone Foundation along Hunt Road Brook.