At the start of 2017 I had written down some spots I wanted to see for the first time, or re-visit after many years away.  All for the most part in Western Massachusetts, with a few exceptions.  

  1) The Lead Mine

  2) The Goshen Stone Chamber

  3) The Balanced Rock in Williamsburg or Conway

  4) The 1926 Memorial Plaque set in a rock in Williamsburg / Conway

  5) Chesterfield Gorge, including a run along the old path

  6) The Thoreau Pine and Grandfather Pine in Monroe State Forest

  7) See some of the many large boulders in Monroe State Forest

  8) Continue with Savoy Graveyards, especially to find the 2nd Hathaway Burial Ground

  9) Check the waterfalls above the Hairpin Turn on Route 2

10) Hike the Tophet Brook, as much or little as possible

11) Balanced Rocks in NY State and Pittsfield/Lanesboro
12) Burnt Hill in Heath

That is it for now, I will update with additional items and hopefully complete a few of these in 2017.

INTERSECTIONS

If There hasn’t been, there will be an intersection in the trail for each of us.  How much decision-making or thought is placed into the direction we will travel can say a lot about not only our running interest but also our life.

There are times when things are going so well that we just burst through without even noticing the optional paths.  Straight-ahead with focused narrowed mind and thoughts only on that day's run.  Everyone needs and deserves a little selfish indulgence now and again.  The key here is recognition.  Recognize whether you are blindly hurling yourself along the path and losing out to all the wonderful options encircling your life.  Realize if your pace is just too fast for the important people in your life to match.  Be willing to adjust the speed you ride through these intersections at, if you need to.

Other times we are forced to suddenly stop, overwhelmed at the choices we have to consider.  

Is it a right?  After all, this is the upstanding thing and all, going the direction you know is the accepted one.  Choosing the safe secure conservative route won't always impress those around you, but it may be enough to hold the other parts of your life together.  It is wise to take inventory of what's really meaningful to us while at our moment of choice.

What about left?  A side trip to the outer limits is always interesting, but what might you have to give up for those minutes of enjoyment?  Most of us are mature enough to realize that there is a cost associated with the venture down that unexplored path.  Some will have to be brave enough to take the chance; others only have to be foolish.  The trick is to know which it is, each time.

Turn back, around, reverse your steps?  Returning to the safety of the past…  not a very romantic option, no adventure in that is there?  Or, is there?  

How many times have each of us said, at some point in time, 

"If only I had… "  

Or, 

"I wish I could just go back and… "  

While not always the first option when presented with an intersection, it at times is a worthy one.

Sometimes the path we take isn't immediately evident.  That crossroads or intersection has four distinct directions, but what about striking out off of the path?

While not the safety net of a defined route, it may have the most sights to behold.  It will be the roughest ride for sure, but perhaps the most interesting also.  Only the very independent have the option of a journey through the wild.  The rest of us can only dream and wonder.

When at the point of a complete halt, and making a decision is too difficult, beware of digging yourself into a hole.  Avoid the ruts.  Avoid the descent to no return.  Instead, look around for some help.  The friendships you make along the toughest stretches of trail will often be your most enduring.

For some of us there may even be additional choices, that’s the wonder of being individuals.  There will be some easier choices than others, but I bet to each of us these simple directions on life's path end up shaping our lives.  Remember that next time one comes along.

04/04/00

Opening day for the Boston Red Sox '17.  Had plans to drive to Adams and watch the game with my folks.  Along the way, stopped off on Upper East Hoosac Street to run in toward High Bridge.

On the snowmobile route heading east from Marko's Camp toward Brown Road, either all the old cars have been towed out, or somehow I totally blanked and missed them.  I am including some old photos from December 2001 as proof that they did once exists.

Ended the day with 5.4-miles, and the Sox won their opener!

Map and then the first photo are from 2017, the cars from 2001.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The day was predicted to get to around 60-degrees - but the Wuzzam and I started at 8:30 a.m.  We decided on Shenipsit State Forest, and it was an enjoyable choice.  Completed 8-miles in around 1:50:00 of nice slow running (the snow was still a bit slippery in many of the spots, and there was running water throughout the trails).

The snow left things pretty difficult for the trails;  an inch or two of very wet, greasy snow on top of mud.  I didn't want to work through too much of this, so I kept things simple with a 3-mile run along the Metacomet from Phelps Road.

Another addition of music for 2017...

Here is effort #7, Spill the Wine. The Dark Heart Duo, one guitar, a loop pedal and drums.

Tippi at the Tower Graveyard, Bannis Road, March 2004.

Making Maple Syrup, March of '04.  Pop and Paul.  I believe 2017 was my dad's 52nd year of making the delicious liquid.

Cheating a bit with the days, but with leap years and what not I can make my own rules.  On March 25th, 2005 (close to exactly 12 wonderful years ago), Paul, Tippi and I continued a tour on snowshoes with a trip to Tannery Falls.

 

 

Just a day off, 12-years ago.  Pop, Paul, Tips and I figured it was too nice a day not to climb Greylock.  Bright sunny day and lots of smiles from all four of us.

The picture below is one of my favorites of all time.  Those three plus Greylock are really important to me, always have been and always will be.

Over to McLean Reservation for an enjoyable 4.3-miles, and a bump into a local inhabitant.

Still snowy, icy and muddy on the trail.  Visited Metacomet from Route 20 for 3.6-miles.

A day prior to March 24th, 2005, Paul, Tippi and I took on Greylock.  Adams and Greylock will always hold some sway.  Any suggestion of climbing it, regardless of season, is always met with a "yes".  It is one of my magical places.

Pretty special day, we charged up the Cheshire Harbor and then took the road to the Tower.  My notes mention 1:20:10 up including pictuers, and only 31:16 down, over 7.5-miles.

 

 

 

 

 

Back on this day, 2002, we held an impromptu  Hawley Kiln.  Part of the event was a follow up at South Face Farm....  My Mom finished the event on this day!

Back in 2005, on this day March 22nd, my friend Paul and I took Tippi to Savoy Mountain State Forest to climb Spruce Hill.

Tippi and I from 2005

 

This was an incredible winter for Paul and I.  During the winter season I managed just over 400-miles on snowshoes, which only was bested by my 2003 total of 502-miles.  Paul would have had at least that if not more.

Paul and Tips, on top of Spruce

A long, long  while ago, Poncho M. mentioned that "... Spruce Hill is where Farmer Ed converses with GOD."  The thing is, right before I was going under for removal of a brain tumor in October of 2015, my last thoughts were of Spruce Hill.  I was on-top, looking west towards Greylock.  The sky was an incredible blue with big puffy white clouds scattered about.  Greylock was so close I felt as though I could reach out and touch it.  I was feeling a tremendous peace.  This was my last thought and vision before I woke 4 hours later.

Pretty much my vision prior to surgery