We had three birthdays to celebrate today (Tracy, Donnalee, and Otis) and Easter a day early.  Pop, JC and I also drove up to High Bridge to search for the Lead Mine.  Pop said he was last there 67 years ago, and we felt confident.

Pop and I found two cellar holes, and JC wandered up higher and found the mine for us.  On the way back, we spotted a large chunk of Chaga on a birch tree.  Total hike ended right at 2-miles, with two crossings of the Tophet Brook without any of us getting our feet wet (water is high & roaring now).  

1st Cellar Hole

 2nd Cellar Hole

 Low and Behold, the Lead Mine

JC on top of the Lead Mine

 Pop & JC at the Lead Mine

 JC & I at the Lead Mine

 Chaga on Birch close-up

 Chaga on Birch

Also, on this day in 1996, I was fortunate to run the 100th Boston Marathon. It was my 10th marathon completed, in a time of 3:24:14.

Scheduled Easter Ham pick-up at Perkarski's in South Deerfield, so I rambled into Conway State Forest to check out forest road and trail conditions from the late February tornado.  I covered just under 8-miles (7.8) and saw that White Pine didn't hold up well.

I'll check in with DCR to see if there are any plans for cleanup, etc.  This is not a heavily used state forest, so I am not sure what the priority will be.  Snowmobiles use it in winter, so I imagine the main forest roads will be cleared out.  Hunting is popular here, but I don't know how dependent hunter's are on the trail system.  There has been a really wonderful series of single track trails through the forest, unmarked and obscure for the most part.  Some made it, some didn't.

 

 Parked at the Church off Rt 116 and crossed the Burkeville Covered Bridge

 A look off Joe Herrick Gulf

 Nice stonework along a forest road

 Cellar Hole

  Cellar Hole

 Plaque inside Covered Bridge

Out to McLean Reservation for a 4-miler, using a couple trails I haven't been on in a while.  Wonderful day, low 60's and breezy with plenty of sun and blue sky.

Including a map of the route, and photos of Pitch Pine (Bark, Top, Cone and Needles).

 

Another addition of music for 2017...

Here is effort #9, Addicted to Love, The Dark Heart Duo.

No  run today, ended up with poison sumac/ivy and needed a trip to the walk-in clinic.  Spent a good chunk of the day cleaning out our basement.  The day off running did feel good on my legs.

Back to East Granby Farms after a valuable yard-work day.  Connected the old path fairly easily, with the only setback a brutal thorn that stuck in my forearm and swelled achingly.

Map included, the climb towards the metacomet on the northern section is crossed by briars, and they will only get worse as summer approaches.  4.5-miles in 84' degree heat.  Not a bad run.

70' degree day and some time in the afternoon for a run at East Granby Farms.  Roughly 4-miles finding my way through the maze of trails below the Metacomet.

Mid 60's for temperature, sunny and wonderfully cool.  Out to Penwood, ran the Metacomet (or the New England Trail (NET)) south from Wintonberry Road to the Penwood entrance and returned along the yellow trail which is west of the main blue blazed route.  Total of 6.5-miles, plenty of people and dogs enjoying the location today.

Looking down the staircase after the Pinnacle

 Looking up the staircase after the Pinnacle

 Traprock Art

 

Met up with Wuzzam, Sam, and K2 for a trip to Bigelow Hollow State Park in Union, CT.  Took it out to the east side of Breakneck Pond and enjoyed north of Breakneck a bit.  7.8-miles of enjoyable running.  The trail sections are in much better shape than the wider road sections, due to all the water along the route.

Old Stonework north of Breakneck Pond

 

 Another section of Stonework further north

 Wall of flowing water that we decide to climb

 Wuzzam and Sammy climbing like Champions

 Small falls on the route uphill

 View from the north end of Breakneck Pond looking south

Late Friday run along the Metacomet, Phelps Road heading south to the sign-in log.  The route was a bit wet and muddy, but clear of any ice or snow.  3.7-miles.

Music 2017...

Here is effort #8, My My.

Back in '87 & '88 the Rev K and I wrote and played some songs in the mid-cities of Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas.  I do recall the playing and attempts at composing, what I did not expect or remember was the cassette tapes.  Cleaning out my basement after all this time has been really rewarding.

We called ourselves the Road Warriors for Christ.  We participated in many Road Runs, Century Bike Rides across Texas, and Triathlons.  We also wrote and played music.

This one was written by the Reverend;  both of us on guitar, with my lead vocals and Reverend's Chorus.
 

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.