Magnificent day, mid sixties and sunny.  No humidity, No bugs, and No snakes!  I felt decent, or at least better than I have been regarding leg discomfort.  I planned on driving to Savoy, for three possible destinations....

First, to get back on the Berkshire Natural Resources Council Hoosac Range Trail to Spruce Hill.  I've written (March 22, 2017) of a Spruce Hill vision.  This would be my first visit back since early in  2015 (very hard to believe, as I used to routinely make it to Spruce Hill monthly).

Second, I'd cross Route 2 above the Wigwam and Western Summit Gift Shop to head to "Top of the World", and then further north to Canyon Brook.  Once at Canyon Brook, I would hope to venture downstream to potential waterfalls I had read about in "Wild Side Adventures" by Nan Williams.

Lastly, I have been doing some research on the Second Hathaway Cemetery, in Savoy.  Middle of nowhere, no trail leading into it, sounded fun.

Things worked out pretty well.  I covered 7.1-miles  between the Hoosac Range and Top of the World.  

The Hoosac Range Trail to Spruce Hill was in fantastic shape, the first couple miles recently weed-whacked even.  This trail is easily in my top ten trails to explore, it's got climbing, views, and scenery.  There is an old path leading east toward a large pond that I need to explore on my next visit.

Once back at the BNRC Kiosk, I continued across Route 2 and up the service road to the cell tower.  The short run out to Top of the World, which I had last visited toward the end of May, 2015, was awesome.  The image on the top right of this blog homepage is from that visit, with Tippi walking toward the edge.  After the view, however, the trail developed into multiple, large mud-holes.  It's obvious that it has been a rainy couple months.  I decided to bail on the potential waterfalls (I imagine with this much water it would have been great) and head to Savoy Hollow on the Windsor border for a graveyard search.  I'll be back for Canyon Brook and Falls soon enough, when things dry out just a bit.

To get to Savoy Hollow, I decided to check Black Brook Road.  It looked "open" when I drove past this morning (the road was totaled and closed since Hurricane Irene).  It is now open, and in great shape!

To find the Second Hathaway Cemetery, I plotted a "clear" area in ArcMap after downloading LiDar data for the area.  The spot I picked looked right, and I thought I could see a stonewall around the clearing.  To get there, I decided to make it fun, and memorize stonewalls that would lead basically to the graveyard.  These stonewalls show up fantastically well in the data.

I found the Second Hathaway Lot, and it was really memorable.  The only mix-up I had was one of the stonewalls I needed to follow stopped before it was supposed to (should have intersected with a east/west stonewall).  This lead to me wandering a bit, and following a stonewall I "thought" was correct but I couldn't be sure.  All worked out in the end, and I left the area a pretty happy visitor.

The search for the graves took about 2-miles of hiking.  I exited along a snowmobile trail for some of it, and by the looks of the notes and the LiDar image, I walked right by a cellar hole I would have liked to have viewed.  Looks like another visit will be necessary!

Berkshire Natural Resource Council's Hoosac Range Kiosk

 View from Sunset Rock on the Hoosac Range Trail

 Hollowed trunk along the trail

 Two large quartzite boulders on the trail

The Hoosac Tunnel passes underneath this location

  View southeast, with Borden Mountain at the far left

  Looking off Spruce Hill toward Greylock

 Proof positive I am where I thought I was!

  View north with both sets of windmills viewable

  A side trail with a view of Greylock

Top of the World, looking at Greylock

  Rough Location of the Second Hathaway Graveyard (green dot)

 LiDar showing the stonewalls as raised surfaces (green dot still visible)

  My route following the stonewalls and finally getting a little lucky!

The gate and stonewall surrounding the Second Hathaway Cemetery

Many graves are still standing

Welcome Stanton and L. Clarinda Stanton

Looking northeast toward the surrounding stonewall

Written data regarding the Second Hathaway Cemetery

 

 

 

 

The day was very sunny, yet not too warm and wonderfully breezy.  I felt like I wanted to do something long and slow, to see how I would hold up.  By this I mean not too long, and very slow.

It was shady along Phelps Road, so I parked in my normal spot to run the Metacomet.  My last run on the 8-mile out and back was a really good one, but I had no illusions of this being a record setter.

The good news was I made it through the 8-miles, and didn't feel that bad until the last mile or so.  It is really going to be great to get better from this Lyme Disease.  All in all, I call not only today a success, but the last three days of running as well.

Copper / Peak Mtn with a view of Talcott in background

 Another view slightly north of Peak Mountain

The visit to Penwood yesterday revived me a bit emotionally and spiritually.  I'm still not rid of the fatigue and discomfort from the Lyme infection, but my legs felt better this morning while working on the patio so I thought I'd head back to the same basic area to run the opposite side of Route 185, and add some climbing in.

The parking lot at Penwood was about half-full at 10:00 a.m., and it was still very humid and warm.  As I made my way along the climb to Hueblin Tower, wind was trying to pick up and the humidity dropped significantly.  This felt refreshing, and each time I was feeling "too warm" a nice breeze would appear.  The route, which is a nice loop on a stem, tracked out at 5.7-miles.  This will be either the last or first section of a planned marathon, stretching from Southwick/Agawam to Talcott.

START SECTION                             END SECTION                                DISTANCE      TOTAL

Route 57	Rising Corner	2.3	2.3
Rising Corner	Mountain Road	2.6	4.9
Mountain Road	Route 20	5	9.9
Route 20	Hatchet Hill	2	11.9
Hatchet Hill	Farmington River	2.2	14.1
T-Ville Section	T-Ville Section	0.5	14.6
T-Ville	Penwood	2.2	16.8
Penwood North	Penwood South	3.1	19.9
Talcott-Hueblin Loop		5.7	25.6

 

The High Elevation of the run, Hueblin Tower on Talcott Mountain

 

Prior to Hueblin Tower, there is this nice opening/view in the trail

 Massive walls of rock east of Little Phillip Mountain

Second snake sighting in two days, this one a bit smaller

Wandered out to Penwood to see how I would hold up over the 6 1/2-mile loop around the park.  The warmth and humidity have returned, and the deer flies are just beginning to appear.  Despite these negatives, I had a decent run.  I was able to drop my prior best time from April of this year (1:34:00) to a respectable 1:28:00 today.

I am still having some lingering aches in my legs, I am a little over half-way into my lyme medications.  Not uncomfortable enough to not try running, but it will be something when all symptoms leave me.

 View from the top of the Pinnacle

First large snake of the year that I almost stepped on (~4-footer)

 View from the lookout south of Pinnacle

On this day in 2012, Wuzzam and I completed a Metacomet Marathon, with a time of 7:00:00.  Tippi ran the first section with us, from Route 20 to Phelps Road, and back (about 10.5-miles).  Weather report was that heating up was very possible - so the Donnalee grabbed Tippi early.  This was my 46th marathon completed.

Our Route for the Marathon Distance.

Music 2017...

Here is effort #19, One Million Kisses...

Quietly and quickly recorded this wonderful tale from Jad Fair of Half-Japanese.

 

Today was break from running, so I did some mapping.  Have it in my head that it would be interesting to know the high elevations for all towns in Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire, and Hampden Counties of  Massachusetts.  The map isn't fancy, but it is starting to show results as I completed 15-Towns in Northern Berkshire County.

Going back in time...  

On this day in 1998, my Pop and I completed the 1st Greylock Centennial Marathon in Adams, Massachusetts.  Our time was 6:55:38.  This was a very difficult course, with 5 lengthy climbs.

This was my 19th marathon completed, and my dad's first.

It felt like the humidity broke, but it still made the high '80's today.  Nice breeze though, which made it very comfortable in the woods.  I still am keeping the running short due to the lyme disease flare up / doxycycline prescription;  I am on day 11 of 21 with the medications.

Tackled the Metacomet from Route 20 in Granby  north to the scout camp-site and back.  4-miles of beautiful blue sky, soft blowing breeze and bright sun in  a clouded sky.

View from Copper / Peak Mtn, 1-mile out

Approaching the view at 1.5-miles out

Looking south from 1.5-miles on the exposed rock

We're still in a pattern of high humidity, and possible heavy rain, so I headed out early to McLean Refuge.  Back on June 2nd I explored the western Barndoor Hill, so to not leave the east-side out I made it my focus today.

Pretty much all the trails in McLean are well managed and enjoyable, and there are a lot of them.  There is a fairly complete map available at the Mclean website.  The trail up to the eastern Barndoor Hill is a decent climb, with several rewarding views, and horseshoes back to the main route over the hill.  Finished my morning run with 3.7-miles, and a smile on my face (beat the heavy rain!).

View west toward the Western Barndoor Hill

Another view west toward the Western Barndoor Hill

Mclean Refuge Map

To Adams for Father's Day, with a dozen donuts from Mrs. Murphy's in Southwick for my Pop.  Along the way I noticed a Roadside Memorial along Route 9, in Cummington.  God Bless you KC, and may you rest in Peace.

Further along the drive, I passed the old Berkshire Snow Basin, which may be DCR property now, or at least Bryant Mountain Wildlife Habitat.

There are several pages on the internet devoted to old ski areas;  here are three that lead to Berkshire Snow Basin, I am sure there are others.

Berkshire Snow Basin 1

Berkshire Snow Basin 2

Berkshire Snow Basin 3

Drove through Windsor Jambs, which brought back fantastic memories of camping along the Westfield River during from 1990 through the late 2000's.  Listening to Owls back-and-forth all evening and early morning long, and the peacefulness of the river just below our tent.  It truly is sad that the area closed to camping around 2011, and remains "unstaffed".

From there I parked at the Hopkins Road / Bannis Road intersection so I could enjoy a short run heading north.  This was the site of the "Dragon House", the home of Roger Davis.  Outside, during the '90's, there was a sign that read something like "...all friends welcome, stop in for a spell".  I always thought about visiting, but I never made it.  Here are some links to the legend....

The First Witch of Savoy

Remembering the Life of Roger Davis I

Dragon House Burns - Roger Davis II

The End of the Story ... ?

Made my run out and back to the Tower Graveyard, passing the Babbit Graveyard along the way.  Completed the hilly journey with 3.5-miles.

Route for the Day

Babbit Graveyard

 Babbit Graveyard

Dam and Small Pond

Tower Graveyard

All that remained was the celebration of Father's Day with my family. Wonderful cookout, followed by incredible homemade strawberry and raspberry pie (1 of each).  Picked up a sub at Angelina's Subs on Columbia Street for DL, before leaving Adams.  This was a really good day.

3.7-mile run at McLean Reservation.  Overcast and low '70's, which is pretty nice for me.

Took another tour on Main Street, but headed south this time.  Managed a rainy 3.2-miles.

It seemed like about time for a run, and the night was cool enough, so I made it through Main Street for 3-miles on sidewalk.  We'll see how the hips and thighbones respond to this, as that is where the Lyme Disease hits me hardest.

Massachusetts as a state has a great deal of recreational open space protected.  It is no wonder that I gravitated toward the outdoors then and now.

Commonwealth of Massachusetts Protected Open Space

Growing up in Adams, we learned how to make our own fun.  The amount of "woods" available to us, to call our own, was and is fantastic.

Adams, Massachusetts Protected Open Space

 Being a Little Smarter

What I search for when trail running is a rhythm between myself and the forest floor, one that allows me to float effortless above all those roots-rocks-mud-trees and escape into only running. The trail exist, and I exist, but nothing else exist. I am swallowed up and totally engulfed in an ancient state, freeing up my mind to travel backwards in time while I hurl myself foreword. Unfortunately, the best and only true way to accomplish this is by running alone.

Being alone in the woods has never bothered me. It leaves me with a feeling of just how small and powerless I am on earth. Without the falsity of man made infringements, the world seems truly a better place. Or at least more peaceful.

Mid May of this year, something happened to make me think of being alone so much in the woods. On a Tuesday night group run on the Metacomet Trail in Suffield, CT. one new member of the trail running community stepped on a downed tree branch and turned his ankle. We heard the crack of the dry brittle wood, and a yelp. Lightnin’ Steve later mentioned that he thought he heard a second crack, a limb of a human nature. I recalled from my own experiences with ankle twist that if you keep walking the pain resides and within minutes you are running again. Well, this didn’t work. We elevated the injured foot for a while, then decided to walk on out off the ridge.

The park we start at was only a mile and a half from the injury. Fifteen minutes running. The walk this night seemed to take forever as each step was painful to watch as John tried to softly place the swollen foot down. Looking back on the ordeal now, I admire his courage and tolerance of pain. He is going to make a fine trail runner when he mends. We convinced him to get the foot into the cold lake before driving home, telling him all kind of lies about it being only a sprain. The phone call the next day told me different.

A broken ankle. Made me think about how often I disappear into the woods hours from a road crossing solo except for my dog. I do know that I won’t change my habit of venturing out by myself. What I will do is make sure someone always knows where I am (at least which forest) and when I expect to be back. The positive feelings I get from the solitude of trail running are not worth giving up out of fear of an injury. I only need to be a little smarter. Like I said before, maybe it’s the feeling of how small and powerless I am on this great earth that is the appeal......

  {05/30/97}