Music 2019...

Effort #20, "Lord You Are the Wine".  

This was the final performance the Dark Heart Duo recorded live for the "High Noon" Sessions, April 26th, 2019.

An old spiritual that inspired us.

Finally a sunny day!  

Normally, after three or more consecutive days of running I would opt for a day or two off, but the sun and dry ground energized me toward a 3-mile run on the Metacomet.  North from Phelps Road.

Nick's Hill - view northwest

Nick's Hill - view southwest

It's still raining pretty regularly throughout the country, so New England isn't any different or unusual.  I found a "break" in the downpour in the mid-afternoon, and managed 5.5-miles on the Metacomet Trail from Route 20 north to the stonewall and back.

View along the "spine"

Stonewall crossing roughly 2.75-miles from Route 20 heading north

Still a lot of rain, and the ground is very saturated.  I decided I would run on a ridge trail, and I was looking for something different.  I chose to visit the Mt Tom area, but I ran south on the Metacomet Trail over the northern most East Mountain section.

This is a really nice section of trail.  I ran 4.5-miles out to the road just prior to Rt 202 I believe.  On the way back I took a minor shortcut to end with 8.3-miles for the day.

I somehow missed the balanced rock while running "out", but luckily I couldn't miss it on the way back in.  It was close to the old fire-tower site, directly on the trail basically.

There are many optional trails through this ridge, but the white blazes of the NET (New England Trail), or Metacomet Trail as normally referred, are plentiful.

Trail-Head area

View south from a peak

View south from same peak above

Fire-Tower

View south from a peak

View south from a peak

Balanced Rock

Balanced Rock

Balanced Rock

3-miles along the Metacomet Trail, from Phelps Road south.

Music 2019...

Effort #19, "Had to Cry".  

Once again, as per last week, the Dark Heart Duo recorded live on Crown Street for the "High Noon" Sessions, April 26th, 2019.

This is a simple riff on Blind Faith's "Had to Cry Today".

Here are my accomplishments for April 2019.

April 2019 High Points:

• Nick's Hill, West Suffield, CT
• Poplar Hill, Whately, MA
• Battlecock Hill, Williamsburg, MA
• Ore Hill, Granville State Forest, Granville, MA
• Old Wolf Hill, Unquemonk, Williamsburg, MA
• West Suffield Mountain, Metacomet Trail, West Suffield, CT
• Stony Hill, McLean Game Refuge, Simsbury & East Granby, CT

• I've continued on a good pace so far in 2019.  I've continued to work the "long run" plan, completing the following "long-runs" this year in April, despite working through the month with regular Physical Therapy Sessions for a sore Calf/Achilles:

•   8.9
•   8.7
•   8.7

• I also have been able to stay a ahead of my mileage goals per week, with an end-of-year total of 1200-miles of running planned.  I am currently roughly 30.9-miles over my scheduled goal.

Black Lizard / Vintage Crime #11 for 2019.  Andrew Vachss 1995 entry, "Footsteps of the Hawk".

More rain over the past few days makes for wet trails and mud.  I gave Wuzzam a choice of McLean or the Metacomet, which I felt would be good, dry, options.  Wuzzam didn't want the hills of Metacomet, so McLean it was.

We managed 8.7-miles, running the same exact time and route as our January 6th, 2019 adventure.  Unbelievable, right?

Another day which looked like rain, so I managed an enjoyable 3.5-mile run along the Metacomet Trail, from Phelps Road north.

And "going-back" to April of 2009, Tippi and I explored much of the snowmobile trails of Conway and adjoining state forest together.  Here is a map of some connecting links...

Drove out to Whately to pick up the snowmobile trail off Conway Road and head south towards Smith College's Ada and Archibald MacLeish Field Station.

The connection works really well, and the trails within the MacLeish property look fantastic, especially once we get rid of some of the wet weather and the ground can dry out some.

There are many additional trails in the area, snowmobile and old jeep trails.  I plan on exploring throughout the summer, as this isn't a far drive time-wise.

The added bonus is this section allows for a connection to Conway State Forest near the Henhawk and Grass Hill areas at the bottom of the reservoir, as well as connector points further north near  the Cricket Hill access point to Conway State Forest.

Completed this run at 7.1-miles, feeling fresh enough to stop along a seasonal waterfall on Conway Road to snap a few photographs, and further the exploration by heading to Mass Audubon's Graves Farm in Williamsburg.

Across from the parking area at Graves Farm, on the north side pasture, it looked like old topo maps show a trail heading in to meet up with Grass Hill Road.  I have been wanting to reconnect this for many years, and my March run through Grass Hill refreshed my memory.

I managed to find the old path, ventured slightly off due to some logging and missing the old turn.  After wandering a bunch, I re-entered on track and found my way back out, acknowledging where I had missed the turn.  I should be "good to go" in the future to make the connection.

Added another 1.6-miles to my earlier mark, for a grand total of 8.7-miles for the day.

View southeast from MacLeish

There are beginnings of a very nice trail system in MacLeish

Beautiful  Nolan Brook flowing past the Orange Trail

Stonewall is positioned "through" Nolan Brook at this point

Seasonal Waterfall off Conway Road

Also, on this day in 2006, I completed a Metacomet Marathon with my dog Tippi;  it was just us.  By 2005, most of my running turned toward exploring and mapping routes through the forest of Western Massachusetts and North Central Connecticut, with an emphasis on picking out ways to connect big tracks of land, and turn them into runs of marathon length.

Tips taking a look toward the quarry in West Suffield, Connecticut.

This run began in Sunrise Park, Suffeld, Connecticut and flowed south through Penwood State Forest in Bloomfield and Simsbury, Connecticut.  We spent 6:27:00 completing a little over 28-miles or so.  This was my 31st marathon completed, and Tippi's 7th.
 

Hueblin Tower in the distance; we would be turning around just prior to it.

Notes:  A great day;  started out 50 degrees at the 9:45 A.M. start time.  I believe it reached 70 degrees during the day, with most of it in the mid to upper 60’s.  Sunny and blue sky entire time, with a bit of a nice breeze every once and a while.

Tippi taking a look back off a ledge.

Much of the route is a ridge trail, with weather beaten trees still standing.

Tippi at the finish, ready to eat and rest.

  

 The Route we managed in April of 2006.

Music 2019...

Effort #18, "Observing the Stars is Like Looking Back in Time".  

Dark Heart Duo live on Crown Street for the "High Noon" Sessions, April 26th, 2019.  Although it's been almost three years since we played "music" together, I like the vibe Jon Evil and I created this day.

We played seven different pieces.  This was our lead in track to set us in the correct mood to explore, allowing us to get our feet wet.  Just a very simple jam on an "E" chord.  We ventured deep into repetition, almost to the point of the music happening without our involvement.  Trance-like, as we prefer. 

Without really being aware of time, the sounds filled the room for almost 19-minutes.  We were on our way...

It's been a long wait for the calf / achilles to heal, but today I was determined to see how things felt.  I chose Unquomonk Reservoir area to tie up loose ends from earlier this month.

The lower leg felt just fine, and I rambled on for 8.9-miles.  Beautiful day, around 60-degrees and sunny.  I need to further explore the "Big View" area of Williamsburg Woodland Trails, and the remainder of the trails out to Route 143 went fantastically.  I was even able to use both the old path from Rt 143 to the Gravel Road at the Gun Club as well as the newer version.  It was nice to match up some old gps tracks from long ago.

I'll need to finalize the last 15-miles of the planned Bullitt Reservation to Route 9 Snack Bar Marathon.  The next 3 or 4 weeks hopefully will give me time as well as decent weather.

Signage at Big View Parking Area

Western feeder to Marble Brook

Headwaters to Marble Brook feeder

A small clearing with strong Spiritual Sway

Unquomonk Pond

Another view of the Unquomonk Pond on a gorgeous day

Signage at Big View Parking

Music 2019...

Effort #17, "I Want You".  1984, Primitives in Maziarz Garage, with a bass-heavy version.  

It's time once again for the Hike 50 Challenge, or, in case 50-miles isn't enough, the Hike-100 Challenge.  I completed last year's inaugural Hike50 Challenge by April.  So far this year, I am just over 38-miles along the Metacomet (New England Scenic Trail).

Here is the announcement via the NewEnglandTrail website:

In 2018, 340 of you completed the challenge, logging over 17,000 miles on the New England Trail! With over 1,500 signups from last year we have the feeling that some of you weren't able to complete your miles in 2018. Good news, we are launching a 2019 challenge! New year! Updated challenge!

In 2019, we are celebrating another important milestone on the New England Trail. March 30, 2019 marks the 10th anniversary of the designation of the NET as a National Scenic Trail. To celebrate a decade of adventures on the NET and to build on your momentum from 2018, we are launching a 2019 bonus challenge! In addition to our Hike50 challenge we are offering a Hike100 challenge where the rules are the same but the points required are doubled. To commemorate this anniversary, we will be offering a new special edition 10th anniversary patch for those who earn 50 or 100 points and complete the challenge in 2019!

The rules of the challenge are simple! Anyone who hikes 50 or 100 miles on the NET during the 2019 calendar year will receive a special edition 10th anniversary New England Trail patch. Hiking however, is not the only way to earn points and complete the challenge. This year we welcome you to design your own Hike 50 Challenge in a way that fits your lifestyle! We’ve come up with a list of alternate ways to earn points and celebrate our trail. Look here to learn about all of the ways you can earn points and receive a patch!