Music 2021...

Effort #10,  "Reality and Reflection"...  beginnings of a concept named "Turning a Corner". 

McLean Reservation Trail Run for 3.7-miles. 

Odds and ends around home, then an road-run over the extended Hill Street Loop, for 9.7-miles.

3-mile run along Main Street between:

• Chores around home
• Eye Doctor Visit for DL
• Market Shopping
• Corolla Service (scheduled maintenance)
• Camry Service (scheduled maintenance)

Visited a few properties in Simsbury Land Trust, namely Onion Mountain, Massacoe Forest, and Tulmeadow Farm Trail.

Managed to connect Onion (trails are in dire need of maintenance) to Massacoe (logging disturbance has made a complete mess out of the trailhead from Onion, and it appears that the "Friends of Massacoe" (or similar named entity) have managed to halt the destruction by DEEP Forest Management), connecting to the Tulmeadow Farm Trail (which was pretty awesome).

Ended the run with a section on the road to re-connect to the parking area at Onion Mountain, completed just over 6.4-miles for the day.

 Balanced Rock on Onion Mountain

Met up with Wuzzam for a hopeful 8-mile run in Mclean.  Once we completed our loop, we had 7.8-miles, which is pretty darn close to expectations!

Visited Tunxis in East Hartland, and its been awhile.  Still a bit of ice around the trails, with mud and soft ground present as well.  Another week and things should be pretty dry and solid here.

Completed 6-miles, on the quick side (5.7-mph).

Trail-Running in McLean, conditions were fantastic with no snow, ice or mud really.  

Completed a slow 6-miles.

Drove out to Ashfield to explore a few more of the snowmobile routes.  I was hoping to find the trail from Beldingville Road, right on the Ashfield/Conway line, over the ravine between Mt Owen and Toby Hill.  I covered this section on April 10, 2009 with Tippi.  I haven't been back since.

I've been trying to cover all the snowmobile trails in Ashfield, with a late start of January 31st.  This trail hadn't looked like it was being used, at least I couldn't see any sign of snowmobile traffic or activity at the Route 116 crossing.

As I started at the northern end, the snowmobile tracks I could still see in the snow bore left instead of the correct right at the top of the field.  I followed this old logging path to the east of Toby Hill, until I was dropping down a steep ravine which would have brought me to Toby Hollow I suspect.  Lesson of the day is to go with your first instinct, as mine was to travel right in the field rather than this dead-end of a left.

I decided to stay "higher" on the hill rather than totally retracing my steps, which would have meant losing a good bit of elevation I had gained.  This was interesting, as there was a fairly "flat" game-trail along a contour that brought me along the north face of Toby Hill, until I intersected a path leading straight up a ravine along the west side of Toby Hill.  This didn't look like a snowmobile trail (too steep), but I avoided my better judgement and explored.

I was making my way west, thinking that I would at some point find the correct trail, but I found myself on a ledge with a pretty severe drop, so I needed to travel north again to find a better re-entry point to the ravine which was housing the snowmobile corridor.

I finally managed to stumble onto the proper path, and followed it down to Route 116.  It was pretty much as I remembered it, and doesn't look like it has changed much over the years I've been away from it.  My guess of no snowmobile traffic looks likely, at least for this year if not a few years, as there were no tracks, and many downed trees along the way.  Later on, when heading back towards my start point on Beldingville, the snowmobile corridor trail is marked "closed" for about a quarter-mile section.  This explains why no sleds going through.

Finished with 7-miles, which included the exploring on the way north to south.  I also ran some on the road toward Sabin and Pine Hill, seeing where the snowmobile trail went to the east.

The northern half of this range still held about a half to a full foot of snow, with the southern section bare ground.  The footing was extremely difficult in the snow.

Run along the road into work, 5.5-miles.

3.4-miles Cowles Park, decent conditions with no mud to speak of (off-limits to bicycles still).

Our butterfly that hatched inside our home on February 19th made it twenty-one days;  the expected life-span for the little guy was 10-14 days (at best, according to Magic Wings).

Here are a few pictures of his last days...

Black Lizard / Vintage Crime #2 for 2021...

"The Kill Off", by Jim Thompson, first published in 1957.

Cover Image

First Edition

Alternate Edition

Alternate Early Edition

The New England Trail (NET) has been known to me as the Metacomet Trail for thirty-years, and I am still trying to get used to the name change.  The NET HIKE 50 (or 100) CHALLENGE is something I've done each year since it began, and I hope to complete it again in 2021...

NET HIKE 50 CHALLENGE

From Connecticut Forest and Parks, and the The New England Trail dot org...

Over the last three years almost 600 participants have completed the challenge, logging over 50,000 miles on the New England Trail!

In 2018 we celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the National Trails System with our first 50 mile challenge. In 2019, we built upon this by adding an extra 100 mile challenge to highlight the 10 year anniversary of the designation of the NET. In 2020, we encouraged participants to use the NET as their close-to-home trail amidst travel restrictions. We anticipate continuing the challenge in 2021, and hope to announce in early spring. Keep tracking your miles/points and stay tuned!

Music 2021...

Effort #09,  "Behind the Curtain"...  guitar and parrot, with manipulations.