Walk along Plymouth Beach with DL.

Later today DL and I are driving out to North Reading for dinner, and then navigating to Plymouth for an overnight stay and a lunch on Thursday.  Something we are looking forward to, and a nice trip to catch two family members on our circuit.

This morning, I met up with Wuzzam to run the Simon's Skyline Loop for the 1st time this season.  It was wet, but not as bad as I thought it would be.  Between Skyline and Minnechoag there has been even more logging, and the route is easy to follow but I suspect it exist a bit lower on the ridge than it once did.  I can compare tracks at some point.

We completed the 7.7-miles (7.8 today as we swayed a bit here and there) in roughly 2:10.  That is the same time we ran on last years first attempt.  It was really good to complete the loop, all the climbs, and see the sun actually come out for most of it.

Kneeling Tree

Wuzzam at the Kneeling Tree

Top of 880'

View east off 880'

View south off 880' - Pine Mtn next up for climbing

Wuzzam cresting Pine Mtn

Wuzzam at the Upper Junction

Continuing on the New England Trail (aka Metacomet Trail), this time from Old Holyoke Road in Westfield (I believe), just off Route 20, out to the turn-around spot from yesterday at Snake Peak.

I totaled 6.2-miles for the day, pretty enjoyable on a rocky, rugged route.  There are several nice lookouts, two old fire-towers still standing, and many side-trails if exploring was on someone's mind.

As my thought's drifted today, it became apparent that I've traveled the New England Trail (Metacomet) from Heublein Tower in Simsbury, at my southernmost effort, to Bay Road in Belchertown, just after the Holyoke Notch sections.  I am actually missing from north of the Westfield River to my starting point today, however.

First Fire-Tower of the day

View off an open peak

Second Fire-Tower of the day

Another View, Fire-Tower

Moss, Stone, and Flowers

Arriving at Snake Peak

Looking north from Snake Peak, Mt Tom in distance

Another view of Mt Tom in distance

Gravel Road for Communications Tower, Mystery Peak to the south

More connections of the circled-world today, along the New England Trail (Metacomet/Monadnock).  I wanted to park at Route 10/202 but I didn't see a designated parking area, and most of the shoulder was noticed "No Parking".

I drove into Holyoke Community College and found a grounds maintenance worker to ask "trail" directions from.  That was a success.

It was a fairly easy climb up the hill to rejoin the Metacomet at a point I ran through on May 4th.  Followed back down to Apremont Street where I turned around that day, and continued past McLean Reservoir out to Snake Peak.

The route remains nice, and I plan on continuing south.  I ended with 6.4-miles, which was a bit less than I had planned but I had lost about 30 or so minutes trying to find a place to park and begin.

Before driving home, I captured two Roadside Memorials located a mile or so apart on Route 202.  God Bless.

View south from Peak

View west from Peak

View north from Snake Peak

North-End of McLean Reservoir

Trail-Head at Holyoke Community College

Roadside Memorial, west of McLean Reservoir, Route 202

Roadside Memorial, east of McLean Reservoir, Route 202

Visited my Mom for Mother's Day, which was awesome.  Took a long way back to Connecticut, along Route 2 (the Mohawk Trail) and stopped off at Native Views (once known as The Big Indian Shop) in Charlemont / Shelbourne Falls.

It was time for a Northern Nipmuck 16-mile adventure.  There was a race on this section of the Nipmuck from 2000 to 2012, or so,  I believe.  Prior to the race, it was a common "fun-run" event for many years.

During those years where a true event took place, I participated four-times.  Two of the runs were pretty good, 2:34:43 and 2:35:21, good for a 10th and 9th place respectively.  These were in 2004 and 2005 it looks like, honestly I don't remember the years but I do recall some of the events during these races.

Today, Wuzzam was up for a try at 16-tough miles with me.  I compounded the difficulty by suggestion that we attempt to average 4-mph along the way, so a 4-hour time limit.  This 16-mile run doesn't have massive climbs within it, but a good majority is difficult footing as well as constant up and down.

I hung on, managing 3:52 for a gps measured 15.93-miles.  That got me a 4.1-mph average.  Pretty far removed from 2:35, but if training can remain consistent for me, something around 3-hours by the fall may not be impossible.

As a bonus, I ran into "the Cemetery Man" hiking within the forest, a real blast from the past.

Wuzzam navigating one of many small stream crossings

A "somewhat" rock-free section of trail

Looking off Big Ledge

Above Boston Hollow

Black Lizard / Vintage Crime #12 for 2019.  Patricia Highsmith's 1955 intro into Tom Ripley, "The Talented Mr. Ripley".

East Granby Farms up to the Metacomet Ridge for 4.1-miles.

Beautiful night to run along a ridge.  I ventured to Cowles Park, East Granby to ramble for 3.3-miles.

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".