Sunday, September 19, 2021

More Granville, connecting some of the intersections I've come across but hadn't explored.

Finished a decent 7.6-miles with excellent progress on the network.

Old Chimney along trail

Saturday, September 18, 2021

Granville for more exploring - 6.8-miles with many new trails to follow.

Friday, September 17, 2021

Suffield 5km Course.

This time, cool yet humid conditions, but another "PR" regardless; 24:34. 

Times for my Race Against Myself at this location:

  • #1, 2019 - 28:04 (July 2nd, 2019)
  • #2, 2019 - 27:46 (July 9th, 2019)
  • #1, 2021 - 27:00 (June 28th, 2021)
  • #2, 2021 - 25:20 (July 9th, 2021)
  • #3, 2021 - 26:48 (August 20th, 2021)
  • #4, 2021 - 25:29 (August 27th, 2021)
  • #5, 2021 - 25:10 (September 3rd, 2021)
  • #6, 2021 - 24:34 (September 17th, 2021)

Weekly Weigh In while involved with the 61-Day Challenge - 220 lbs.

Thursday, September 16, 2021

Visited my Mom to celebrate with her (it was Birthday #81 for her today). 

Wednesday, September 15, 2021

Compared to the last week or so, this day was very warm and humid.  I performed a series of chores around home until mid-day, and then rambled out to Granville Gorge to put together some of the dirt / forest road sections along Munn Brook.

Completed 7.5-miles of mostly repeated trails, which is unusual for this area as it seems I am always stumbling into something new (I avoided temptation today, stuck to the planned route).

Tuesday, September 14, 2021

Yet more exploring in Granville, this time covering 7.2-miles with a decent amount of single-track.

Small Brook along single-track trail

Trail through old stonewall

Massive (12' High) Perched Rock

Massive (12' High) Perched Rock

Massive (12' High) Perched Rock

Reservoir

From the Archives: I raced and completed my second Pisgah Marathon on this day in 1999, completing 50km in 5:47:30.  Ran the majority with the Bandit, throughout a beautiful park in New Hampshire.  This was my 22nd finished marathon.

Monday, September 13, 2021

Yet another trip to Southwick/Granville to run from the Gorge.  I wanted to explore some of the side-trails I'd encountered over the past few days, and I rambled along the eastern "bottom" of Drake for 5.2-miles.

Large Standing Stone with "platform"

Large Standing Stone with "platform"

Remnants of old well, end of trail

Beaver Pond

Munn Brook, downstream of Gorge

Old Cabin, seen better days...

On this day in 2005, I completed my 29th marathon at Mt Washington State Forest, with the Riga Plateau, Appalachian Trail, and South Taconic Trail thrown in for good measure.  I had Tippi and Wuzzam along for the day, which set a record for high temperature unfortunately for us.  This was Tippi's 5th completed marathon.

Our time was 5:10:41, which shows we were really running pretty hard.  The lack of water on the trail was a real concern for me, with Tippi.  Luckily, the stream at the bottom of Bear had plenty, and from there on we were set.

Wuzzam looked absolutely beat climbing and coming down off Bear.  He needed the stream to cool off in as much as Tips did.

Sunday, September 12, 2021

Parked on Route 57 across from Southwick's Granville Gorge, and hoped/planned on connecting to Drake Mountain from the south.

Excellent day of exploring on the trails, the connection worked, but more importantly I found myself on two long single track trail sections that were just dynamite.

Ended the adventure with 8.6-miles, with a series of balanced/perched stones to admire.

Three Rock Formation along Trail

Standing Stone along trail

Mountain Swamp

Perched Rock

Balanced Rock

Balanced Rock

Balanced Rock

Balanced Rock

Stonewall

Standing Stone along trail

View from Drake Mountain

View from Drake Mountain

Saturday, September 11, 2021

I am back on a Granville kick, basically the Drake Mountain Area.

Explored some additional trails and finished with 9.6-miles.

Large Split Rocks "a passageway"

Huge 15' - 20' Boulder, possibly perched, flying American Flag

Huge 15' - 20' Boulder, possibly perched, flying American Flag

Huge 15' - 20' Boulder, possibly perched, flying American Flag

View from Huge 15' - 20' Boulder, Holyoke Range in distance

A second Huge 15' Boulder

A second Huge 15' Boulder

Friday, September 10, 2021

Drove out to Granville after work to re-check and run the mountain-bike path I stumbled onto back on May 21st.

Completed 6.2-miles and witnessed a perfect balanced rock I had not noticed before.

Balanced - Perched Rock

Balanced - Perched Rock

Balanced - Perched Rock

Larger Balanced - Perched Rock

Larger Balanced - Perched Rock

From the Archives:  On this day in 2007, Tippi and I finished the Notchview Marathon.  We ran from Notchview Reservation in Windsor, Massachusetts into Dubuque State Forest in Hawley, then to Savoy Mountain State Forest in Savoy.  We got crushed by a heavy rainstorm for the last 3-miles.

This was my 37th completed marathon, and Tippi's 11th.  All in all, I was not in fantastic shape but the year was winding down, and the run was incredibly enjoyable.  Missing a turn shortly after Windsor Jambs, continuing on the dirt road for a bit, didn't count as a positive.

Looking at the map, we passed Windsor Pond, Crooked Neck Pond, and Hallockville Pond along the journey.  

Meadow at Notchview 

Tippi on the Jambs Trail.

Windsor Jambs.

Alert, as always.

Jambs, with Tippi on the ledge, upper right,


 
Weekly Weigh In while involved with the 61-Day Challenge - 223 lbs.