Usual day off. Evening neighborhood walk with Brady and Jana.
Tuesday: 2 walk, 8 run
AM: Final Westerly Land Trust Coffee & Clearing crew, before resuming in the fall. Barlow is now open. The house, donated with 80 acres, is now refurbished and looking great! Performed some maintenance in Riverwood Preserve, which would be nice if it had better access.
PM: Late afternoon run at Ninigret. Too warm, so left Brady at home. I feel like I held up Matthew the whole way, as I just had no energy.
Wednesday: 12
AM: 6 miles at Burlingame with Brady. Campground finally opened yesterday, a sign of the COVID-19 times. Was good to smell campfires again. Finished with a nice swim in Watchaug Pond.
PM: 6 miles with Tommy 5K in Weekapaug. Hadn't run with him in months. Really good to catch up. Mix of beach and roads.
Thursday: 8
Pretty miserable trail conditions in Carolina South. The dirt roads were spackled with manure and there was no choice but to run through it in places, replete with thousands of flies it had attracted. I thought we would find relief getting through the field, off the dirt road, and onto the single-track, but it was really overgrown in many places and we were quickly wet and running through spider-web covered plants.
Carolina North was fine, but after a short loop there, it was back into the unpleasant conditions south of Pine Hill Road. We took the double track parallel to NST this time, hoping to avoid the overgrowth we had experienced on the way. That worked for a while until we got into more overgrowth. I think that will be my last time in Carolina South until the fall.
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| Cool-off swim in Meadowbrook Pond |
Now what I do? Don't know much about dog allergens, but I took the same approach when I get bumps or swelling on my own skin for allergens (usually certain evergreen bushes), and that is that I learned the first thing you need to do is remove the allergen. Gave him a good bath, washing and rinsing his face and head twice. Fortunately, after that, the shaking and rubbing stopped, and by evening, his swelling was completely gone. Whew! I was really worried.
Friday: 8
Burlingame South, with Matthew and Brady. Very warm, near 80°, humid. Streams are really drying up this time of year, with our rainfall below average. So I filled up my CamelBak halfway (50 oz) with ice and water, and brought along Brady's portable collapsible water bowl. We stopped every 2-3 miles, and Brady drank the water immediately. When we stopped on the Ridge Trail (at least that's what I call it) at 5 miles in, he immediately laid down on the trail, so that concerned me. But after he drank water and we paused for a bit, he perked up and took the lead.
Finished up at the boat launch, where the three of us went in for a nice swim. There were already quite a few people swimming there, along with several dogs.
Weird day, with the 4th of July falling on a Saturday, no holiday off this year. To be fair, my employer gave a floating holiday in lieu, and I feel I earned it with over half my staff taking the day off and I had a very busy work day.
Saturday: 24 ride
4th of July. Just seems very different this year and a bit more subdued with fireworks celebrations and road races cancelled. I've never run the Quonnie 4 on the 4th anyway, as I disliked when they promoted it as a local private race, and even after opening it to the public, it just seemed like they wanted to keep outsiders away.
Anyway, happy to catch up with my friend Mike B and get together for an easy ride and coffee break afterwards sitting outdoors at Junk & Java.
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| Quiet (well, except for the fireworks) evening on the 4th of July |
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| Great night to be outside! |
Tri-state adventure run in MA, NY, and CT, in that order. Left the house with Matthew at 5am. He was kind enough to drive the entire way, and I was comfortable enough with his driving that I actually nodded off for a little while. Between the drive of just shy of 3 hours, stashing Gatorade and ice water replenishments halfway, and dropping off bikes and more ice water at finish, we didn't start until about 9am. The temperature was right around 70° and humidity also in the 70-ish percent range, so not bad for July, right? Filled my CamelBak with just over 50oz of water, stashed 4 GUs in one of the pockets, my phone in another, and we're off.
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| Start of today's run. Western MA, near NY state line. |
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| Bash Bish Falls. To use Glenn Hammett's words, truly "gorgeous". I had no idea that such beautiful falls existed in MA. |
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| Cool river crossing early on in the run. |
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| From whence we came. Oops. |
1.5 miles: Matthew and I had run together thus far, but the old man had slowed him down enough by now and he said he'd meet me at the first summit, Alander Mountain. This section of South Taconic Trail was both incredibly well marked and rather overgrown in places. It was so quiet and deserted out there and I was surprised to encounter a group of three people stopped and sitting in the middle of the trail.
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| Very clearly marked! |
3.3 miles: Alander Mountain (MA), 2,239'. 1st peak of the day. Great views with a bonus: blueberries to feast on! Partially exposed summit, with cool ridge line to run on. After Alander Mountain, the trail darted in and out of NY and MA. The overgrowth was gone and thus easier to run, but the clearer circular trail markers were replaced with faded white blazes and eventually no markers at all. Fortunately, Matthew has preloaded the route onto his phone and at confusing points, he'd check whether we were still on the route or not. Most of the time, we were, but not always.
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| Blueberries! Plenty of fresh blueberries for the eating at the op of Alander Mountain. Lingered for several handfuls before moving on. |
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| Nice views beyond the remains of some edifice. |
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| Now this is a really nice sign. Marks the summit, and not only what each part of the trail leads to, but also the approximate distances. Next step: Brace Mountain |
7.2 miles: Brace Mountain (NY), 2,311'. Summit #2. A few groups of hikers here. Wide open easy trail up to the summit and back. It was only a short distance from there to the tri-point marker of NY, MA, and CT. This trail was marked with very faded signs and quite overgrown, to the point that I often could not see my feet and the rocks due to overgrowth.
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| Partial views from atop Brace Mountain |
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| Mostly exposed summit (Matthew in background near flags) |
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| Close-up on flag and wind sock. Even though torn, it was a pretty neat sight. |
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| Yes, this is the trail through the middle of the mountain laurel here. Impossible to run through without brushing up against both sides of the mountain laurel, and tough to see the ground (and rocks) underneath while running. |
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| NY/MA/CT tri-state border marker, dated 1896. Very similar to the RI/CT/MA marker. |
8.3 miles: Mount Frissell (MA), 2,454'. Summit #3. This was the least impressive of the seven summits for me, as there were no views from the summit itself. After leaving Mount Frissell, it was a short and easy run to Round Mountain.
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| The high point of CT is not a summit at all, but the point of Mt Frissell that is at the CT/MA line before peaking in MA. It is designated with a state line marker. |
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| And with a pile of rocks. |
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| And here is the actual summit of Mt Frissell, in MA. No views. |
8.7 miles: Round Mountain (CT), 2,297'. Summit #4. This summit was followed by a steep, technical descent that left me rock-jumping at best. We passed quite a few hikers in this section. Just about all of them stepped or moved aside to let us pass, except one family of five that seemed completely oblivious of us and it was difficult to get around them. The mother looked at me and said, "Eww". That was weird and not very nice. Anyhow, at the end of the descent, it finally got runnable again and brought us to where we dropped some ice cold Gatorade and water to refill our packs. That Gatorade hit the spot. Kudos to Matthew for planning all of this out.
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| Round Mountain summit |
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| Technical scramble down |
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| Steep, non-runnable climb up to Bear Mountain |
10.9 miles: Bear Mountain (CT), 2,323'. Summit #5. Lingered at the summit for a bit, reflected on the stone tablet with fake news, and chatted briefly with a few strangers at the top. Matthew and I parted ways and agreed to meet next at summit #6, about 4 miles away. A very steep descent off Bear Mountain, dropping about 900' over the next mile, before starting a gradual ascent towards Mount Race.
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| Nice views from the top of Bear Mountain |
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| Fake news: this stone tablet from 1895 proclaims this spot (summit of Bear Mountain, 2,325') as the "highest ground in Connecticut", but that's just not true. The true high point is Mount Frissell at the MA/CT border (2,379') where we passed a few miles back. |
After the long drop, the trail followed Sages Ravine Brook for a half mile or so. There wasn't much change in elevation, but I was getting tired and hot here, and it was technical in some places. Crossing the brook, I was starting to bonk. Even my watch gave up on me as it completely froze. Great, so now I don't even know how far I have left to go to Mount Brace or the finish. Oh, wait a minute, how about if I start Strava recording on my phone? I can figure out stitching the two GPS tracks together later.
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| Neat signs with the AT insignia |
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| Alongside the trail, I paused here and splashed water on my face. This pool looked so inviting that I contemplating taking off my socks and shoes and wading in, but that would have just made it that much tougher to keep going. |
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| Crossing back into MA |
Coming around a corner in a rocky section, with pretty sloppy tired footwork on my part, I kicked a rock so hard I feared I broke my toe. Stopped for a while to sulk and had to talk myself out of negative stuff like I'm not going to be able to finish this. The pace just kept slowing and slowing, and I was drinking water very frequently yet still feeling dehydrated in the heat, as it was now over 80°. I finally made it to the summit of Mount Race, and Matthew was there waiting for me (for a long 1/2 hour), although he said he feared he'd have to call his Mom and tell her I had died.
15.0 miles: Mount Race (MA), 2,365'. Summit #6. It was a nice summit, but I was done, cooked, stick a fork in me, and thus didn't enjoy it. My speech was slow, I was hot and tired, and wanted to be done. Matthew asked me how long I thought it would take me to get to the final summit and I couldn't quantify it for him, but just said, "probably a long time", and he can make a "game-day decision" and decide when he gets to the next summit whether he wants to wait for me or keep going to the finish. We were running the AT, so it's not as it either of us would get lost or take a wrong trail.
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| The trail exited onto a ridge just before the summit of Mount Race. |
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| Mount Race summit |
Short, steep, technical descent before the next climb. Early in the run, I would have rock hopped the technical descents, but my legs were like jelly and buckling now, so for the tech stuff, I slowed to a walk before running again. As luck would have it, my final ascent of the day was one of the steepest sustained climbs, and I just had no energy for it. Mile 17 was mostly a long power-hike and my slowest mile by far. I took a couple of short breaks, where I wanted to sit down, but didn't dare, and just leaned up against trees instead. It seemed forever to get up to Mount Everett.
17.0 miles: Everett Mountain (MA), 2,608'. Summit #7. Highest peak in this South Taconic mountain area of MA, CT, and NY. There were two AT-through hikers here at the summit, along with a family of four and their very cute Golden Retriever puppy. Matthew had gone on ahead, which was fine. They told he had come through about 15 minutes prior.
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| Views just off the summit of Everett Mountain. Final summit!! |
OK, it's now all downhill from here for a short distance. I was able to resume running again, albeit at a snail's pace. Was very happy to finish up, where Matthew had ice water waiting for me. The last of the ice water I poured over my head. 86° finish.
It was a four mile bike ride back, and almost entirely downhill. It originally had sounded like a piece of cake, but on legs of jelly and with long sections of dirt uneven steep downhills, plus windy curvy downhills, I was riding the brakes a lot and my hands were hips were sore. Finally back to the car at Bash Bish Falls, before starting the drive home and stopping twice for food and drink.
Tough, tough run for me. Beautiful, isolated area.
Weekly mileage: 54 run, 24 ride, 5 walk
Weekly synopsis: Back over my mileage goal of 50, so that's a good week on its own merit. Getting in some biking, plus a hard mountain trail run, is all a bonus.
Weekly highlight: Definitely the Tri State Adventure. Exhilarating and exhausting at the same time. I wonder how much better I would have fared on a 50° day.
Weekly lowlight: Running through the disgusting, putrid, fly-laden manure at Carolina South.
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