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Once again, I decided to venture out of Addison County for a trail run. I have been an avid Adirondack hiker since I began my employment in Middlebury in the mid-80's, but never really thought seriously about them as a running destination, given the muddy, rocky and generally gnarly condition of most Adirondack trails. In fact, the challenges of overcoming some of the challenging terrain on many Adirondack hikes constitute much of their appeal. Another one of the challenges of these mountain trails is their length – most of the popular hiking destinations require long approach hikes on gentler, more runnable terrain. Since I do most of my hiking in running shoes, rather than the more traditional hiking boots, I had gotten in the habit of coming down off a peak, and running in the last few miles at the end of the day. So, when one of my running friends Ben suggested a run/hike to one of the most remote peaks in the High Peaks of the Adirondacks, Haystack Mt, I agreed that at least some of the route would be runnable, and we decided to give it a try.
At first, Haystack would seem like an odd choice for a trail run. While it is the third tallest of the High Peaks, it is far more challenging than Marcy (#1) and Algonquin (#2) due to the length of the hike (about 8.5 miles each way) and the ruggedness of at least some sections of the approach trails. In fact, it is generally not recommended as a day hike for all but the most fit and experienced hikers. On the other hand, the first 3.5 miles in from "The Garden" parking lot in Keene Valley are very heavily hiked and in excellent condition with only modest ascent, and the next few miles beyond this, while steeper and less heavily traveled might also offer at least some stretches suitable for running. I was mildly concerned that Ben planned to bring his dog, Tizzy the labradoodle on this trip, but he assured me that she was an excellent and experienced runner and climber, and I knew there would be lots of water for her to drink along this route. Prepping for the run in the morning, I basically broke every rule in the book for Adirondack hiking, trying to go light. For gear, I brought my small camera, a GPS watch, a 28 oz water bottle, and a windbreaker, allowing me to run with just a fanny back and a water bottle around my waist. Also, for my food, I basically grabbed all the "energy food" in my stash – so I brought along a smorgasbord of old Gu and Powergel packets, various energy bars, most of which were leftover bits of swag from previous races, and a bar of chewy energy blocks much like Gummi Bears, whose origin I had long forgotten. Oh yeah, and I also brought a few Snickers bars, because everything is better with chocolate.
After completing my 46 Adk peaks a dozen years ago, I have been doing my hiking in a wider variety of areas, and some of my memories of the trails and terrain were a little dated or fuzzy. For example, I was not worried at all about us finding a parking place at "The Garden", the parking lot for the Johns Brook Lodge and our planned approach. This small but very popular parking lot always requires a very early entry on the weekends, but since this was a Friday, I figured we would be fine. So, when we headed up the access road roughly across the street from the Keene Valley hotspot, The Noonmark Diner, and saw a sign indicating that there was indeed space in the undersized parking lot, I wasn't surprised. However, as we approached the lot attendant, she let us know that we were lucky enough to have gotten there just in time to grab the next to last spot, and it was only 8:30 in the morning, attesting to the ever increasing popularity of Adirondack hiking.
Setting off from the trailhead at around 8:30 in the morning, the run was as I expected; the trail was in good condition, and the climbing was moderate, and we got to the Johns Brook Lodge, a mountain hut where overnighters can pay for a bunk and meals, after about 3.5 miles. I was kind of surprised to see that we had already climbed 700-800 ft by the time we got to the lodge. After topping off my water bottle from the lodge's potable tap, we resumed the run, and over the course of the next 3.5 miles to Slant Rock, a very obvious trailside landmark, the trail stayed at its gradual pitch, but gradually got rougher, and muddier, so that we could only really run about half of this stretch. It is funny how early in any trail run, I avoid all the mud through careful footwork, but once my toes get a little bit moist I basically give up and just charge through most of the water hazards, and by the time we got to Slant Rock, my shoes were sloshing. I also noted an odd looking shelf fungus which looked like a bizarre set of lips. Anyone for a kiss?
Given my plan of traveling light, I had neglected to bring along a map, counting on my distant memories of the last time I had passed this way, years ago. I remembered that there were two ways to get to Haystack from here – the short direct path which pretty much headed directly up and over the ridge to Little Haystack and Haystack, and a more roundabout route, the dreaded "Shorey Shortcut" which accomplished the same result, but with a lot of extra climbing and descent – obviously a route to be avoided. So shortly after passing Slide Rock, the trail took an obvious left turn across the brook, and we took it. The trail started climbing much more seriously, so other than a few very short stretches here and there, the running part of our ascent was over. After a long a substantial climb, we started an almost as long descent, and I realized that we had indeed taken the route I had wanted to avoid at all costs. Oh well, what's a few hundred more feet of climbing in a long challenging day? Once we regained our lost altitude and achieved timberline it was a short steep ascent to the summit of Little Haystack, just north of our destination. I was amazed at this point by our canine companion's ability to climb and descend some very steep sections of trail. I guess her four wheel drive works pretty well!
Finally, we got to the last quarter mile or so to the summit proper, and of course, this was a great place to enjoy the views. In this shot, I am looking west towards Redfield and Allen, two of the more challenging trailless peaks in the area.
From here, we made our descent, backtracking to timberline at the base of Little Haystack, where we found the trail we had hoped to take up from Slant Rock, but somehow missed. Taking this trail, we cut out a lot of extra unnecessary climbing in our descent, but this trail was no bargain either – it was even steeper than the Shorey, with the added benefit of loose rocks and a few sections where the trail was basically a muddy stream. Once again, Tizzy the wonderdog proved the strongest hiker of the party.
By the time we got back to Slide Rock, we were all ready to stretch our legs again with some more running, and despite tired legs from the previous 10+miles, this easy descent was the best running of the day over the last 7 miles. When we returned to the parked car, my GPS registered the day at almost exactly 17 miles. Checking the details of the run after our return, I could see that we had climbed and descended over 3500 ft in the course of the day! I usually don't mention times and speeds in this blog, as everyone needs to run the trails at the pace where they are comfortable, but I found it interesting to note that we were able to complete this in just under 6.5 hours, whereas my previous hikes here had required more than 9 hours, so we were able to make up a lot of time in the runable sections!
Of course, when we got to our car, we made another anonymous hiker happy, as our departure opened up a spot in the parking lot for someone else to enjoy that section of the backcountry. Finally, all hikes in this section of the Adirondacks are required by law to end at the Noonmark Diner. While some people have sung the praises of their pies, I always go for a milkshake for the drive home. I got coffee this time, but perhaps next time it will be strawberry?
I usually just show the route in my Google Earth projections, but in addition to that, I also created a projection which better shows off the topology around the summit of Haystack. So, the first projection shows the entire route as if it was taken from the perspective of a satellite looking straight down, while the second one would be what one would see from an airplane approaching Haystack from the Mt Marcy side, at low altitude – I kind of like this perspective!
One of my favorite running areas outside of Addison County has always been the Mad River Valley, where some of my extended family lives, and has a trail network at least as varied and beautiful as that which we have in the Middlebury (as in Middlebury VT, the 11th best town in the country to live, according to Outside Magazine!) area. One of the limitations on running in "the valley" has been my lack of knowledge of much of the trail network, but while looking online for appropriate trails, I stumbled across the existence of a guide to the trails there, available at a variety of stores. So, on Saturday morning, while enjoying the food and sights of the Waitsfield Farmers' market, I picked up a copy of this map at the Tempest Bookstore in Waitsfield, one of many locations where this guide can be purchased, and studied it to look for an interesting run. As an aside, the Waitsfield Farmer's Market is a great place to spend a little time on a warm Saturday morning – while it does have some of the most beautiful veggies in the world, as one would expect, it also has a wide variety of specialty foods, crafts, and prepared foods. One cow decorating the booth of a butcher shop looked far happier than one would expect, given the circumstances.
I knew I would not have time for a particularly epic run, given my other commitments, and looking for an area where I could put in a decent 5 miler, I settled on a trailhead which I had previously noted, heading south from the Mt Ellen Access Road across from the Fayston Elementary School. According to my map, I would be looking for a section of the Catamount Trail which headed south until it rejoined the German Flats road 2 miles to the south. When I got to the trailhead, I didn't see any of the blue diamond signs indicating that I was actually on the Catamount Trail, but did see signs indicating that I was actually on a section of the Mad River Path, a pleasant but disjointed collection of trails spread throughout the valley. So, I was in the somewhat confusing position of holding one map, which failed to acknowledge the existence of the Mad River Path, and saw trail signage which had no mention of The Catamount Trail. Curious, to say the least! Oh well – they both are there and are both great trails – just run and don't worry about it.
So, I followed the trail signs out of the parking lot, crossed a footbridge across the stream, and in about a quarter of a mile, my short section of the Mad River Path crossed the section of the Catamount Trail which I had planned to run on, and I decided to turn onto the Catamount Trail. This section of trail climbed gradually over the next mile or so, passing alternately through mature hemlock forest, and much younger hardwoods. It seemed as if the tree varieties were hyper-sensitive to their exposure, and I suspect that the hardwoods had been more recently logged, although there were definite signs active maple sugaring operations, as well as old stone walls and remnants of barbed wire fences hinting at past use for pasturing of dairy cows, although the fields were clearly long grown in. After a little over a mile, I came to a T in the trails, joining a trail referred to as the Sugar Road on my map, and it also looked like a long grown in road of sorts. I came across a few rusty old buckets hanging from the limbs of hemlock trees, and I assume that they were long abandoned sugaring buckets hung up for amusement rather than any utility. My camera's auto exposure settings made for an eerie effect.
I went right on this trail, until it merged with an extended series of driveways, and met up with the German Flats road, before beginning my return. I could tell that the trail was well worn by mountain bikers as well as foot travelers, making for smooth running. Returning to the T, I chose to continue on until it met up with a road less than a half mile later. This final section of the Sugar Road trail followed some open fields which must get mowed once in a while, but appeared to be fields of wildflowers (mostly goldenrod) and high grass at my passing. When the trail emerged from the woods into an open meadow, I could see that I had emerged at the end of Marble Hill Rd, which climbs up to this point from Rt 17. Looking at these meadows from the perspective of Google Earth, I could see that they were not contiguous with the lower open fields and their associated farm house, leading me to believe that I was on an abandoned hill farm. My suspicions were further reinforced by the presence of a few ancient apple trees, one of which grew some of the more interestingly colored apples I have seen. I can't help but wonder if these are some long- lost heirloom variety, or something more well known to apple aficionados. There was also an odd wooden structure, standing out in the field like some ancient monolith, and I could not discern its former function.
After enjoying the sights of this meadow, I returned to the T, and descended to my car, with a slight variation at the end down a section of trail which was clearly built for the pleasure of mountain bikers, with tight banked curves and a moderate pitch. This section of trail returned me to the Mt Ellen access road, forcing me to run a few hundred yards uphill to the parking lot where my car awaited me. All in all, this was a pleasant, not particularly difficult run of slightly less than 5 miles, with maybe 500 ft of total vertical climb and descent. I enjoyed how this run sent me through sections of forest where elements of past and present habitation and agriculture were readily seen, but I could also see the effects of wilderness slowly taking over.
For direct, easily accessible mountain runs, ski areas are hard to beat. While most of the ski trails are far to steep to run, almost all ski areas offer one easier route down the mountain. In part, trails of this sort can be motivational for less skilled skiers, giving them a chance to experience the top of the mountain, and see the sort of trails they might aspire to. More practically, they offer a drivable route to the summit, at least with 4WD vehicles, allowing for access and maintenance during the summer months. At the Middlebury College Snow Bowl, the trail that fits this description is the Voter Trail. I described a run up this trail a few years ago, hoping to describe a run to the top of Worth Mountain, whose summit is slightly south of the top of the Snow Bowl. Alas, I turned around too soon, as I discovered when I loaded my GPS track into Google Earth – the point where I turned around was actually a false peak, slightly to the north of the true peak. It was time to rectify this mistake!
I pulled into the Snow Bowl Parking lot on a pleasant, cool Sunday afternoon, and saw a lot of construction going on. There were huge piles of fill up near the exit, presumable for the ongoing road improvement on Rt 125, and a substantial stack of rusty pipes – from the look of things, they are in the process of replacing some of the plumbing required for snowmaking this summer. I also found it curious, that with all this open terrain in front of me, there was a random "trail closed" sign hanging in front of the entrance to the Voter trail, to the left of the Ski Patrol Hut. I assumed, of course, that this was there to deter motor vehicles, rather than runners.
Stepping over the sign, I began the day's ascent. While I have been on this trail a few times in the summer, noting the broken up asphalt beneath my feet that somebody went to the bother of actually paving the first part of this trail – I have never noticed this on any of the ski area service roads I have run before. The ascent via the Voter trail is not as easy as one might assume for a "green circle" trail. Things are a lot steeper running up than they are skiing down! I could maintain a running gait for most of the ascent, with only a few short walking sections due to poor footing and increased steepness in a few pitches. Running at the pace of "1.0 Jeffs" (whatever speed I am running at the time corresponds to 1.0 Jeffs) I got to the top of the Bowl in about 20 min. Of course, I had to take the obligatory picture of the views to the east – these constitute the best views on the day's run!
From here, I chose to continue uphill to reach the true summit of Worth Mountain, by continuing south on the Long Trail. In my previously described run, I assumed, incorrectly, that the first summit was indeed the summit of Worth. As it turns out, I learned the hard way after my previous run that I had a little further to go – so remember – THE FIRST SUMMIT IS NOT THE SUMMIT! THE SECOND SUMMIT IS! Oh – and did I mention that neither of them has any decent views? The trail run itself isn't bad, however – most of the Long Trail is very "scrambly" and this section, with its modest ascents and descents is actually run-worthy in places, albeit slowly and with careful attention to one's footfalls. reaching the summit, I retraced my steps back to the top of the Bailey Falls chairlift, and continued down Voter, at least part way.
I had another goal for this run, however, so rather than simply retrace my steps to my car, when I reached the Meredith Trail, the first gentle trail to the right, about half way down the mountain, I saw a set of recent 4WD tracks, which had beaten down the increasingly dense and high ground cover, and used them for my descent. I have known about the existence of a waterfall, known, not surprisingly, as Bailey Falls" (hence the name of the Bailey Falls Chair lift!) for several years, but had never actually seen them, nor have I met anyone who has, either! According to the scant descriptions online, this waterfall is kind of hidden in plain sight – it is probably 100 yards from the Youngman Trail at the Snow Bowl, and maybe a quarter mile from the small parking lot along the east side of Rt 125, across from the Bailey ski lift. I followed one of the online descriptions of how to find this hidden gem, heading uphill from the chair lift for 30-40 yards before bushwhacking into the woods, but within a few moments I could see it, quite obviously, a 100 yards or so upstream. The challenge was getting to it, as the hillside where I was standing was rather steep, and did not provide for firm footing. Hanging onto appropriately spaced trees, I was able to lower myself to the point where I could catch a picture of it, although the picture does not do the falls justice. This shot is of only the lowest 1/3 of the falls – I could catch glimpses of higher cascades through the trees. I will need to return, trying to get at it from the other side of the stream, where access appeared easier, to get a fuller glimpse of this rarely seen treasure. I have a hunch it is about as high as the well known Falls of Lana, and certainly dwarfs the well known Texas Falls roadside attraction.
Now, only a short section of running remained – the climb back up, and over to the east side of Middlebury Gap where my car awaited me. I could have chosen to move to the road at this point, given the wooden bridge which allowed for passage over bogs and streams from the bottom or the Bailey Falls lift to Rt. 125, but chose instead to run up the trail, furthermost to my right looking uphill, the Wissler Trail, named after a legendary and long-deceased Middlebury College Physics professor Ben Wissler. After a few minutes of chugging up this grassy slope on my tiring legs, I reached the top of the Sheehan Chair, where I was pleasantly surprised by a large clump of daisies on the Lang Trail. The daisies seem to be starting to wither down in the valley, but apparently this patch in the cooler higher altitude climes is doing quite well.
From this point, a short descent on the service road following the Lang Trail, which is after all the bunny slope of the Snow Bowl, led me back to my car for a challenging but scenic and interesting 5.5 mile run, with about 1800 feet total of climbing and descents.
A few months ago, I made the decision to search out a fun marathon, requiring some traveling, to compete in during the month of July. One of the challenges of marathoning is that I have most of my "free time" in the summers, but for much of the United States, the summer months tend to be on the hot side for long races. One of the exceptions to this is our own regional Mad Marathon, held in Waitsfield, VT in early July, but I had already run that particular race a few years ago. While running this race, I was introduced to the world of the "50 States Marathon Club" whose members seemed to have a heavy presence in this local race for just that reason. So, I googled for "July Marathons" and found one that piqued my interest – the inaugural "Big Sky Marathon" in Ennis, Montana, on July 19, 2015.
The Big Sky Marathon is the younger sibling of the already established Madison Marathon, one of the toughest "road" marathons in the US, due to its challenging terrain and high altitude. Sam, the race organizer, clearly a glutton for punishment, decided to follow up his established Madison Marathon with the Big Sky Marathon, on the very next day. Wow. The big difference between the two races is that the Madison Marathon starts and finishes at altitudes which might prove unrealistic for many runners recently arrived from lower altitudes, especially in light of its many climbs and descents, while the Big Sky Marathon, not lacking in its own challenges, is more "altitude friendly", descending from high altitude (8500 ') to the valley floor at a much more reasonable altitude (5000') over its duration, without any significant climbs. I did not for a minute think that this race would be easy – but I can train for descents, not for altitude!
Reading through the web site for these races, it was apparent that Sam wanted a race which would appeal to two groups of runners – the aspiring 50-Staters, who might find the new marathon's altitude profile less intimidating than the Madison, and a group which I had never heard of before, the "Marathon Maniacs", a running group which honors runners who complete large numbers of marathons in a short period of time, and who are particularly keen on running marathons on back-to-back days. Ouch. I counted myself among the former, not the latter.
So, looking forward to the upcoming adventure, I flew into Montana, rented a car, and spent two nights sleeping in a canvas tipi (hey – it was cheap!) in West Yellowstone, MT, acclimating, and enjoying Yellowstone for two days before the race.
Given that the race was mostly downhill, and I have had a lot of experience at altitude, I knew I could handle the "breathless" component of the moderately high altitudes where I would be running – Past experiences told me that I just had to never run hard enough that I was seriously out of breath (aka- no "going anaerobic"), which I wouldn't do in a marathon anyways. I was more concerned with hydration issues. Most tourists don't notice high altitude dehydration, as the most common repercussion, especially in the dry, sunny climate of the Rockies in the summer, is that they get tipsy a little faster at cocktail hour. Bearing in mind that I was running a marathon in two days, I was constantly drinking water as soon as I arrived, but it seemed like I was losing more than I was taking in. There were other issues with this that arose during the race.
The town of Ennis, which serves as the headquarters for these races and as the finish line for the Big Sky Marathon is a cute little town about an hour northwest of West Yellowstone, located in the Madison River valley (apparently home to some of the best fly fishing in the country) between the Madison Mts. to the East (the range just to the west of Yellowstone Park, and home of the Big Sky Ski Area) and the Gravelly Mts to the west, where the race was held. Ennis reminded me a lot of Jackson, WY in the 70's before it got turned into a tourist trap and became surrounded by the summer homes of billionaires and Hollywood types. It has a tiny little village with small shops, bars, and cafes, plenty of shade, and is a fringed by the less quaint sort of places where probably many of its inhabitants are actually employed. I pulled into Ennis at 5 am on the morning of the race, and met up with the race organizers and other competitors at a gas station in town, where I realized how intimate a race I had gotten myself into. Almost all the competitors took the school bus to the start line, and there couldn't have been much more than 40 of us, and a few were doing the half marathon version rather than the full!
The bus ride to the start was the first adventure of the day, and followed the course of the race in reverse. Looking around the people on the bus, it seemed like there were some real hard core runners, male and female, who looked the part that I expected for a race like this. The other half, well they looked like me – fit marathon tourists, not necessarily that young in chronology while clearly young at heart. This was the peer group I expected to find myself running with. After the drive along the valley floor, the bus turned off and started to weave its way up the east flanks of the Gravelly Mts on rapidly deteriorating dirt roads, with pronghorn antelope scattering as the big yellow monstrosity approached. At one particular point I remember noting a steep primitive road angling up the mountainside, and thinking "a school bus can't make up that, can it?" And it did!
Finally after about an hour on the school bus, it screeched to a halt high at the starting point high on a mountain ridge, not too far from a few small snow banks, and the well-hydrated runners dashed out to relieve themselves, either in one of the two porta-potties brought to the start for the race (courtesy dictates that women, of course, get first dibs on these) or on the above timberline wildflowers (for the men, out of necessity).
At 7:30 in the morning, after Sam sketched a start line in the dirt road, the race started with a short half mile climb up to the high point in the race. Many of the runners started off very conservatively, walking this first ascent in light of the altitude, while others took off like they were shot from a cannon. I started off this climb at a slow 10 minute mile pace, which pretty much put me in the middle of the pack as the participants spread themselves out almost immediately.
The scenery at this point was simply spectacular – Over the course of the first 10K of the race, the descents were pretty mellow, and we were running through wide-open alpine meadows and cattle grazing fields, where I could see the mountains of Montana in all directions, and other racers strung out thinly in front of me. There seemed to be a lot of them in front of me!
The second 10K was the part that race guru Sam referred to as "the quad burner" section, where most of the 3500 ft descent transpired. I usually feel steep descents in my glutes (butt!) more than my quads by the way. This was an interesting part of the course, but knew would be one of my stronger sections given my Vermont trail running background.
At one point, I seemed to have set off a small stampede of the grazing Black Angus cattle grazing on the slopes of the mountains, but I suppose they weren't running at me – they were probably running from whatever was chasing me! I also noticed that without pushing things particularly hard, I started passing some people who had long been far in front of me – perhaps all the running in the Vermont trails was paying off? I was clearly moving up through the pack, but I truly had no idea of "where I stood" in the race standings, given how spread out the runners were. At the 13 mile point, at the end of the serious descent, a few of the runners in front of me called it day as half marathon competitors, and the second flat, easier part of the race through ranch land alongside the Madison River began. Flat is easier, right?
It wasn't. Why? HYDRATION! While I felt well hydrated before the start, during the first half of the marathon, in the cool morning weather, descending, I drank water at about the same rate I would during a sea level marathon – a few ounces of water or Gatorade every two to three miles works just fine for me usually. By the time I reached the valley floor, unbeknownst to me, I was starting to get seriously dehydrated. I usually do my fastest running in the middle 1/3 of marathons, and while I did pick up the pace for a few miles to pass a few more competitors, by the time I reached the water station at mile 17 I could tell that I was in trouble. I had to stop for a few minutes, and drink about a liter of water. The water lost through normal running at the early altitudes, and the relentless sun (there isn't much shade in this part of Montana- they don't call it "Big Sky Country" for nothing!) in the cool temperatures had baked a lot of water out of me! From this point until the end of the race I needed to drink about two more liters of water from the water stations, and walked far more frequently than I have ever done in a marathon in order to recover from the dehydration, as well as the descent which had taken a toll on my legs. I ended up leapfrogging with another strong runner at this point, a gentleman somewhat younger than I for whom this was his hundredth marathon, before eventually pulling away a few miles from the finish line. I was totally relieved to see the "Welcome to Ennis" sign a mile from the finish line, fighting leg and foot cramps, but determined to run the last mile without stopping.
Since this was such a small race, normal, but mellow traffic continued without any roads blocked off, so I brought it in to the finish line in a small park at the far side of the village, running on the sidewalks with encouragement from the few people who knew that there was a race finishing in their town. The finish line was simple – a few orange traffic cones, and a few volunteers with a stopwatch. My time made it my slowest marathon in a few years by about twenty minutes, which at first disappointed me. As I gathered my wits at the finish line I looked around, expecting to see the runners who had finished already sprawled all over the lawn, but the only folks I saw were Sam, and a few volunteers. I inquired as to my finish, suspecting that I had managed to sneak my way into the top ten, when I heard the shocker "2nd PLACE!" How on earth did that happen? I realized that I had passed more people than I first suspected, a few had dropped out at the half marathon point, and most importantly, a lot of the best runners were attempting to complete two marathons in two days, and thus were running at a far slower pace. Never having finished this high in a race, I sought out the winner to offer my congratulations – that is what you are supposed to do right? This was new territory for me. Apparently he had beaten me by an hour, and had to take his medal and driven home to Arizona to get to work the next day. He had also run in the previous day's race. WOW! Well done, whoever you are! So instead, I hung out for the next 45 minutes or so as other racers trickled in, cheering them on as best as I could. Alas, I did not have the chance to meet the race's celebrity, an older fellow who apparently was using this race to complete his 1500th marathon. now THAT is a marathon maniac! In another interesting twist, since I was wearing a Middlebury College t-shirt, a gentleman came up to me and identified himself as a Middlebury College graduate, and he was there waiting for his wife to finish. It's a small world sometimes.
All in all, this was a memorable race for all the right reasons. It had a unique twist, and was really a well inspired, organized, and from my perspective, well executed race by Sam the organizer. He was in perpetual motion over the course of the day – moving from water station to water station, and cheering on the racers along the way. He reminded me a lot of my favorite race organizers in Vermont, people who work hard out of their love of the sport and competition, and want to offer participants the opportunity for a uniquely memorable experience, while keeping their sense of humor. I am glad that races like this can still be found, even as running becomes more and more corporate. Well-done! And did I mention that this is about as beautiful as it gets for running scenery?
The only drawback? My reward for the runner-up finish was a shot glass and a few tokens for free beers in the town's brewpub, and I still had a half day drive in front of me to get back to Billings to catch my plane home the next day. Someday……
Saturday was a beautiful, cool early summer morning – a perfect morning for a run in the mountains. It was also a good morning for a run with the local trail running Meetup group "The Middlebury Trail Enthusiasts". While this group of runners gets together for shorter runs (such as Wednesday Evening "Trail Running 101" for beginning runners, or those exploring the trails for the first time), our Tuesday night 6-mile runs on various parts of the TAM, we also try to work in longer, more adventurous trail runs over the weekend. Some of the gang are aspiring to complete one of the longest runs in the area, The Moosalamoo Ultra, held in early August, so it seemed like a good idea to explore some of the course early in the summer. I completed (you will note, I did not use the word "competed" – I just wanted to survive!) this run a few years ago – albeit barely, and my description of the race, and some of my "ultra newbie" observations can be found in my older post based on my experiences. While I myself am not planning on participating in this race in a few weeks, when the group organizer Heather sent out a call for runners who wanted to try out the most mountainous segment of the course, it seemed life a good fun morning run.
We ended up with seven runners, including a group from Chittenden County – a club first – meeting in the parking lot for the Moosalamoo Campground in the morning. To get to this trailhead, you need to head just past Ripton on Rt 125, and take the forest service road about a mile past the town, known as the Ripton-Goshen Road. A few miles up this road, and before you get to the first true landmark, the Blueberry Hill Inn, you will see a right hand turnoff towards the Voter Brook Overlook. Take this, and the parking lot for the Moosalamoo Trailhead will be on your right in less than a half mile.
The race itself starts at the Blueberry Hill Inn, and follows the road for the first two miles or so, but we chose to excise the road portion, and start off with the long ascent of Moosalamoo. The Moosalamoo Trail traverses up the side of the mountain for about two miles before reaching the junction with the Oak Ridge Trail, where we took a left turn for another half mile or so before the high point, the summit of Moosalamoo. While there are limited views at the summit through the trees, the clear blue sky allowed us to look east towards the main ridge of the Green Mountains.
After a breather at the top, having finished most of the day's climbing, we descended down the far side on my favorite part of this run – the ridgeline between the summit and the more frequently visited Rattlesnake Cliffs, reknowned for their great views of Lake Dunmore, Silver Lake, and the Green Mountains. While we did see some great views of Lake Dunmore through the trees, we were unable to access the Rattlesnake Cliffs themselves; they are closed to the public until August 1st due to nesting Peregrin Falcons. While this is a great view, all temptation to break the rules was overcome by signs warning of a 6 month imprisonment for doing so. No Thanks!
After passing the side trail leading to the forbidden cliffs, we had a long, easy descent down to the confluence of the Oak Ridge Trail with the North Branch Trail, veering left in a meadow. We took this trail, which I have previously described on a few occasions to ascend back to the cars. At one point, we took a breather on this last, far more modest ascent, and a member of the group noticed a nice little waterfall that I had never noticed before, not far from the trail. Amazing what you see when stop, and look beyond your own two feet.
Not much later, we reached the end of the North Branch Trail, across the road from our parked cars. This ended up as about a 7.5 mile run, which was much slower than most would expect due to the challenge of the terrain. We ended up climbing and descending a total of about 1700 vertical feet, making this also a great hill workout. I hope it also increased the confidence of my running partners who are planning on running the upcoming ultra – after all they just completed the most challenging part of the race! It was also fun meeting up with some new running partners.
One of my posts, almost 5 years ago, involved a run up the Abbey Pond Trail. Much to my surprise, this has proven to be the most frequently accessed post on this blog, speaking to the popularity of the Abbey Pond Trail. This trail, the closest and most convenient trailhead leading into the National Forest for Middlebury runners and hikers, was one I had always wanted to explore, but hadn't gotten to in my then roughly 25 years living in this community. After running it, I found that it was a more challenging run than I expected, and that there were some sections where the footing was too much "rock hopping" and not enough trail to maintain any sort of running pace. It was also a very pretty trail. I had heard that in the last few years, some trail maintenance had been performed, and thought I would check it out on a beautiful, warm Sunday afternoon, shortly after the college graduation.
To access the trailhead, head east from town on Quarry Road, and take a left, north, on Rt 116. In less than a mile, a trailhead sign leading onto a dirt road will be on your right, and take this turn, following trailhead signs for about a half mile to the small parking lot at the end of the road. From this point, the trail is very easy to follow, and well marked all the way to its conclusion at the pond. The trail starts out pretty easily, going from flat to modest incline until you cross a bridge, leading over a brook, where the outlet stream from Abbey Pond, far uphill at this point, cascades down a steep defile in the rocks, creating a waterfall both above and below the bridge.
Continuing past the waterfall on increasingly steep trail, I noticed a steep embankment to my left, and I did a quick scramble up this to see where it led. I should not have been surprised to see that it brought me to the brink of one of the many gravel pits operated by the Carrara Concrete Company up against the west face of the Green Mt escarpment in Addison County. I have always assumed that the sandy soil of this geography, atypical for Addison County which is largely clay, was the result of its being the former beachfront property on Lake Champlain as its waters receded following the last ice age, although I have not confirmed this with my Geology Dept. colleagues. One thing about this vista had me scratching my head however – I can't for the life of me figure out why they would park a few old school buses in their gravel pit!
After this point, the trail veers more aggressively uphill, first on the north side of the stream, then crossing over to the south side. When I described this portion of the trail a few years back, I confessed that I had to take a breather, and slow down to a walk for a while due to its relentless climb. This time around, I didn't find that necessary, so I guess I am a stronger runner, and I know I have lost about 20 pounds since then, making the hills even easier. Isaac Newton was right – F = ma.
After the steep section of the climb, the rumored trail improvements came to sight. My memory of this section was of a lot of rock hopping on a badly eroded trail, where I had the sneaky suspicion that the water flowing between the rocks was part of the stream beginning at the outlet of the lake. Even though it was pretty close to flat, the footing was really to precarious to do anything resembling running. Now, the trail has been re-routed off to the side on slightly higher ground and for the time being at least is very nice single-track running. Looking into the origins of the new section of trail, I discovered something about its history. During the summer of 2013 the local section of the Green Mountain Club performed this badly needed maintenance in memory of a father and son, David and Levi Duclos, who passed away prematurely in 2004 and 2012, respectively. Both of them passed away while enjoying the outdoors.
After about a mile of pretty flat terrain on the recently re-routed trail, I got to the shores of this modest little pond in the mountains. The peak in the background here is Robert Frost Mountain, the subject of another of my postings. Several years ago, I came across an older map which showed a trail connection between Abbey Pond and the trails leading up to Robert Frost Mountain, so I explored around the lakeshore to see if I could discern any trails beyond the pond, but within a few hundred yards, the modest herd path diminished and disappeared into the swamps, and I was not wearing attire appropriate for bushwhacking. It was also getting late in the afternoon, and I suspected that the evening insect attack would begin soon, so I took a picture of the pond from a less commonly viewed perspective, and backtracked to the maintained trail.
There were a few small tufts of various wildflowers alongside the shores as well, and I spied one that I had never noticed before – it had rather large hanging bulbs about an inch across, and I am including a picture in case someone could identify them for me.
Returning to my car was far easier, as is almost always the case. The run covered about 4 and a half miles, with an ascent and descent of about 1000 vertical feet. Five years ago, I rated this path "pretty for hiking, not really very good for running" but with the trail improvements of a few years ago it has become much more runable. I suspect I will be running it more often in the future, due to it's convenience to town, and the fact that I suspect that it will be a cool place to run on hot mid-summer afternoons due to the fact that the most challenging part of the climb is in a shady defile in the mountains, cooled by the adjacent stream.
One of the great developments for trail runners over the last year has been the emergence of a running group, organized through the Meetup site, called the Middlebury Trail Enthusiasts. This group of runners of which I am an active member gets together with member-organized runs a few times per week in the summer. We even got a little free publicity earlier in the spring with a great article in the Addison Independent. The centerpiece of this group has been the weekly Tuesday evening runs, leaving from Waterfront Park in front of Noonie's in the Marble Works, at 6 pm. While the group is encouraging runners of all abilities to organize and lead runs, this particular run typically covers 6-7 miles in around an hour, with most runners proceeding at a pace which encourages conversation. One of the other really cool things about these runs has been the tremendous age diversity among the runners – it is not at all uncommon to have a 40 year age difference between the youngest and oldest runner (and no, I am an not the oldest regular participant), with a pretty uniform distribution of the generations in between. How many other organizations in town can boast diversity of this sort? And yes, there are both men and women among the participants.
For this run, we had a great turnout – about 10 runners. I have the sneaky suspicion that the great turnout was influenced in part by the fact that one of the organizers mentioned the possibility of heading out for a beer afterwards. So, for this run we decided to head north through Wright Park to the northernmost loop of the TAM. For the start of this run, we headed out the back of the Marble Works, up Seymour St., past the Pulp Mill Bridge, until we reached Wright Park, and underused gem overlooking the east bank of Otter Creek just north of the village.
Some beginning trail enthusiasts can be overwhelmed by the complexity of trail systems, out of concerns about getting lost. The easy way to overcome this is to follow the "out and back" rule – take note of your surroundings and come back the way you headed out. Then, with time, you will learn the trails, and be able to be a little more adventurous in your trail selection. I am saying this because the trails between Wright Park and Belden Dam, about 2 miles to the north can be pretty complex, but there are two pretty straightforward ways to go – the high trail, which is very broad and suitable for mountain bikes as well as runners, and the low trail, which hugs the shore of Otter Creek. We chose to head north on the high trail, until we reached the hydroelectric plant at Belden Dam.
At this point, we knew that if we returned, it would be about a 6 mile round trip, but a member of the group suggested a short loop on the opposite side of the river, which would supposedly add about a mile, and even though I (and at least one other member of the group!) had just run the Middlebury Maple Run Half Marathon just two days previously, I voted enthusiastically for this little loop, so off the group went. The loop on the west side goes a little bit further to the north than what most people include in the TAM when they are just attempting to circle the village, but it is a lovely section, especially when it dips down to the shores of the Otter Creek in its gorge. BUT, it ended up being a little more than a mile- more like 2 and a quarter miles, making this a marginally longer run than planned.
Returning to the Belden dam, and crossing back to the east side, we chose to return by the lower trail, which is well marked by a trail sign near to the eastern terminus of the suspension bridges. My favorite part of this section is the unexpected bluff, christened "The Cliffs of Insanity" by Josh, one of the regulars. This rather substantial outcropping is pretty much invisible until all of a sudden, you are directly below it, adding to its drama.
From here, our path quickly rejoined the more civilized sections of Wright Park, and we retraced out steps back to the Marble Works. And yeah, a few of us decided to go visit our favorite bartender, Kim, at American Flatbread for a round before calling it a night. Now if I could just get them to have Shed Mountain Ale on tap…..
By the time we had finished, this ended up being a longer than planned, but still manageable 8.25 miler. I don't want to scare away newcomers, so I promise this one was longer than we usually do, at least early in the summer as people get their legs back! While there aren't any true "hill climbs" at least by Vermont standards, this run is far from flat, with a lot of interesting, and in places, rather beautiful terrain.
I have resisted turning this blog into a training log, or a simple recounting of races, but from time to time I have the pleasure of participating in a road race worthy of mention, even if it isn't on the trails, or even in Addison County. I think the Boston Marathon is worthy of mention, as it is an aspiration for so many runners, and one which I recently had the pleasure of running for the first time in my life, deep into my middle age. The first challenge of the Boston Marathon is simply getting in. Unlike most marathons where if you pay your money on time, you are in, or some popular marathons, like New York, which have a lottery system for entry, Boston has strict qualifying times by age group and sex. While these qualifying times do not require superhuman performance, they are challenging enough that many life long runners are never quite fast enough to run the most famous race in the world. I had assumed that I was one of those.
I competed in the Clarence Demar Marathon in Keene NH in the fall of 2013, literally on the spur of the moment, as it was a nearby and inexpensive race, and accepted last minute entries. I had no delusions of grandeur for that race, as I had barely run for the month or so preceding it with a minor, but nagging injury. Much to my surprise, and aided by generous downhill portions, I had my best marathon since my early 30's and headed home very happy with my performance. Later in that evening, I was chatting online with my nephew, also a distance runner, and he suggested that my time might be a Boston qualifying time for an old guy like me. So, I went to the web page, and discovered that I indeed had qualified for this famous race that I had always assumed was totally out of reach! I guess the moral to this story is that you don't have to get fast – you just have to grow old gracefully.
So last fall rolled around, and I registered online, and felt like Charlie Bucket with a golden ticket when I got my notification that I was accepted to run!
Then the hard part hit – training for an early season marathon in the cold of a Vermont winter. And it was a tough one. A lot of time on the treadmill, supplemented with some cross country skiing, and the occasional run outside, which became a little bit easier when the howling cold of January and February subsided for the more typical winter weather of March.
On the day before the race, myself, Ben, a fellow Addison County trailrunner, and the ever patient Mrs. Trailrunner drove down to Boston, and we went into the city proper to check out the race exposition and pick up our race numbers. It seemed that most of the wares offered for free tastes were concoctions of chia seeds and stuff that looked like it came out of my chemistry lab. And tasted like it. One the funniest of these offerings was, I kid you not, pizza in a tube!
No thank you – bananas and bagels are fine, supplemented by the vile but oddly sustaining goo called "Gu". There was also a huge poster at the entrance to the exposition for all the runners to sign, and I had to leave my trailrunner moniker.
Finally, the long anticipated day, April 20 arrived. The race itself has an uncommon course for a major city marathon. Unlike the New York and Philadelphia marathons which I have done in the past, which weave through as many neighborhoods as they can, the Boston Marathon is a straight shot into the city from the western suburb of Hopkinton. Now, to put it in perspective, Hopkinton is all the way out by Interstate 495. This is what Bostonians call "a long commute". And we were going to run it. Arriving by bus at the runners' village, about all I had time to do was spend the mandatory minute or so in one of the thousands of porta-potties filling the Hopkinton High School football field, before joining the throngs for the long walk to the actual start line.
The numbering system at Boston is also unique in my experience. The bib that you wore reflected the time that you submitted for qualification, so the fastest qualifiers had lower numbers, while those of us benefiting from the relaxed standards for old folks necessarily had higher numbers. At the start line, these numbers were used to ensure that you were surrounded by runners of more or less your same speed. The roughly 32,000 runners were split into four "waves" of about 8000 runners, starting 25 minutes apart, and each wave was broken down into 1000 person "corrals". My number, in the 16,000's put me right at the start of the race – for the third wave. As we were waiting in the slow drizzle for the race to start, I amused my fellow competitors with the observation that "We should be proud of ourselves – we are the best of the slightly below average entrants".
When the gun went off for us, my prerace strategy of starting off slowly was dashed by the energy of the crowd behind me, as well as the fact that the first four miles were pretty relentlessly downhill. Another challenge for me is the fact that all the hydration that had been part of my life for the previous 24 hours inevitably make it so that one prerace porta-potty stop is not enough. Mid race is when this becomes more of an issue. While there are porta-potties along the course, it is an unwritten rule that men who merely need to perform "task 1" shouldn't use these, leaving them for the women runners. Fortunately, the early miles of the Boston Marathon have ample forests alongside the road for minimal privacy. Another curiosity about this is that nobody wants to be "the first" to turn a section of pristine forest into a giant urinal, but once one man decides that a place is appropriate for an on-the-run pit stop, the rest become emboldened. So, feeling nature's call, I dashed into a lightly wooded section alongside the road, and found myself almost immediately accompanied by about 10 other older gentlemen who seemed relieved that I had chosen this special place for us. After uttering something about how this might make a good advertisement for Flomax, I was back on the road, needing no further stops of this sort.
As luck would have it, the early morning drizzle turned into a downright foul weather day, with intermittent downpours and headwinds. The funny thing about this was that I barely noticed it, and in fact actually welcomed the cooling rain. I was also glad I was wearing a polypro t-shirt under my race shirt. One of the next high points for the race was the run through Wellesley, MA, home of the all women's college of the same name. The section going through town, roughly at the half way point, is nicknamed "The Scream Tunnel" due to the vociferous enthusiasm of the college students.
I had been warned that from mile 16-20 was the hilliest part of the course, culminating in Heartbreak Hill would be challenging. I found Vermont training more than sufficient to overcome the challenges of what we would call a rise in the road. Admittedly, I dropped by pace by about a minute per mile on them, but was surprised to see so many competitors walking. Finally, the last 6 miles into the city is almost entirely downhill or flat, making for a fun, fast finish. With maybe 5 miles to go at the top of a small rise, I caught my first glimpse of the Prudential Tower near the finish line! I also knew that my nephew – the same nephew who I was chatting with online when I realized I had qualified – would be looking out for me at around mile 23, and I was able to see him, and ran over and gave him a big hug before continuing to the finish line. The last two miles of the race are finally in Boston, proper, and includes a run by Fenway Park before a short zig zag up to the long straightaway and finish on Boylston St.
Of course after the elation of crossing the finish line comes the dreaded "march of the zombies" as all of the runners, now suddenly realize that they have to walk for many city blocks to actually get OUT of the race area. People keep giving you stuff. A medal over your head Bottles of water, capes to keep warm with, and funny energy food supplements. One in particular, a chocolately looking protein drink which looked curiously tasty was thrust into my hands, but I found that I was tortured by the fact that my frozen hands couldn't actually open the bottle. Fortunately, one of the staff took care of this for me when I mumbled something which was correctly translated as "can't open." Noting the odd lurching walk off all of the finished competitors, I started mumbling "brains….Brains…" and a few people laughed and joined me before we all realized that talking hurt at the moment. Finally, I met up with my friend Ben, and we managed to hobble our way to a warm bus to get us out of the cold and back to Hopkinton where we could clean up and prep for the drive back to Middlebury that evening.
The only disappointment with the race? I had to go through a short tunnel at around mile 25, and my GPS watch apparently lost connection with the satellites needed, and so the last mile didn't register on my Google Earth projection. Trust me, I did it. I don't have any pictures taken during the race, as my hands were too cold to manipulate the camera feature on my cell phone!
Once again, it is a beautiful Saturday, so I thought it would be a great day for a ski or trail run. A few days ago, I was talking to my colleague Joe the Geographer, and he mentioned how nice the running up to Silver Lake had been recently, and I realized then that despite the fact that I run there during most of the year (and blog about routes near the lake regularly), I had never been there before in the winter! I also knew that my spiked shoes probably wouldn't provide quite enough traction, so I went to the Middlebury Mountaineer and picked up a set of "Microspikes" which are basically slip on mini-crampons designed to be worn over running shoes or lighter hiking boots.
I started this run, in the usual place, the Falls of Lana trailhead, and started up the steeper early sections of trail, which had been well groomed by and for snowmobiles, making for easy running with my spikes on. While the beaten down section of trail proved to be easy running, if I stepped off the trail, I quickly sank in, close to up to my knees, so there would be no trailbreaking for me today! Chugging up towards Silver Lake, I noticed that some snowshoers had beaten a trail to Lenny's Lookout, the high point of the powerline clearing overlooking Lake Dunmore, so I headed up that way to enjoy the view after a short climb. I could see lots of ice fisherman down below, and it was curious that they were mostly clustered in one small part of the lake. Was the fishing better there? Or did someone bring the beer?
Returning to the main snowmobile trail, I continued up to the lake shore. I must confess, I was kind of hoping that some ambitious snowshoer had traipsed around the lake, making for easy passage in running shoes, but I could find no such tracks, so I had to content myself with a short slog through the snow, out on the ice, to get the sort of perspective that requires swimming in the summer. In addition to shoreline views, I also saw a few snowmobilers, off of their sleds and walking along the shore. With those big helmets on their heads, I kind of thought they looked like popular music artists "Daft Punk", a duo reknowned for wearing face-obscuring helmets as they play.
Continuing on, I thought it might be nice to head down the Leicester Hollow trail, but was disappointed to see that trail had barely been broken on this, so I continued up the main route above Silver Lake. When I reached the trail split, half going right towards Goshen, the other half going straight towards Moosalamoo, I though I would head straight for a little while to check out the rarely-visited Sucker Brook Reservoir. Somewhat surprisingly, when I split off of the snowmobile trail to go to this small body of water, there was one set 4WD tire tracks heading down the steep road for me to run in. Somebody whose job it is to inspect the dam in the winter has one heck of a big set of snow tires, and a vehicle which does really well in deep snow! When I got to the reservoir, it was……empty. Apparently they drain it in the fall, probably to leave room for spring snowmelt?
Heading back up the hill to the trail junction, and not quite ready to return down to my car, I headed up the road further to the Goshen/Silver Lake trailhead parking lot, which was empty due to the fact that the road it lied at the end of was not plowed in the winter. I did notice that the snowmobile continued on however, and was surprised to learn that it followed the course of the Ridge Trail, up on the hillside above Leicester Hollow. I previously described the Ridge Trail in a summer running post, and found that there was nothing particularly remarkable about it, and had never run it again since. It took on a whole different look in the winter, so I am now eager to-re-explore it in the upcoming weeks while everything is still under deep snow. This time, however, I was not prepared for a longer run (no food or water), so after going a short distance on the well-packed Ridge Trail, I returned to the Goshen parking lot. From this point on, it was about 2.5 miles all downhill, and my Microspikes made it so that I could run fast, and confident in my footing for the duration of the descent.
Returning to my car, this made for a slightly longer than 7 mile run, with about 900 feet of climbing and descent. The day was so nice, that after I got home and had a light lunch, I managed to get out for an hour of cross-country skiing as well!
Ok, so some of you must be asking "What the heck is The Blerch?"
The Blerch is a character, created by the author and cartoonist known as "The Oatmeal", who has described The Blerch in the following words:
"Marathon runners often describe a phenomenon known as "hitting the wall." They refer to 'the wall" as the point in a race when they feel physically and emotionally defeated.
I do not believe in the wall. I believe in The Blerch. The Blerch is a fat little cherub who follows me when I run. He is a wretched, lazy beast. He tells me to slow down, to walk, to quit.
"Blerch" is the sound food makes when it is squeezed from a tube. "Blerch" is the shape of my tummy after a huge meal. If I am sedentary at a time when I have zero excuse for being sedentary, I call this "blerching." The Blerch represents all forms of gluttony, apathy, and indifference that plague my life.
The Blerch always seems to appear in my life over the holidays – too much good food, too much good wine, and too much time on the road or in the homes of my extended family can make for a relaxing holiday, but not one in which I get much running in. "Its too cold outside Jeff – you don't want to go out there", or "Gee that football game, the Dingleberry Bowl between Okoboji State and Turkey Tech sure sounds good", or "I shouldn't run right after eating – where are the Christmas cookies?". Yup – that's the Blerch talking!
A few days ago, one of my running friends in Middlebury Trail Enthusiasts announced a run up, over and back on my old favorite, Snake Mountain, for this Saturday morning, and this sounded like a great way to jump start my running legs after the lethargy of the holidays. So, when my alarm went off at 7 am on a Saturday morning…..I hit the snooze button. Damn that Blerch! 10 minutes later, as the alarm resumed its insistent buzz, I realized that it was time to silence The Blerch along with the alarm, so I got up and poured a cup of coffee. Then, I looked at the thermometer, and it read "9 degrees". Ugh – its too cold out there, but as the sun rises it will warm up, right? So I had my breakfast, and drank a few more cups of coffee, and when the time came at 8:30 am to drive off to the Snake Mt. trailhead on the west side of the mountain, I looked at the thermo-tormentor, and it let me know that the meager rays of sun had raised the temperature all the way up to 11 degrees. At least at this point, I realized I had drunk too much coffee to go back to bed, so off to the trailhead I went, donning about seven layers of clothing.
My mood improved considerably upon seeing four other runners ready to go at the start of the run. We had been forewarned to wear some sort of spikes on our shoes given the icing on the trails, so I brought my Asics Gel Arctic shoes – basically a normal running shoes with short spikes in the soles, for the winter ascent. The rest of the group had slip on spikes, known as MICROspikes, which they wore over their running shoes, and looked like they might offer even better grip. Sure enough, as we set off up the trail, while my shoes did well on the old styrofoam snow, frozen mud, and hard packed trail snow, they offered no grip whatsoever on the brief but challenging sections where the trail was essentially a frozen waterfall. My running partners with their MICROspikes seemed to be handling these sections much more adeptly.
As a result, my pace was much slower than usual, but nobody else was running much faster. Achieving the summit on this bitter cold morning, which seemed much more bearable after climbing for over two miles, we were treated to some amazing Adirondack views. I have always felt that if you squint your eyes just a little while looking west, you can almost convince yourself that our winter views of the 'Dacks look an awful lot like views of the Front Range from Denver. Funny how squinting can keep an illusion completely clear!
After ascending from the more heavily hiked west side trail, we decided to descend down the east side. To get to this trail, you have to pretty much know where it is, as it is an unmarked trail. About one third of the way down the mountain, the west side trail takes a sharp, steeply descending right hand turn, and the east side trail is achieved if you go straight at this point. If you have never hiked this trail before, I would recommend ascending from the east side parking lot on Snake Mountain Road, so you can see where the trails meet. Given the lighter use of the east side trail, the snow was not as compacted as it was on the much icier west side, making for an easier descent, passing by some nicely terraced beaver ponds.
When we reached the east side parking lot, we had a decision to make: I was not looking forward to the climb back on the trails, and back down the west side, as my footing was much poorer than the others' and I was not enthused about sliding down the mountain on a frozen incline. I knew there was a way to circle back to our parked cars by taking the Forest Road, a road which ran over the southern shoulder of Snake Mountain, but I did not have a clear idea what the mileage of this route would be. Some members of the group suspected that my mileage estimates might be a bit on the short side, and were not up for the potential of a significantly longer run. So, we ended up splitting the group- after all, this is supposed to be fun – and some went back up the mountain, while a few of us chose the road return, heading south on Snake Mt. Road, west on the climb over Forest Road, and then taking the right turn onto Mountain St. extension to return to our vehicles. Other than occasionally choking on the dust churned up by passing cars, this was actually a nice road run with views to the east and to the west at various points along the way. Although my initial conservative estimate of the distance was indeed shy of the actual mileage by about a mile and a half, I had not missed by as much as some of my running partners feared. The two groups met back at the parking lot within a few minutes of each other, and our version of the run worked out to almost exactly 10 miles, with the about 1000 ft climb up the mountain.
Happy New Year, and Death to the Blerch! (although he is kind of cute…..)


text: FACEBOOKShare on FacebookTWITTERShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare by emailBusinessHybrid tax credit . . . going, going, gone?By Kai RyssdalJuly 28, 2006 | 7:38 PMA potential hybrid car buyer test drives a Toyota Prius in September 2005 in San Francisco. - Photo by David Paul Morris, Getty ImagesFollow Kai Ryssdal at @kairyssdal.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Linux Beta from Google's Chrome Browser
Google has released the first beta version of its Chrome browser for Linux and Mac OS for download. Until now, only an open source variation, Chromium, has been Linux compatible.
As Mark Larson from Google's Chrome Team reports in his blog, the beta is based on the code-base of release 22.214.171.124, but also brings support for HTML 5 video tagging, which failed to function in the Chromium variation with the same version number. The beta Linux version can be downloaded here.
A few days have past since Google split the Chromium branch from the official Chrome version. Chromium is now in version 4.0.260 and comes with support for bookmark synchronization.
Issue 26: Linux Shell Handbook 7th Ed./Special Editions
Buy this issue as a PDF
SUSE Joins the Microsoft Test Drive Program
Customers can take a free test drive of SLES for HPC on the Azure Cloud
SiFive Launches a Line of Open Source Chips
San Francisco-based chip company announces their first fully open source chip platform.
Fedora 24 Released
The whole distro gets rebuilt on glibc 2.3
Canonical Announces Cross-Distro Support for Snaps
Ubuntu Vendor tries to solve app packaging and distribution problem across distributions.
ownCloud Forked
Founder of ownCloud launches the Nextcloud project.
HP Enterprise Unveils a Futuristic Computer
Will The Machine change the way future programmers think about memory?
CoreOS Announces Distributed Storage System
The new Torus distributed storage system is available under an open source license on GitHub
Google Beats Oracle in the Android Lawsuit
Juries decides Google's use of Java APIs Was Fair Use
Linux is the Largest Software Development Project in History
But if you are not using the latest Linux kernel, your system is insecure.
Linksys Says Yes to Open Source Firmware
Home routers will give room for custom firmware but still comply with FCC rules


text:
George Ziegler (general)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
|This article is an orphan, as no other articles link to it. Please introduce links to this page from related articles; try the Find link tool for suggestions. (July 2009)
George Milton Ziegler (1832–1912) was a Union Civil War officer from Ohio. He was commissioned a second lieutenant on August 28, 1861. He was promoted to first lieutenant on December 6, 1861 and later to captain on December 28, 1862. On December 22, 1864, he was promoted to colonel of the 52nd Regiment of United States Colored Troops. His promotion to brevet brigadier general of volunteers was dated March 13, 1865.
See also[edit]
|This biographical article related to the United States Army is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
|This article about a person of the American Civil War is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.


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US State Dept: "Serious Military Equipment" was Onboard Intercepted Syrian Plane. Prepping for Worst-Case Chem-Weapon Scenario
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[quote:DoomneT:MV8yMDE1NzkyXzMzODczNTM1XzE4RDVDNUU3] [b]No there is no proof of anything[/b] [b][color=red]The Moscow-Syria plane intercepted by Turkey carried legal radar equipment, Russia's foreign minister says. More soon[/color][/b] [i]"Russia waiting for Turkey's explanation over grounded plane:" FM[/i] [i]"Turkish 'weapons airliner' story does not add up"[/i] [i]"We have no secrets! There were no weapons on the Syria-bound plane and could not have been any" - Russian FM Lavrov [/i] [b][color=red]Russia says Syria plane carried radar equipment[/color][/b] [i]"For Erdogan quarrel with Assad is one thing, Putin another"[/i] [i] "Turkey should not play American game"[/i] [i]"Russia Denies Link to Syria Plane Cargo"[/i] [i] "Syria demands compensation from #Turkey for confiscated plane cargo" [/i] Want to Read The Full Articles ? Right Here: http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message2013061/pg1 At this stade, turkey has not show the proof of nothing to the media. Who Lies ? Who Knows ! and Who Actually Care ? So stop posting bullshit titles doorbert [/quote]
Original Message
Victoria Nuland
Daily Press Briefing
Washington, DC
October 12, 2012
link to www.state.gov
State Dept Nuland: "We have no doubt that this was serious military equipment" on intercepted Syrian plane, Turkey
QUESTION: Has there been any more talk with Syria about this – sorry, with Turkey – about the Syrian plane that was stopped in Turkey, and any more information on whether there were, in fact, Russian weapons on that plane?
MS. NULAND: We've had a pretty comprehensive accounting from the Turkish side of precisely what they found. But I'm going to leave it to them to share in public what they found. I think Prime Minister Erdogan made some pretty definitive statements about that. We have no doubt that this was serious military equipment.
QUESTION: So you have raised this with the Russians?
MS. NULAND: We have been in contact with the Russians about it as well. As you know, we were pretty definitive publicly about our grave concern that this kind of activity continues, particularly by a Security Council member.
QUESTION: Right, understood. But yesterday you hadn't, but you weren't aware if you had yet spoken to the Russians about --
MS. NULAND: We have.
QUESTION: And where was that? Who was that? Do you know?
MS. NULAND: My understanding is we've talked to them both in Moscow and from here, but I know we've talked to them from here, but I'm not sure whether in that conversation this particular issue came up. But certainly in Moscow, it has.
QUESTION: What – well, then if it wasn't this issue, was there something else that – they were talking (inaudible)?
MS. NULAND: There was a conversation yesterday on the CTR issue, among other things. Yeah, please.
QUESTION: Just to make sure. Is that – is your understanding that it was – let's say military equipment coming from the government, or a private company taking it into Syria?
MS. NULAND: I'm going to let the Turks characterize exactly what they – where they think the stuff originated from, and where they think it was going.
QUESTION: You also said that this was very troubling because it came from a Security Council member.
MS. NULAND: Right.
QUESTION: Is that right?
MS. NULAND: Correct.
QUESTION: But in fact, there are no Security Council sanctions on Syria, are there?
MS. NULAND: There are no Security Council sanctions on Syria because Security Council members Russia and China continue to block those.
QUESTION: Right. But I mean, this isn't a violation of anything.
MS. NULAND: No. But everybody else on the Security Council is doing what it can unilaterally to ensure that the Assad regime is not getting support from the outside.
QUESTION: So, I mean, what – you're saying that the Russians did something wrong here?
MS. NULAND: We are saying, as we have been saying for almost a year now, that no responsible country ought to be aiding and abetting the war machine of the Assad regime.
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Ronald Elvin Rogers Sr.
Ronald Elvin Rogers Sr., 72, of Mount Washington, died on Saturday, May 10, 2014.
He was a wonderful husband and a great dad. He was an avid fisherman.
He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Shirley O'Brath Rogers; sons, Ronald Elvin Rogers Jr. and Carl Anthony Rogers Sr.; mother, Emma Jean Murphy; brothers, Marcus Rogers and Ricky Murphy; sister, Carol Sanders; grandchildren, Kimberly Rogers, Keith Rogers, Carl Anthony Rogers Jr., and Jacob Rogers; mother-in-law, Dora O'Brath; sister-in-law, Barbara Bussey; brother-in-law, William A. O'Brath; fishing buddy, Maurice Combs; and a host of nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles and cousins.
Funeral arrangements were handled by Schmid Funeral Home in Mount Washington. Expressions of sympathy to Hosparus. Online condolences may go to
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The Romanos, a Luxury Collection Resort, Costa Navarino
Navarino Dunes, Messinia, Costa Navarino, 24001, Greece
Phone: +30 272 309 6000
4.3/5 (79 reviews)
Explore Messinian Culture, Naturally Mediterranean
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© 2016 Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc
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Hear from our guests about their stay from 79 verified guest reviews
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When you first arrive at the resort you cannot believe what you actually see. You let yourself carried away by the beauty of the location among olive trees. We stayed at Romanos hotel for a weekend and we loved this experience. It is actually like living in paradise.
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Hotel Information
- Check-in 3:00 PM - Check out 12:00 PM
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Our resort is located in the Greek region of Messinia in the southwest Peloponnese, and rests on a breathtaking stretch of sandy beach along the coast of the Ionian Sea. We are 2.45 hours' drive from the city of Athens and 50 minutes' drive from Kalamata International Airport. UNESCO World Heritage List sites, including renowned Olympia, Mystras and the Temple of Apollo Epicurius, as well as Ancient Messini, the Palace of Nestor, are all within driving distance.
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