the Way of the Turtle

RETURN OF THE MUDDY TURTLE
12 Mile Run at Thacher Park & on the Long Path
Sunday, June 4, 2006

I knew I wanted to get in a longer run (2 1/2 to 3 hours) this weekend, preferably someplace where I haven't been running recently and preferably with a bit more technical terrain than the Pine Bush (after all, GREYLOCK is rapidly approaching!) At first I considered heading to Alander or Beartown, but those are both a haul (3 hour round trip.) I toyed with the idea of checking out the Taconic Skyline trail just west of Pittsfield, but even that's a bit of driving (90 minutes round trip) and I just didn't feel like sitting in the car for that length of time. So in the end I decided to visit Thacher Park, home of the Indian Ladder Trail Race (which I've run 6 times in the past 8 years) and the Hairy Gorilla Trail Half Marathon (which ended up being more fun than I'd expected.) In addition to being someplace I haven't run much before, Thacher also has some reasonably long hills and connects to the Long Path, which I'd like to explore a bit more.

Parked at Hop Field, which in the winter is one of the bases for XC skiing at Thacher. Geared up and headed off for the trail along the escarpment, and immediately regretted not bringing my camera - with all the rain we've been having, the waterfalls over the escarpment were spectacular. Ran the escarpment trail all the way up past the Haile's Cave picnic area, then revised my plan to run the trail through the woods behind there when I discovered the trailhead totally flooded. So it was back down the escarpment (following the current Indian Ladder Trail Race route!) and then up Paint Mine Road, the first significant hill (made it all the way to the top without stopping!) After that I headed uphill on the Long Path to Roemer's High Point, a spot with a pretty darn great view. Of course, there was a LOT of climbing to do to get there (what would you expect, running to someplace named "High Point"?) Some sections were too steep and muddy for me to run, and unfortunately what were probably once some very nice sections of trail are now a torn-up logging road. But I did make it to the High Point, and even went a little bit beyond before heading back to Thacher.

From there I headed down into the XC ski trails, many of which I haven't run since the route for the Indian Ladder Trail Race was changed back in 2000. I had forgotten how pretty that section of the park is, so I'm really glad I ended up running it today. That was also the muddy section back when we ran the race there, and today it was a swamp. Mud and water everywhere - what a blast!

My legs definitely felt the 3 hours and all the climbing, but it wasn't bad... and being on such great trails definitely helped to wrap the run up on a positive note. I ended up very wet and very muddy, which is usually a lot of fun (and definitely was today.) One thing that really stood out was the lack of traffic noise - as much as I like the Pine Bush, there's almost always the sound of traffic somewhere in the background, and at Thacher that only happened when I was near roads. I will definitely have to spend more time running there this summer! Too bad I didn't have my camera; maybe I can get some pictures after a storm sometime in the next few months.

-JMH