Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Beartown official site
Beartown trail map
Beartown holds something of a special place in my memories, because it was one of the places where I frequently ran trails and went XC skiing back when I lived in Hillsdale. Beartown is the 3rd largest of Massachusett's state forests, covering approximately 10500 acres. The southwest corner is somewhat developed, as this is where the campsites and swimming area are, but the rest is wild and rugged, with miles of singletrack, multiuse trails, and dirt and paved roads.
I had three sections I generally ran... a loop in the NE corner, along the Beebe and Sky Peak trails, as well as Beartown Mountain Road, a loop along the western side, on the Turkey, Wildcat, and Ski/Bridle trails, and a loop along the east side that included the Airplane trail and a stretch of Beartown Mountain Road. The latter was probably the easiest of the bunch, since all the others included some stenuous uphill sections, and just about any run in Beartown was sure to include mud. But best of all - the likelihood of running into other folks on the trails was very, very low.
I've managed to get back to Beartown three times since moving to Albany - twice to bike (ATB, on the roads... maybe someday I'll ride some trails there...) and once to run the Beebe/Sky Peak/Beartown Mountain Rd loop. I'd been hoping for the last two years to get down there either for a ride or a run, and today I managed to do just that, for my latest long run. And it was good to be back!
I parked at the old CCC camp and was reminded to break out the bug spray as deer flies swarmed the car. After a couple of minutes they calmed down and I was able to get out and gear up (including liberal coating of bug spray and one of my hats to keep them out of my hair as much as possible.) Then I headed across the road to begin my first loop. After startling a heron who flew off across the beaver pond/swamp, I hiked uphill on Wilcox Rd (a dirt road that goes up and over Mt Wilcox) for about six minutes until I came to the Turkey trail, a multiuse (ie ATV) trail which climbs partway up the mountain and then runs fairly level before descending again to the road. The hills along this trail had always made it a challenge to run, and the massive amounts of erosion hadn't improved the situation - the climbs and descents were mainly loose rocks with occasional patches of dirt, making for very tricky footing. Crossed the road and started climbing again, this time on the Wildcat trail, which was even more eroded than the Turkey trail.
Fortunately, a little over a mile in the Ski & Bridle Trail briefly intersects Wildcat, and I was able to leave the ATV damage behind for most of the rest of the 1st loop. The Ski & Bridle trail is mostly singletrack, and looks like it's probably used primarily by the local mountain bikers, who have done a nice job taking care of it. This section was a real pleasure to run, and reminded me a bit of running along the Nipmuck hiking trail in Connecticut during the Northern Nipmuck and Nipmuck Marathon trail races... except it isn't as hilly! There was a little bit of everything - mud and stream crossings (many with primitive bridges built by the riders), hardwood forest, a section along a small ridge through the mountain laurel, and evergreen forest. Some small ups and downs, but nothing too difficult. This was easily the best part of the whole run. When the trail finally ended at the paved road, I headed back to the car to change shirts and restock my fluid supply.
After wolfing down a couple of granola bars, restocking fluids, ditching my drenched shirt in exchange for a dry one, and again dousing myself with bug spray, I headed off back down the paved road. Since the 2nd loop would be longer than the first, I'd decided to run more of it on the mainly dirt roads through the park rather than wear my legs out on the ATV trails. Given that said roads are loaded with hills, and that this would be my longest run since the Nipmuck Marathon, it didn't seem like I was taking it too easy on myself. After about a mile I left the paved road and headed uphill on Beartown Mountain Rd, which is dirt and in some places is quite rocky (though not as washed out this year as it has been at times in the past... guess they've done some maintenance work.) I was a little surprised to see that the stretch near the beaver pond wasn't flooded... that's been underwater to some degree almost every other time I've been there. Just beyond that was a disturbing sight - the woods surrounding the access trail to the Sky Peak trail have been completely cut down, leaving a huge open area. Sigh...
I ran down the access trail to see if anything had been done further down, and it was unchanged - alongside the trail is a small dammed-up pond, and the Sky Peak trail heads up the hill above it. The bits of the trail I saw looked as heavily used as the other ATV trails I'd been on today. I don't remember ever stopping before to look at the stone walls of the ruins of a house overlooking the pond (no doubt I did years ago, back when I was able to run Sky Peak whenever I wanted) so today I took the time to check it out and take a few photos before heading back to the road.
Continued the uphill climb on the road, passing through the intersection where the other end of the Sky Peak trail crosses the road and turns into Sky Peak Rd, going up and over Mt Wilcox and coming out just across from where my car was parked. Once I passed that intersection, I started looking for another trail I used to run - the Airplane trail. Had one false start, where I hiked in on an overgrown track that was probably an old logging road, but finally found the trail and headed off down it (or rather - up it, since much of the first sections headed uphill!) Airplane is another ATV trail, and one that has been even more damaged than the other ones I ran today, probably because it was always fairly muddy. The damage made it more difficult to run, as well being upsetting, because I used to really enjoy running and skiing this trail.
When I finally reached McCarthy Rd (really just a doubletrack into the woods), I found out why the maps I have now are different from my old Beartown trail maps - the section of the Airplane trail between McCarthy and Brett Rd has been closed to motorized vehicles. A good decision on the part of the forest managers - this was section was one of the wettest and suffered major damage before they finally closed it down. Seeing what a mess those idiots made of this wonderful trail really made me sad, and also started me off on my "ban recreational ATVs" mental rant. Even though this stretch of trail was mostly downhill, running it was a challenge, especially since the last bits have gotten somewhat overgrown. But eventually I found myself on Brett Rd (again, another doubletrack through the woods) where I took a break to change into a warmer (and dry!) shirt I'd packed and took a look at the old collapsed bridge while munching a granola bar.
From there it was all road work... as I ran uphill on Beartown Mountain Rd, I was reminded of why I typically ran the Airplane trail in the opposite direction and then ran back on the road. Didn't think that hill was ever going to end, but it did of course, and after about 3 miles I found myself back at the intersection with Sky Peak Rd. By that time I was getting pretty tired, my legs were pretty well fired, and it was starting to get dark, so I decided to go up and over the mountain instead of retracing the route I'd run out on. Spent about half a mile or so hiking uphill, then had a long downhill run that seemed like it went on forever (running down a washed-out dirt road in the near dark can be slow going!) But I finally reached the bottom of the hill and the paved road, finishing my long run in a bit over 5 hours, and shuffled back to the car, where I cleaned up as best I could before heading home.
today's running routes... this map doesn't even begin to show the many twists and turns that these trails make...
So, despite being upset once again by all the damage ATV riders have done to trails I used to really enjoy running and skiing, this was a trip well worth making. I managed to combine a much-needed long run with more than a few visits to some pleasant memories, and also got in some much need practice on gnarly Massachusetts trails (which is what all 20 miles of the Savoy race in 1 1/2 weeks will be run on... that's going to be a long day.) With luck I'll be able to get back to Beartown before another two years pass... if not later this year, then next summer.
JMH
