Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Ended up over at the Karner Barrens for tonight's run... the work they've done at the Pine Bush Discovery Center is very impressive. Solar panels have been installed to supply some of the center's electricity, and the pavement has been removed from the old parking lot to allow rain water to seep into the ground more effectively. They've also completed a universally accessible discovery trail which includes a variety of informative signs describing habitat, flora, and fauna in the Pine Bush and built outdoor restrooms. All in all, some great improvements.
I headed over to the western trails first, because I know there's poison ivy along that section and I wanted to run there while I still had enough light to avoid it. The area has been mowed since I was last there, which meant the fields weren't quite as scenic and the trails had a certain amount of mowing slash on them, which made running a little tricky at times.
After that I ran the eastern trails, including a trip down the old dump access road from the Fox Run trailer park... apparently that's no longer being used because it was very overgrown. Startled a deer down in there - came around a corner and there he was, no more than 20 feet away - we were both pretty surprised!
It was getting dark by the time I hit the trails though the woods, but I still managed to do most of the run without my headlamp... only needed it sporadically for the last mile or so. Two pluses to running in the dark - it was a bit cooler, and the light from my headlamp reflects off the eyes of the wolf spiders out looking for food. Finished the run under the light of a crescent moon... a reminder that in another couple of months virtually all of my running will be in the dark.
JMH
