the Way of the Turtle

WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH...
4.5 Mile Snowshoe at Five Rivers EEC
Sunday, February 28, 2010

... the not-so-tough wonder why the heck they're doing this to themselves.

Last week I set out for Five Rivers and ended up going to Thacher instead. Today I thought about going to Thacher and ended up at Five Rivers. Sometimes even I wonder how I end up in the places I do... though given how sluggish I felt all during today's snowshoe, it's probably a good thing I opted for Five River's gentler terrain and lighter snow cover.

Unfortunately I left my camera at home, so I actually had to concentrate on running... still ended up taking a lot of breaks. I was tired and it was pretty difficult going, with 6 to 9 inches of wet, mushy snow on the ground (plus a few patches of bare ground.) There was also a layer of water under the snow... wet going all around.

I started out doing the loop around the Beaver Pond, and discovered that the Five Rivers crew have been busy since I was last there - they've built a new platform to float at the far end of the pond, near the spillway. From there I headed back across the road and along the Vlomankill trail up on the ridge overlooking the stream. No surprise, the water was fairly high. Followed the stream all the way over to the intersection with the North Loop, then made my way back through the woods and along the field to the Wild Turkey trail. I was a bit surprised that there was very little wildlife in evidence... even the birds didn't seem very active.

That changed later in the run, first when I spotted a couple of downy woodpeckers in the woods along the Wild Turkey trail. Then, as I made my way down toward the visitors center, I disturbed a group of juncos out looking for food, and passed through an area where a large flock of robins were foraging. With all the snow on the ground they were as amusing to watch as last weekend at Schodack Island, but I still spent a while watching them wing around and search for food down in one of the wetter areas where some of the snow was gone.

From there I looped around the old orchard (more robins, but no deer) and then down to the access road, before climbing the hill behind the visitors center. At the top I made my way to the butterfly garden and sat watching the bird feeders for a while. All the usual suspects were present - chickadees, sparrows, a couple of cardinals, mourning doves, and downy woodpeckers, but I also spotted a red-bellied woodpecker and a bit later as I was walking back to the parking lot, a northern mockingbird. I was a bit bummed at that point that I'd left my camera at home, because I could have gotten some nice bird photos.

The sun peeked out from behind the clouds as I was making my way back to the car, and I noticed several people over by the orchard - looked like the deer had put in an appearance. Another photo op missed.

In the end I didn't go as far as I'd been hoping to when I left the house, but I think I went plenty far for how I was feeling today. I didn't push all that hard at the race yesterday, but it sure felt like I did! Of course, it has been a long week marked by a definite lack of sleep and exercise - I'm sure that didn't help. With luck I can get outdoors more often this week, and I am definitely going to try to get a few good nights of sleep before the end of the week and Nationals on Saturday. Hopefully the snow at Highland Park will be better for running than the mushy slop we have around here!

JMH