Trail running in Mt Washington State Forest
Sunday, June 5, 2006
Mt Washington State Forest info
photo slideshow
Back when I lived in the Berkshires, one of my favorite places to run and XC ski was over in the Mt Washington State Forest. While there are a lot of uphills to run, you usually won't see too many other people, and the woods can be very peaceful and very pretty.
Given that this has been the year for me to re-visit some old running routes, I decided to drive down to the park and run a 10 mile loop along the Ashley Hill trail up to Mt Frissell, then along the South Taconic trail and loop back to the Ashley Hill to return to the trail head.
One of the things I'm finding as I run in the Berkshires is that the trails are much more technical than the realtively "tame" trails near Albany. Makes for a harder run... but also good training. So I guess in a lot of ways I don't really mind. And it's great to be back in the Berkshires again, even if only for a little while.
While out on my run I had a unique experience that showed that today wasn't my day to die... for which I am very appreciative. I was several miles into the run when I heard something rustle by my feet; also caught a slithery movement with my peripheral vision. I know what THAT means! So I jumped into the air (and probably shouted "SNAKE!!!!") and landed a few feet away, turned to see if I could see the culprit... and coiled in the middle of the trail was the biggest freakin' timber rattlesnake I've ever seen (OK, the ONLY one I've ever seen in the wild... but this sucker was big, I'd guess 6-8 feet uncoiled.)
Apparently he was just as shocked as I was, so he coiled before striking (or maybe they have to do that... my rattlesnake physiology is pretty weak) and I jumped far enough away from him that he didn't strike. In other words, some higher power was looking out for me.
Since I had to come back that way, I marked the trail a few feet away from the snake so I'd be careful coming back through. (Of course, he was long gone by the time I returned to that stretch of trail.) And I kept my eyes glued to the trail from then on (which is probably why I missed my turnoff later on and added an extra mile or so to an already long run as I went down the wrong trail and then had to backtrack.
Having run that trail many times previously and never seen a rattlesnake, I can only assume I was "lucky" today (in many ways.) I must admit, though, it's going to be a bit nervewracking when I go there to run again.
The run itself was long and exhausting (it was supposed to be 10 miles and take 2 1/2 hrs - it turned into 12 and took 4 hours, with my water supply pretty well gone when I was still a few miles from the trailhead - it was MUCH warmer than I'd expected, really a beautiful late spring day and a great day for a run.) Throw in a massive adrenaline dump about 90 minutes in, and I'm fried.
I'll post some photos from along the trail... unfortunately I used all my film before getting to the top of the mountain, so I don't have any pictures of the gorgeous views. Maybe next time.
JM
P.S. a side note - I ran in three states! Much of the park is in Massachusetts, but some of the Taconic trail dips across the border into New York. And at the top of Mt Frissell is the Tri-State marker, which shows where the borders of MA, NY, and CT intersect... so I was also in Connecticut very briefly. Pretty cool...
