Monday, September 1, 2008
I was seriously torn over where to go for my run today. For a while I had planned to go to Mt Washington State Forest in SW Massachusetts and run a fairly strenuous loop that would have taken me over several mountains... I used to run at Mt Washington fairly frequently and miss it a lot. But that would have been a 3 hour round trip just to go there and return (not to mention the 3-4 hours it would take to run/hike the loop I'd researched) and I really didn't feel like driving that far in the end. Then I considered driving to Pittsfield and running the Taconic Skyline and Crest trails... but I'm going to be running a half marathon at Pittsfield State Forest next weekend. I also researched going to Partridge Run Wildlife Management Area and State Forest, about 20 miles from here, to run the Long Path and maybe a few other trails... but I had a hard time getting my backside in gear (especially after going outside to chop down the jungle in front of the house and finding out how hot it was!) and I didn't want to risk ending up on unknown trails in the dark, even with a headlamp. I even almost talked myself into just taking today off... but that would have been a waste of a beautiful (if bloody hot) day, now wouldn't it?
So in the end I drove over to Lock 8 west to Schenectady and ran along the bike path, first out to the end of the path at the railroad tracks in Rotterdam Junction, and then down to a small park just east of Lock 8. Nothing too hard, though my legs were still depressingly creaky by the time I was done.
Spotted a cormorant out in the rocks in the river right at the start, along with the ubiquitous gulls. Saw a kingfisher twice on the old canal, and upset a great blue heron sufficiently that he took off for parts unknown. Also had a monarch butterfly putting on a very nice show for me at one point... shame the pictures didn't come out a little bit sharper, but I didn't want to get too close and scare him off.
More beaver-chewed trees in the spot where I saw one the last time I rode over here... guess that beaver's moved in! Best of all, I caught a glimpse of him swimming in the river a little ways downstream as I was running back to Lock 8. I'd love to know where he's living, but the shore is sufficiently overgrown right there that it's probably not visible unless you're in a boat.
JMH
