the Way of the Turtle

10.1 Mile Run on the Mohawk-Hudson Bike Path
Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Definitely a good night for a run on the bike path, even if the temperatures were more like late October than early September. I ran from the Niskayuna Lions Park to the GE R&D entrance at the top of the hill. It was getting dark by the time I reached the base of the old landfill, and by the time I reached GE the sun had fully set, so I did the entire run back in the dark... except, of course, for the bright light of the moon, which was about 2/3 full, and provided ample illumination. I had expected my legs to complain the whole time, but overall things felt pretty good - a pleasant surprise!

When I got to the park, a blue heron was coming in for a landing down at the muddy canoe launch, and a cormorant took off down the river... the heron flew off a little ways when I walked down to take his picture, and apparently I startled a green heron as well. A bit further down the path, an egret was going to town where the Lisha Kill flows into the Mohawk... I watched him catch several fish or frogs and eat them. But the real surprise was the gulls at the Lock 7 dam - there must have been several hundred of them, floating, flying, and standing on the edge of the dam. Needless to say they made quite a racket!

JMH