the Way of the Turtle

3.3 Mile XC Ski at Canoe Meadows Wildlife Sanctuary
Sunday, February 8, 2009

Canoe Meadows trail map (PDF)

Lots of options for where to go after this morning's race at Hallockville Pond in the Kenneth Dubuque Memorial State Forest... I considered exploring some of the trails on the opposite side of rt 8A (where we would usually run today's race) and also checking out several parks in the area, but in the end settled on visiting Mass Audubon's Canoe Meadows Wildlife Sanctuary, which I'd driven by many times back when I worked in Great Barrington but never actually stopped to see. There were several attractions to Canoe Meadows, including mention of lots of birds and wildlife in the trail guides I looked at and the chance to get in some skiing... but best of all, it's fairly flat, and my legs needed that after running up and down the hills of West Hawley.

The small parking lot wasn't as crowded as I'd feared, possibly because the "partly sunny" day had turned out to be grey and cloudy, with a cold wind blowing across the open spaces. As I donned my XC skiing gear I watched a group of snowshoers making their way around a small pond and out onto the first set of trails I planned to ski. The snow wasn't ideal for skiing... basically a layer of ice over the powder, and it had been packed sufficiently that staying on track was a bit of a challenge, especially going down the slight hill from the parking lot to the trails.

The first trail I skiied was the Sacred Way trail, a loop that started at the pond and made its way over several boardwalks through a wetland and then into the woods. I was hoping to see some birds but sadly none were to be found. The second part of the loop went along a ridge overlooking the Housatonic River - really more of a creek this far north - and then back through the woods and meadows to the bridge by the pond. Only saw one person while I was out there, an older fellow who was buzzing along on skis... he was skiing the loop repeatedly, because he passed me four times. What can I say, I'm pretty slow...!

From there I headed off on a carriage road that took me along the shore of the pond and through the meadows over to the edge of the park... easy gliding, and the only folks I encountered was a family out skiing with two small kids. I turned around at an old mill site and then headed up into the woods on the Wolf Pine Trail. That was both the toughest skiing of the day and in some ways the most scenic, since a lot of the time I was skiing through groves of evergreens. The Owl trail looped off of Wolf Pine and proved to be the most challenging of the lot, with some narrow twisty sections and a few short hills (including two that I felt it wisest to walk down, between how tired my legs were and the number of trees available to run into along the way... in one case my skis went down the hill without me after I unclipped!) before I rejoined the Wolf Pine trail for a straight shot back to the carriage road.

As I was nearing the end of the Wolf Pine trail the sun put in an appearance... it's amazing how much that can change the feel of a place! I took advantage of the better light to ski over to the wildlife viewing blind... didn't see any wildlife, but it looks like it would be a good spot to watch from in nice weather. I briefly contemplated doing another loop to get in an additional mile or so, but in the end decided I'd worked my legs enough this weekend and headed back to the car, with several stops to try to get pictures of the rather interesting sky that was developing.

Mass Audubon requests that people refrain from jogging on the trails to avoid disturbing the wildlife, so I won't be able to run there... but Canoe Meadows seems like a good place to visit later in the year when there will be more birds and animals visible, and it's small enough that the trails could be walked in a reasonable amount of time. I'm definitely going to try to visit again when I'm in the area in the spring, summer, or fall.

JMH