the Way of the Turtle

6.6 Mile Run at Schodack Island State Park
Saturday, May 9, 2009

Well, based on this afternoon's run, I definitely made the right choice to pass on the Thom B race out near Ithaca this morning... finishing the 1st 8 mile loop would have been rough, much less making the cutoff time to run the 2nd loop. And that would have bummed me out...

Since I had the afternoon "free" I decided to check out the trails at Schodack Island State Park down near Castleton. The park first came to my attention when the Albany Running Exchange moved their spring trail race, the Dodge the Deer 5k, there in response to ever-increasing numbers of runners and increasing reluctance on the part of the Albany Pine Bush Commission to grant permission for large-scale events to be held on the Pine Bush trails. I visited their briefly last July, but unfortunately discovered that the miles of "multi-use" trails only included a short stretch of trail open to bicycles... I still managed to walk a couple of miles before it got too late (and saw a large group of herons out on the mud flats, very cool!) but knew that if I wanted to see more of the park I'd need to come back with my running shoes.

Today was hot and humid, more like June or July than early May... no great surprise, the vast majority of park users were boaters and people fishing. In fact, most of the parking spots were taken up by boat trailers. That, plus the $6 weekend entry fee, reminded me that if I come back again I should do so during the week.

I ran a loop along the perimeter trail, with two short out-and-back stretches - 1st south to the edge of an area that's closed to the public for much of the year to allow nesting for endangered birds (most likely eagles, though the herons also apparently nest pretty extensively in the Bird Conservation Area) and later east to the lookout where I saw the herons last July. To be totally honest, the trails were a bit dull... not a lot of wildlife to see (though I could hear lots of birds in the trees, and saw a nuthatch and a rose-breasted grosbeak in addition to the ubiquitous robins) and very few views of the river. It should have been easy running, but my legs were tired, sluggish, and sore... possibly leftovers from Wednesday's Platte Clove torture session and last night's ride.

Things got a bit more interesting toward the end of the run as a thunderstorm blew through... just as I was coming back to the main picnic area the the wind started blowing like crazy and the skies opened up, so I dashed under a picnic pavillion to wait out the heavy rain and avoid the lightning. It eased up after a few minutes, so I headed to the car and changed into dry clothes for the trip home.

After leaving the park I decided to go south on 9J for a bit and see what there was to see... in particular I was hoping for someplace to pull over and get some nice shots of the river, but no such luck. I did find the parking area for Nature Conservancy's Lewis A. Swyer Preserve, but didn't realize the trailhead was a bit further down the road from the pulloff (so now I have someplace to go back and visit later!) I also stopped at the entrance to Schermerhorn Park and watched a rainbow disappear before I could photograph it; I briefly debated hiking the trail through the park but decided I wanted to head home instead, since it about an hour until sunset and I had no idea how wet the path would be after the storm.

JMH