the Way of the Turtle

Greylock Long Course Sweep
12.8 Miles of Hiking and Running
Sunday, June 21, 2009

So once I finished the race... the crazy part of the day began... the part that had several folks asking me "you're not really going to sweep the course after running it, are you?" and Farmer Ed telling me "you may end up deciding this was the dumbest thing you've ever done" (with a big smile on his face, of course!)

I moved my car up to the parking area where the trail crosses the road, changed into dry clothes, and grabbed some food to refuel and a ton of gear (my new Go Lite hydration back with a 2 L bladder of water, three water bottles with Nuun, half a dozen Power Bars, a rain jacket, headlamp, and hiking pole, two copies of the Greylock trail map, and my camera) and after chatting with a few friends let RD Ed S. know I was heading out on the course. Got a few suggestions from folks more knowledgeable than I am about possible bailout routes... and then I headed back up the mountain.

OK, time for total honesty... the first 3 miles back to the summit absolutely postively sucked. I was hot and tired and crawling along at a snail's pace, stopping ever couple of hundred feet to pull down pink course ribbons and occasionally cardstock signs. Trudge uphill, pull down ribbons, repeat for about 1 hr 45 min. Ugh. The only plus was my hiking stick, which made the climb a little bit easier than it had been the first time around.

The summit was a welcome sight, especially when I saw that the volunteers had cleared all the ribbons up there! It was initially clouded over (ie. almost zero visibility) then it cleared up briefly, and then we were back in the clouds. While it was clear I had a nice view down into Greylock Glen - didn't look like anyone was still there (no surprise, it was almost two hours since the last runner had come finished.) And I wasn't hot anymore - instead I needed to pull out my rain jacket to keep warm! I spent a few minutes there taking pictures and deciding what to do next. The trails between the summit and the CCC Dynamite Trail down toward Jones Nose were some of the toughest, most technical parts of the course, and I knew they would take me a long time (at least an hour, possibly more) and not only wear me out but also demolish any chance of getting off the mountain before dark. So I made a tough decision and decided to leave that stretch for someone else to clear, and headed down the road to the Dynamite trailhead.

Of course, running (very slowly) down the side of the road was a challenge in and of itself... in some spots the shoulder was nonexistent, visibility was not the greatest, and there were cars driving up the road... I was very glad my rain jacket is bright hi-vis yellow. I was on the road for quite a while - it's easier going than the Overlook and Hopper trails, but I don't know that it saved me much distance, just time and energy... in any case I was very happy to finally see the CCC Dynamite trailhead. I was also happy to see the two bottles of water from the race still there - it gave me a chance to refill my water bottles and mix some fresh Nuun.

Oddly enough, the trails from there and down Jones Nose were slow going but actually started to be a bit enjoyable. After all, I was out in a beautiful stretch of woods on a cool misty day... it was a bit like what I imagine hiking through a rainforest in the Pacific Northwest must be like... up to and including the point where it started raining. OK, that wasn't the most fun I've every had, but I had on rain jacket and it wasn't like I was particularly dry in any case... and I lucked out and it eased off by the time I hit the steep downhill. There were even some clear patches of sky way off in the distance as I crossed the clear section of Jones Nose... the view was postively awesome.

Took another break at the Old Adams Road trailhead to refill the water bottles and munch on some pretzels that had been left for the runners... then I did some more running down the first stretch of the old road. That felt pretty good, even with the pauses to pull down ribbons. Of course, all too quickly I hit the bottom and then it was time for more uphill hiking... bleah. I have to admit, I developed a strong loathing for Old Adams Rd today, and I'm looking forward to not being on it again until snowshoeing season. It's a bed of rocks and mud, lots of it was underwater, and it goes one for-freakin'-ever. I know I was only on it for 3 - 3.5 miles... but I'm convinced there's some sort of wierd dimensional anomaly and it's actually 8 miles long. The waterfalls in the later bits helped, but I just found that a long monotonous slog... though at least I was able to run some bits after I crested the hill. I have to say I was very happy to see the turnoff down onto the Gould trail... though at that point it was getting dark enough that seeing anything was becoming a challenge.

As I followed the trail down into the ravine I was a bit bummed to see that there were still ribbons up along the final stretch shared by both the long and short courses... I'd been hoping once I reached that spot I could just concentrate on getting back to the car (that came a bit later... apparently they'd started clearing the short course and just hadn't finished.) Made it down to the parking area off West Mountain Rd and spent a few minutes admiring the view of Greylock in the dusk... I hadn't realized that the monument at the top was lit up all night long. Then I kept on down the trail, and eventually hit the point where the ribbons were gone... it was nice to not have to pull any more down, but that did make it a bit more difficult to follow the course in the dark, even with my headlamp on! But I managed, and finally crossed the bridge over the brook and then climbed up to yet another cool sight - a field of tiny stars blinking on and off in the darkness (what can I say, I think fireflies are incredibly cool... just wish I could figure out how to get a picture of some!)

Hiking along the edge of the field was a good feeling - I knew I was almost there! One last bit through the woods, and then, finally, back to the car, something like 6 1/4 hours after I started. And it definitely felt good to be done, and able to change into dry clothes again, and head off to find some real food to eat.

So in the end, it was kind of fun, in a bizarre sort of way... I gained a new appreciation for how much work it takes to mark the course, because I know I worked pretty hard to take it down, and I'd guess putting the ribbons up is even harder. Don't know that I'd want to do it again - if I did, I'd want to get a ride to the summit and just sweep the latter ten miles, and let someone else to the trail up (actually, for someone with decent knees, clearing that as a descent might be easier than hiking up.) I've been fortunate to get out and play at a lot of races over the past 12 years - I'm glad I was able to help in some small way with this one, and get in one last long trek before the Finger Lakes 50k in two weeks. If the weather's anything decent (not god-awful hot and humid, and not pouring rain) I now have no doubt that I can finish that course - it's just a matter of how long it will take me.

And at least when I run the 2nd loop there I won't have to pull down the course markers!

JMH