the Way of the Turtle

A RAINY EVENING IN THE WOODS
9.6 Mile Run in the Albany Pine Bush
Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Summer has swooped in with a vengeance... after weeks of unseasonably cool weather we have normal temperatures and high humidity - ugh. It feels all the worse for not being acclimated, which is why I bailed on my plans to go to MA this morning and run in one of the state parks.

Instead, I headed over to the Pine Bush after it had started raining this evening... the rain was fairly light (though it did get pretty heavy a couple of times) and wonderfully cooling and refreshing as I ran. In other words, it was a heck of a lot of fun running through the woods in the rain. I even hit a couple of trails that I rarely travel. And the rain meant I had the area to myself - while there was a car at the trailhead, I didn't see anyone else the entire time I was there.

Looks like they've finally finished with the tree removal work over in the Great Dune area... what a mess. When I was a teenager I spent a lot of time wandering the trails and old doubletracks in the woods behind my parents' house. Apparently I was a trailrunner in the making even then! One time when I came home from college I headed down there and discovered that the landowner had bulldozed a bunch of roads to do some logging... I absolutely hated what had been done to the woods and the trails, and it took several years until the area grew back sufficiently to cover the scars left behind. What I saw tonight reminded me of that... paths ruined by the heavy equipment and areas that used to be shaded woods now open scars with only a few trees left standing. I really miss the woods I spent 6-7 years running and riding through after moving to Albany... I know from the other areas that have undergone "habitat restoration" that regrowth will occur in in a few years it will be consistently green, but it will never be the same as it was.

JMH