the Way of the Turtle

HERE, KITTY, KITTY, KITTY...
10.1 Mile Run at Thacher Park & Nature Center
Tuesday, September 8, 2009

After a day of meetings I definitely need to get outdoors - fortunately it was a gorgeous afternoon, warm and sunny. Yesterday I thought I might head over to the Pine Bush for some running this evening, but today I decided to go for something a bit more challenging and headed out to Thacher Park. Since I wasn't sure when I'd be finishing, I needed to park somewhere that wouldn't get locked up for the night - that meant either my usual spot at the pulloff on Beaver Dam Road, or trying something new, the parking area at the end of Ryan Road, leading to the trails through the old OSI property. I was feeling adventurous so I opted for the latter, and headed out on some trails that I don't usually end up running on (other than at the Indian Ladder and Hairy Gorilla trail races...)

The trails started out with an easy stretch over to the beaver pond (where the trail has been rerouted to avoid both the edge of the pond and the dam) and then out to what I think of as the big intersection. Well, easy except that I was running on grass, which I don't like all that much - even when it's mowed it makes it too difficult to tell just how uneven the ground is underneath. At the intersection I decided to check out the "muddy field loop" that we run during Hairy Gorilla, and found instead a new singletrack trail (the Salisbury trail) that was marked as heading over to the Emma Treadwell Thacher Nature Center. It looked decent and I'm often up for checking out something new, so off I went!

That was a pretty nice trail, mostly through woods, though it looked like some parts would be muddy in wet weather. It took me over to a loop that eventually ended up crossing the road and taking me to the Nature Center trails (actually, the loop was part of those as well.) From there I ran through some really cool terrain - lots of big rocks and little gullies between moss-covered outcroppings in the woods - before finally ending up going through a field and the Nature Center parking lot.

Ann and I visited the Nature Center in December 2007, so I had a pretty good idea where the trails were in through the woods overlooking Thompsons Lake. I started down them and was surprised to see what I first thought was a fox walking down the trail ahead of me - but which I quickly realized was a bobcat! It didn't seem to hear me following it... at one point it even climbed up on a bridge, sat down for a while, and spent a few minutes washing itself, before realizing I was there and heading on down the path. I kept following it all the way back to the Nature Center driveway, where it spotted some sort of prey (maybe a rabbit) and took off like a shot. By the time I reached the trailhead, it was gone into the bushes... but I have to say it was a pretty cool ten minutes or so following it and taking pictures. Previously I'd never done more than catch glimpses of bobcats.

After a quick visit to the restored old Knox 1-room schoolhouse, I followed the trails back to Thacher Park. I briefly considered trying to take the "muddy field loop" back but today it was the "overgrown field loop"and I didn't feel like slogging through all the tall grass. Back at the nig intersection, I headed down the old road and up to the Carrick Road trailhead for a brief visit to the old quarry. Took some pictures at the big rocks and then followed the trails down off the ridge into the woods, enjoying how dry everything was... every time I've run this stretch during Hairy Gorilla it's been a mudbath.

At the bottom of the hill, there's an intersection which seems to be called "Four Corners" - I followed a connector trail over to a loop through the woods that eventually joined up with the Long Path and took me out to High Point, at the edge of the escarpment. Got a nice view out into the valley before heading back, this time along the old access road - the singletrack trail is pretty technical and, for me, slow going. Dodged a fast moving mountain biker and gradually followed the old road back toward the perimeter loop as I tried to decide if I would return on the trails I'd run in on or follow the loop all the way around. When I reached the point where the perimeter loop hits the gravel road, I decided to complete the loop, and since it was getting darker got out my headlamp so I could complete the last couple of miles without breaking my neck...

That turned out to be a good move, since it not only got pretty darn dark under the trees but this was also probably the most technical trail I ran today... lots of roots, stumps, and more than a few rocks... at least the mud wasn't as bad as it was five weeks ago during the Indian Ladder 15k. There were a lot of stretches where I had no choice but to walk, rather than risk tripping and end up on the ground. I was mighty pleased to finally pass the trail down the hill to the rest of the park - only half a mile or so to go! A couple of climbs later and I could glimpse reflections of my headlamp off my car through the trees. In the end, tonight's run was probably a good deal tougher than it would have been if I'd gone to the Pine Bush, but it was also a heck of a lot of fun, and I got some great bobcat photos in the bargain. Definitely an evening well spent!

JMH