the Way of the Turtle

4.2 Mile Run in the Pine Bush
Saturday, December 19, 2009

I had originally planned to stop and run somewhere on my way to Rochester but ended up leaving Albany too late to do that... so I decided to get in a short run before I left. The other day I got an e-mail newletter from the Albany Pine Bush Commission which mentioned fencing off some of the unofficial trails in the Rensselaer Lake/Rapp Barrens sections, so I had wanted to get over there anyway and check out what's been done...

I'm still not used to this colder weather, especially with the wind that was blowing across the lake... fortunately I warmed up fairly quickly once I started running and the woods cut the worst of the wind. I looped through the Rapp Barrens along several trails - it looks like they've taken down the markers in preparation for reblazing (and probably blocking several of the official cross trails.) There were a couple of shortcuts blocked over near the Rapp Road entrance; of course, the snow made it clear that at least some folks are ignoring the fences.

The trail I was most interested in was the one out to the pennuinsula between the two halves of the lake... it's never been blazed, even though there's a wide path and even a sturdy bridge across the stream. The far side of the bridge was blocked, and the middle section of bridge decking had been removed, so clearly they're looking to close off access to that area. Fortunately I don't run there very often so I don't think I'll miss it much... actually, with that section closed off I'll probably run there even less, since it will be tough to get more thsn 3-4 miles there without doing a lot of doubling of loops (I repeated a couple of sections today just to get in the short distance I ran.)

With the lake frozen over the usual ducks and geese were nowhere to be found... I did see a very cold-looking mockingbird near the picnic area and toward the end of my run through the woods there were chickadees and juncos flitting around, as well as a nuthatch or two. Definitely a lot less than I've gotten used to... everybody must be laying low with the cold and the snow.

JMH