the Way of the Turtle

GOODBYE SNOWSHOE SEASON... HELLO MUD & WATER SEASON!
8 Mile Run at Black Creek Park
Monday, March 15, 2010

While it's not out of the question that I may get in a few more miles of snowshoeing over the next couple of weeks, snowshoe season is basically done... and all that melting snow, combined with the rain we've had recently means - lots of mud and standing water out on the trails!

I headed over to Black Creek Park expecting the trails to be pretty wet, and I wasn't disappointed. Mud, soggy ground, ankle deep water, knee deep water... there were a few spots that had firm footing but they were definitely in the minority.

I actually had a lot of fun running through the mud and water... the really wet sections were far enough apart that my feet generally warmed up in between, and the slippery footing slowed me down even more than usual, which meant I didn't finish 8 miles feeling whupped. Only passed a couple of folks out walking dogs (no surprise, given that it was in the afternoon on a work day) though I did see lots of evidence of folks who didn't clean up after Fido did his business... sometimes I think parks should require people to put diapers on their dogs when they walk them, though that's unfair to the dogs... after all, it's the rude dog owner who's at fault. OK, I'll climb down off my soapbox now...

Lots of birds out and about... tons of chickadees, Ann and I will have to try feeding them by hand sometime and see if they're as accomodating as the ones at Mendon Ponds. Saw a few geese in the swamp, and a heron flew off when I checked out the heron rookery. I also saw a decent sized grey raptor fly up from the ground near the end of the run... didn't get a clear enough view to see if it was a hawk or an owl, unfortunately. I even startled three deer in the woods overlooking the pond at the far end of the park.

The big surprise of the run was how much Black Creek has overflowed its banks... the creekside picnic area was flooded, which is where I ended up walking through knee-deep water (well away from the creek) to keep moving forward, rather than backtrack and take a different trail back to the car. All part of the adventure...

JMH