the Way of the Turtle

7.9 Mile Run at Thacher Park
Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Headed up to the Open Space Institute section of Thacher Park for a run this evening... I was initially surprised to see the ribbons marking the Indian Ladder 15k course, but then I remembered that at least once before I'd run up there during the week after the race and the flagging was still up. Not that it mattered much, since I didn't intend to spend much time on that course, having run it two weeks ago (on the day the race was originally scheduled.)

Instead, I followed the old road up to the old quarry, then took a section of the ski loop that I've only run once before down the hill and around to the Long Path. Followed another old road out into a field - I suspect if I'd kept going I would have eventually ended up on a farm lane out to Old Stage Rd, which leads to the current local northern terminus to the Long Path on rt 146 (though there is one more section blazed along the Mohawk River and the old Erie Canal, west of Schenectady.) One of the coolest parts of the run was along these trails, when I was able to stand at the edge of a field and watch about a dozen large dragonflies darting around overhead, presumably on the prowl for mosquitos (go, dragonflies, go!) It was wild to hear their wings buzzing as they zipped around!

After that I followed the doubletrack back to one of the overlooks, with a nice view out over Altamont and off toward Albany and beyond. There was loud music drifting up from the direction of Altamont; at first I thought it was incredibly obnoxious that anyone would be blastying their music that loud, then I realized it was a band playing at the annual Altamont Fair... spent a few minutes enjoying the view, then hit the Long Path again, a section I haven't run in quite a while. Actually I'm not sure I ever ran this exact section, since they've re-routed a lot of Long Path on the OSI property over the past couple of years. The last time I ran these trails I found it very slow going, with the trails very uneven with lots of poor footing. Either my slowing down has improved my opinion of these trails over the last year or two, or they've different paths, because I found them very runnable.

When I finally came out on the gravel road I was tempted to head down to the hang glider launch, but decided that since it was getting late and I didn't have a headlamp packed I'd be better off heading back to the car. So I looped around on the dirt roads until I could take the hiking trail back up the ridge to the old quarry, then retraced the route I took on the way in today. Saw a few more rabbits along the way, and even passed a couple out walking their dogs - the first people I saw today. Got back to the car in plenty of time before dark, changed into some dry clothes, and then headed home. While the markers I passed reminded me that I missed running the Indian Ladder 15k this year (hopefully next year they'll move it back to its usual spot in the schedule!) it was fun to get out on a bunch of trails I don't usually see - something which can be a trick, given that I usually run two races and numerous training runs up here every year.

On the way home I had another cool moment... as I was coming down off the hill from Thacher into New Salem, I started spotting bats fluttering around... there was just enough light to see them against the sky. Must have been a dozen or more in the space of about a quarter mile... perhaps they have a cave nearby where they can roost? All I know is once I was down the hill, no more bats (at least that I could see, but then I did have to keep my eyes down on the road instead of up in the sky.) After all the problems with White Nose Syndrome killing off a sizeable percentage of bats in New York (as well as eight other states in the northeastern US) it's good to see bats out and about this summer.

JMH