the Way of the Turtle

5.5 Mile Snowshoe in the Pine Bush
Tuesday, January 25, 2011

I had hoped to get out for a walk last night but it was just too darn cold when I got home from work, so I was very pleased that tonight's temperatures were a bit more moderate. Though it didn't feel that way at the start of my run - I spent the first mile or so wondering if I was going to have to cut things very short for lack of warm enough gloves. Thankfully I warmed up pretty quickly after that and ended up dressed pretty much just right for the bulk of the time I was out there.

I haven't been to the Blueberry Hills/Kaikout Kill Barrens for a while, and I was pretty sure I could avoid any major hills (since my legs are still a bit tired from this past weekend) so that's where I headed when I finally got out the door. There was a fairly well packed path heading down the trail, but I figured out pretty quickly that if I strayed off the packed stuff by just a bit I would end up sinking about ankle deep, especially if I broke through the ice layer a few inches down. So that made for challenging footing in a few spots, especially where the wind had drifted snow across the packed path.

I started out looping around the perimeter, and ended up at the base of Blueberry Hill West... at that point it became clear that I wasn't going to be able to get the distance I wanted without either running multiple loops (bleah) or heading into the Kaikout Kill Barrens. So I abandoned my hope of avoiding hills and ended up running up and down quite a few, especially when I strayed off the path on the way back so that I could follow another set of snowshoe tracks. Those went up one of the tallest hills around (aargh) and then I had a heck of a time getting back down, since the snow on the eastern side of the hill had drifted fairly deeply... at one point I stepped into an unbroken snowbank and sank in up to my hip. Needless to say after fighting my way through deeper snow I was more than a bit happy to finally be back on the packed path...

The "habitat restoration" (ie removal of invasive species and really just about all flora except for some of the pitch pines) that was done at Blueberry Hill West and the Kaikout Barrens in the past year was really apparent and more than a bit depressing... especially at the border of the preserve, where there is no longer a wall of trees and bushes to block the view of the industrial park next door. As I've said before, I understand the need to preserve the environmentally unique inland pine barrens habitat... but it still seems a shame to me to cut down perfectly good trees (even if they're not native species) and turn what was once a delightful woods into a open field. But maybe that's why I'm a recreational naturalist and not a professional ecologist.

On a totally different note, near the end of my run I felt a sharp pain in my right knee, in pretty much the same area where I injured my left knee a little over 1 1/2 years ago... I walked it out, and did the same a couple of times when it gave me twinges during the last mile or so. Clearly all the running/hiking I did during the past few days over very uneven footing has strained or slightly torn something in my knee... so I'll be taking it easy on it for at least a little while, since I definitely don't want to be sidelined for months like I was back in 2009!

JMH