the Way of the Turtle

2 Mile Walk at Odiorne Point State Park
Saturday, July 23, 2011

Got off to a later start than I originally intended, plus my GPS didn't have the right address for the Seacoast Science Center (it was actually several miles up the coast from where the gizmo thought it was) so I didn't reach Odiorne Point State Park until a little after 6. But that still left plenty of time for a bit of walking before the gates would be locked at 8 PM.

The drive up the coast along route 1A brought back memories of running along there back in 2006 at the Eastern States 20 Mile road race... maybe it's getting to be time to tackle that one again (of course, it helps that the section I drove today is the most scenic part of the course... the really tough miles were the last 8 or so, running through the shoreline towns in March...) I was surprised at how much cooler it was along the shore, and also glad that I wasn't stopping before the park, since there were people everywhere.

The park wasn't very crowded, probably in part due to the late hour... I walked along the shore line and enjoyed the views of the ocean. There were cormorants out on the rocks off the southern end of the park, and further north I found a spot with quite a few gulls and a large number of some sort of duck (including quite a few youngsters.) And of course the rocky shoreline has its own beauty, even if there were far too many boats out in the water for my taste.

Also passed several historical sites, including a marker commemorating the first English settlement and an old WWII Seaman Battery bunker, built during the war to protect the nearby Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. Unfortunately I didn't have a trail map with me, so I didn't walk as far as I might have otherwise - I turned around about halfway out to Frost Point and didn't see the second bunker. Another time...

The only minus to walking here was the flies... little buggers that swarmed me whenever I stopped to take pictures and occasionally bit... pretty unpleasant. I had foolishly left the bug spray in the car, so they encouraged me to keep moving and kept me hopping when I was trying to get photos of the birds along the shore. Another point to remember for next time...

JMH