Training Log Archive: CleverSky

Midstate Trail from Watatic to Whitmanville, with my pack. The split I took is at the furthest spot that I remember ever getting to before (and turning around). A bit of an oops when crossing Russell Hill Road, as the trail marking pointed left and I didn't spot the ones almost directly across the street that basically went along the edge of somebody's lawn. But I had my new phone with me, so I figured I'd call up a map on it and figure out where to go. No luck, didn't have good enough signal down there in the rural valley. Saw only two people, a woman walking her dog, and a guy fishing. I did have a truly fine AOWN experience, though, stopping a few times to grab handfuls of one of my favoritest foodstuffs in the whole world: wild blueberries. Starting to lose focus and attention by the end, but I wasn't eating much (had one gel), probably could have used more calories. I didn't miss any turns other than at that road crossing, but I had to keep reminding myself to look for blazes, and a couple of times I did that just in time to spot an easily overlooked turn onto a smaller trail. I think I did a little bit of the southern end of this with PG about five years ago, starting from down near Rte. 2. Wrenched my right ankle in a minor way early on, but it didn't bother me; it's slightly tender now. Overcast all day, which was fine for running, and not so great for the flying plans that I cancelled.

And back to the car, using the bike that I had stashed on the southern end of the Baldwin Hill map. Pretty leisurely ride.

On my way home, I really wanted a cheeseburger (and a coke). There are several food establishments along the route that are defunct, and I ended up going to a place in the center of Townsend where I had only ever gotten ice cream in the past. There was a particular type of cheeseburger that I had in mind, but didn't really know where to find it, so I just had to take whatever they had. I was delighted when I opened the styrofoam box and saw exactly what I had been hoping for, and that feeling was reinforced when I tucked into it. It was sublime.

When I was outside for a few minutes this afternoon, I was wondering what the hell I was doing at work on such a beautiful day (as opposed to, say, flying). I think there may be a rule that if you cop an attitude like that, you're obligated to get off your ass and get outdoors in the evening. So I did. A variation on the usual tour over here, using both sides of the road, but avoiding sketchy stream crossings. I probably went a few places I hadn't been before, and was kind of improvinsing in a few sections. I had my headlamp with me, but didn't use it, although I was just on the edge of it being too dark to see my footing. O-pants, as is my wont, but being a summer eveing, it was not cool and dry. There are branches growing across the trail in a bunch of places, so there was ducking required. Before I went out, I spent a little time sprayin herbicide around my yard (trying to beat back the poison ivy), but made up for that with a couple of fine AOWN incidents: I had a porcupine trying to stay ahead of me on the trail at one point, and fireflies were starting to come out near the end.