Training Log Archive: Fanatic

Hiking with Colette at Beartown State Forest. Our original plan was to hike up the paved road in the forest and then take dirt road up to the towers and keep heading left back to the paved road to the car. Alas, there was too much ice on the paved road, and Colette broke her arm four weeks ago, so we took an old logging road heading up to the west instead.

Once near the top of the ridge, I suggested that we head north and to the hiking trail that runs from Laura's Tower in Stockbridge to Beartown Mountain Road, the paved road where we had parked. This was a beautiful area to bushwhack through, with some nice pines and even a small brook to cross.

Past the brook, where we stopped for lunch, we hit an unexpected old road heading down to Beartown Mountain Road, so we took that and headed back to the car. There we left our excess clothing and decided to hike up the ridge that leads to Laura's Tower, mainly because we wanted more miles and there is a geocache at the top of the hill that hadn't been found for three years.

It's a nice trail, varying from a wide even trail to single-track as it gets higher. After a steep climb, we reached the flattish top where the cache was located. We looked around and did find it--more than three years since the last find.