Trail Exploration, La Partie Trois

Ran 8.3 miles @ 8:53/mile pace.
AHR/MHR - 151/167
Trails, fire roads.
Very hilly.
Lower 70s, mostly cloudy.



Today I had the goal to explore a new trail I came across on Sunday in the woods behind my house. My past two ventures out there to seek new routes had been successful. I was hoping to go three for three today.

I ran the 1.5 miles of trail to the fire road, and followed the uphill to the trail I came out of along the loop I did on Sunday. Took that trail up the ridge, and came to the trail junction where the path I wanted to explore was. It followed an old stone wall, and imagined that it was possibly hundreds of years old and belonged to some old sheep farmer. Like much of the woods in New England, these are second growth forests, and much of what we know as wilderness today was actually clear-cutted for grazing land when the area was becoming settled.

The deer flies were pretty numerous today and were biting. The bright side to this was that it eliminated any attempt for a rest break. Their days are numbered though with autumn around the corner, and can't say they'll be missed much.

I came across a sign on a tree (ATV/snowmobile clubs sometimes put them up, as they are the ones who maintain these trails and do a great job at it) that said the trail led to the junction of Rt. 35/5. Ah, that was a ways off, and longer than I wanted to go. So I ran along the path a little bit more and then turned around and came back the way I came. Was hoping the path turned more north-north-west to meet up with the fire road and get a bigger loop, but oh well. The woods back there are quite large, and there are still quite a few trails to explore.