Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Wachusett Mountain Trail Run con't



The hills are alive!!

After reading about hiking around Mount Wachusett in last month’s issue of backpacker magazine I decided to take a drive on over. Turned out to be a pleasant surprise! Mt. Watchsett is only an hour from Boston and is the second highest peak in Massachusetts behind Mt. Greylock in the Berkshires. With its modest altitude of 2006 ft I decided to make the approach from both sides…leaving me with a solid 4000 ft total elevation gain for the day. This area was formed by glacial shifting and you can witness evidence of this in many places along the trail but a unique spot is Balance Rock; two large boulders were stacked one on top of the other by moving glaciers thousands of years ago. I parked my car at Wachusett mountain ski area and started the day on Balance Rock trail making its way to Old Indian trail leading to the summit. I needed to stretch this run out for 3 hours so I ran myself silly around the whole mountain vertically, diagonally, horizontally on my last accent to the summit I was truckin along this technically step rocky section…I was practically rock climbing and lost my footing..I went airborne falling backwards to the rocks below; needless to say I got pretty banged-up but essentially could have been worse. It’s kind of weird but when I fell I recall feeling like I was floating through the air in slow motion, time had stopped and a sense of calmness overcame me…like I was meditating, then a thud, and some serious pain..which promptly brought me back to my senses?? Anywho once I got back to my car I dropped a few things off and ran some of the Mid-State trail, the trail was completely covered in leaves so at times I felt like I was Lewis and Clark bounding through new territory similar to what the Indians may have experienced back in the days! With its birch lined trees and technical trails I was glad I wondered over to this part of Massachusetts in all it was a spectacular way to spend a few hours outside on this sunny autumn day!! I also threw my digital camera in my waist pack and had some fun snapping a few pictures! I particularly like the balance rock photo because it reflects the feeling of motion!

Among other things:

Thanks for listening to me vent in my last post = )

Recently I discovered chasingKIMBIA a blog that follows the lifestyle and training of a small group of elite marathoners…these guy’s are hardcore….great reading & great inspiration!!

Its official I just sent in my Stone Cat application!!! Yee-ha!!