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1) Run
2) Days
3) States
4) Bimblers
Warning, while the run subsequently described may have been painful, reading the story may be excruciating. proceed at your own risk.
1 Run
A final long duration training run before we start our taper for the Iroquois Trails 100. Two of the three Bimblers racing would do the run (El Toro and me) while the third (Spuds) was off vacationing on some exotic tropical(?) island somewhere. I wanted it to be a “big” run, one to remember, on the scale of past “Empathy Runs” despite the fact there were no epic races be run over Labor Day weekend. We could go do The Spring Loop again, but that ended poorly for me last time. We could run a long stretch of the Mattabesset, but Suds and I did that last weekend. When in doubt, I, like most people, like to “go with what you know”. So, I figured the Appalachian (bow heads, speak in whispers) Trail was an idea. El Toro exuberantly embraced the idea.
2 Days
We knew we wanted to get in some night running for race preparations, and some day running as well. Our group of participants was set with the addition of Loopy and Ultra, who insisted on coming along to keep El Toro and me out of harm’s way (more on that later). So, factoring in everyone’s schedules, running “into the day” Saturday seemed to work best. An extra bonus was Friday night’s Full Corn Moon.
3 States
Yeah. My bad. I cannot pass this off on anyone else. I really like to be able to describe things unambiguously and completely. As in:
Question: “Where did you run?”
Answer : “The Appalachian (bow heads, speak in whispers) Trail”
Question: “Which part?”
Answer: “The Connecticut part”
Question: “Which Connecticut part?”
Answer: “I don’t understand the question…”
See, that makes it so simple. No complications about highway numbers, parking lots, “Is that the part where…”, etc…
We would run all of CT, starting in New York, finishing in Massachusetts. The official mileage is listed as 53.7, with a few extra miles for the temporary Rte. 7 bridge detour and return to parking lots, we could probably round it off to 56, as long as we didn’t get lost.
4 Bimblers
Ultra and Loopy insisted on accompanying El Toro and me. Many other Bimblers bravely pretended to know nothing of our plan and were thus spared the pain of either participating, or saying “no thanks”. Mr. Bimble himself was exempted from the run due to his Wasatch Front 100 coming up in a few days. So, our group was set. El Toro and I were very pleased to have such experienced ultramarathoners accompanying us. All that was left was to get it done. And so we did.
Burning a little vacation time, El Toro and I both took Friday afternoon off from work, and met at the Rte 7 & CT 112 intersection at 3:30PM. This is a well known intersection on The Spring Loop, as it marks the point where we run off of the Mohawk trail and on to the A(bh,siw)T. We then spent many hours dropping aid at 5 major road crossings, scouting the start location, and spotting ET’s vehicle as near to the finish as possible. We then met Loopy and Ultra back at the intersection, where we left my truck and all rode with Loopy to the start in NY.
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We were ready to run, from Hoyt Road, just off NY Rte. 55, at 9PM. Ultra, who was keen on listening to the Phillies game, opted to skip section “1” from Hoyt Road to Rte. 341. So, El Toro ,Loopy and I set out across a meadow, on a warm night, under the Full Corn Moon, north to Massachusetts. Actually, El Toro and Loopy set out south, apparently headed for the Hudson River, while I waited patiently for them to note their own mistake. Sensing no dawning recognition, I reluctantly yelled out “Hey guys, turn around!”. Shortly after starting, we heard an unmistakable “WooHoo!” in the distance, but did not see Ultra for several hours.
Almost immediately, we crossed Rte. 55 and headed into forested undulating terrain. It was a beautiful night, with the moon still low in the mostly clear sky. We went by the Ten Mile River campground, which had a lantern burning brightly, but we could neither see nor hear the campers. We then crossed a hikers’ bridge over the Ten Mile River, stopping to gaze at the moonlight dancing off the rapids below us. We then started into the more undulating and technical terrain. While the dense foliage and thickening clouds diminished the benefit of the moonlight, the occasional coincidence of a parting of the clouds and arrival at an open ledge provided for dramatic views. We began a long descent on an old forest road, quickly downward. Like many Bimblers (two-legged and four) of finite reasoning capacity, we are fascinated by bright shiny objects. So, the combination of reflective tape on the trees illuminated by our headlamps along with the smooth, wide downhill trail made us care not at all that we had not seen any white blazes for some time. During this “optional” descent was when Loopy made a loud noise, akin to a branch breaking. Sadly, the noise emanated from her ankle. She bravely ran on, down the hill that was NOT part of the AT, until we reached a gate at a paved road. When we saw no obvious path around the gate, we though it odd. Looking back uphill, we saw no white blazes. Oh… We got back on track after getting in a little extra hill work. While Loopy did an excellent job of maintaining pace despite her injury, she announced that she would only be with us for this first leg of the journey. A tough trip up and over Schaghticoke Mt. and Mt. Algo reunited us with Ultra and our aid stashed in the woods nearby at CT Rte. 341.
Loopy then ferried her vehicle forward to CT Rte. 4 to rest her weary ankle, catch a few ZZZs, and have a pleasant time explaining, if not convincing, a member of the local constabulary what she was doing sleeping at the side of the road at 2AM. Meanwhile, Ultra, El Toro, and I set out across a meadow use for grazing cows. Ultra, thinking the grass a bit wet, thought perhaps he should hop from rock to rock. Unfortunately, the “rocks” were actually “meadow muffins”. Soon, it was back into the forest and up the hills. St. John’s Ledges and Caleb’s Peak are the two major prominences in this section with frighteningly steep descents but great views. In this area, Ultra gashed his knee, and El Toro and I knew we were soon to be two. The trail then descends to the west bank of the Housatonic where it follows a dirt road, and then a wide smooth trail, for several miles. Eventually, the trail turns west, up Silver Hill, just after another open field run where the moonlight made headlamps unnecessary. The steep downhill off Silver Hill to CT Rte. 4 was too scary for me, and too jarring for Ultra’s knee, so El Toro raced away to the waiting Loopy and supplies. It was at this point, on my own in the deep dark pines at 3AM, that I noticed my mind starting to play tricks. Suddenly, in front of me, a huge mass blocked my way. At first I thought I had lost the trail and that I was staring at a house. A house with no windows? Unlikely. Hah, it was just a light colored tent. Fifteen feet tall and thirty feet long? More unlikely. I decided I couldn’t figure this out, so I just looked for a white blaze and followed it. The blazes then took me around a very large… rock. Loopy’s offer of NoDoze was gratefully accepted. From now until whenever, it would just be El Toro and me. The four of us discussed what to do, and decided to not decide. Loopy and Ultra would drive ahead to West Cornwall Road and we would collectively review our options again.
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EL Toro and I set out, north from CT Rte. 4 up Breadloaf Mountain. This was exciting to me because I knew that soon we would get to the part of the AT that we run, albeit southbound, when we do The Spring Loop. I kept looking for the Mohawk Trail turnoff that The Spring Loop uses, but never saw it. This is a problem for some Spring Loopers, but not for us, since the cutoff is NOT the way we needed to go. Soon we were passing by Caesar Brook, where we camped out on my first ever Spring Loop. I knew we were covering a tough section at a good rate. We noted a rapid brightening in the eastern sky, and were able to see well enough to find our supplies without headlamps as we got to West Cornwall Road. An extended stop, including conference, ended with the decision that Loopy and Ultra would drop all of the collected excess supplies, plus our night running gear, in my truck and then head home. So from here on out, not only would El Toro and I be the only two running, but there would be no friendly faces at the aid stations.
The next section, somewhat surprisingly, turned out to be the crux of the whole run. First, we were “on our own”. Second, we had Mt. Easter, with the famous “crack”, Sharon Mountain, and the ever unpopular Belter’s Bump to scale. Third, we knew this section. Me quite well, El Toro only slightly. At several points, I overestimated how far we had come. This lead to disappointment once I realized my mistake. One other time, I decided we were off trail, at the bottom of a long steep hill of course. El Toro, trusting my excess of experience in this area, proceeded back up the hill, at which point we decided we had gone the right way after all. This was our second, and last, hill repeat part of the workout. Finally, we reached an excess of aid, and a dearth of encouraging words, at my truck. Fortunately, El Toro and I were “keeping to ourselves” at this point. I say fortunately, because had we been “chatty” here, we might have both let slip what we were thinking about, and the run would have come to an abrupt end.
We set out, at approximately 8:45, on the AT detour. This detour is due to bridge construction on Rte. 7. The detour has the effect of replacing one paved road section of the AT with a different, longer one. The trail, temporarily, runs by the racetrack at Lime Rock Park. The white blazes on the highway markers remain a mystery to those not in the know. We re-enter the forest missing the village of Falls Village due to the detour. We soon come upon the falls at Falls Village, which are quite impressive. We then enter a spectacular forest section with genty rolling trail, absent of rocks and roots, with a fern lawn that stretched for acres. El Toro seemed overwhelmed. I think I might have seen a teardrop. We then proceeded up Prospect Mountain, which offers great views to the east, and good views to the west. Out in the open, the day’s heat became apparent, and slightly oppressive. We came down Prospect Mountain in stages. Sometimes in dense forest, sometimes on precipitous switchbacks, and once along a grassy field with views to the north of what lay ahead of us. I proclaimed this a good place to stop. Forever. I wanted to take a nap for a minute, or live there forever. Both options were very appealing. El Toro recommended the third option: run! In no time we were down to Rte. 44 just west of Salisbury at out last aid drop. The run over Lion’s Head restored all of the faith we had lost on the prior section, and we knew, without a doubt, that a successful finish was just a few hours away.
We started north from Rte. 44 on the road for a while. It was during this stretch that El Toro convinced me, against my strong desire, to sit down for a minute. Well, actually he strongly encouraged me to change my socks, and virtually guaranteed that “happy feet” would result. While I desperately wanted to believe him, I also know the legendary race admonition “beware the chair”. What to do? I gave in, sat down, and traded my wet muddy socks for a “fresh” pair. I use the term “fresh” loosely, because they were sweat soaked, like everything in my backpack. Back into the woods, we quickly crossed CT Rte. 41 and entered the most popular hiker parking lot on the entire CT AT. THis marks the beginning of the climb up Bear Mountain. El Toro had gone over Bear Mountain a few weeks ago with Loopy, by accident. I had climbed Bear Mountain several times with my son when he was young, foolish, and willing to do whatever Dad was doing. So, we both knew it would be tough, but would hold few surprises. The first great views were from the top of Lion’s Head, mainly to the east. At this point you are up on top of the Riga plateau. The trail then runs along the east ridge of the plateau, ascending fairly gradually to the summit of Bear Mountain, which has views in all directions from a large, barely climbable pile of rocks at the top which proclaim Bear Mountain to be the highest point in the state. It isn’t. Nice monument though. From here, the AT plunges north off Bear Mountain. It is a difficult descent. Not overly exposed, but definitely an easy, and wholly inadvisable, place to slip and fall. A short pleasant wooded stretch leads to the junction with Paradise Lane, a popular trail for people looking for an “easy” hike to this area. Finally, the trail plunged again, into Sage’s Ravine. This is a beautiful ravine. Many Bimblers are familiar with Dean’s Ravine on The Spring Loop. Sage’s is similar, but on a larger scale, and with legal camping, and, not surprisingly, a lot more people. Until we went up Bear Mountain and subsequently down into Sage’s Ravine, we had seen nobody all day save for a 2 man maintenance crew on Prospect Mountain. The river through Sage’s Ravine marks the CT/MA border, so we were done. Wait, not so fast. rather than crossing the river, the AT turns east, and follows the river. Downhill (oh joy!) for a long way until it finally crosses the river on stepping stones and a sign proclaims “Massachusetts”!!!! NOW, we are done. Well, technically, yes. except El Toro’s vehicle, while parked as nearby as possible, is still well over a mile away. Uphill. Figures. Surprisingly, we are able to run much of the distance to the vehicle. Also surprisingly to me, I can’t stop when we finish. My legs will not stand still. I need to walk for about 15 minutes to calm down, El Toro is able to start inspecting and repairing all the minor trail damage suffered while I walk around in circles. Several hikers give us some slightly strange looks as they enter and exit the parking lot. They don’t ask what we’ve been up to, and we don’t tell. We do converse with a gentleman from North Carolina, working in Boston, who has arrived to climb Mt. Frissel, the highest point in CT. We discuss other highpoints he has “bagged”, and in the course of conversation it comes out that he failed to mention the one he had done earlier that same day (Greylock). Wow, he must be as tired as we are, and he is doin his peakbagging by car. He heads off to the east, I point out that Mt. Frissel is to the west, he turns around and we wish him well. Finally, El Toro and I “take the cure” in his secret spring fed, frog infested “ice bath”. He assures me that 10 minutes will cure our legs. Fortunately, it only takes 3 minutes to go numb, so the last seven are not that bad.
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Cleanup, change, collect the Rte 44 aid station, get back to my truck. We then meet at The Twin Colony Diner in Torrington, a Bimbler favorite, for four large breakfasts. Yes I know there were only two of us, what;s your point? Then we parted ways for our exhausting drives home. Later that night, ambulances did NOT come to my house. And they all lived happily ever after.
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While I would like to apologize to the one of you who actually read this far, I am not sure whether to apologize for the enormous length of this story, or for how much I left out. Many thanks to all the Bimblers who wished us well, and especially to Loopy and Ultra who got us off to such a great start, and made the trip home so much easier as well. I highly recommend any and all sections of this run to anyone, although perhaps not all of them in one day (Mr. Bimble, please wait a few weeks after Wasatch, OK?). Rest assured, you have willing guides available!
iggy
Bleary eyed…. somebody send this into an important editor and have it published in a trail running magazine!!
EPIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love, Iggy
douger
This is a great report and a good read. I read the whole thing twice and found it exciting. The A.T. (b.h.s.i.w.)brings out the best in you. Kudos from Suds. p.s. Loopy please heal quickly. And Ultra needs a bandaid.
shellygirl
Forrest! Definitely an epic adventure!!!! You guys are going to rock the 100 miler!!
SG
Lefty
One question. Which took longer to complete? The run or the report? Seriously, awesome report and I am so completely envious of your adventure. Congrats and rest up. I think you have another one coming up shortly!
lefty
snobody
Like Moby Dick, this took me a long time to read! Not for lack of interest, but for my keen desire to take in all the details and live vicariously through your adventures. Hurry up and rest for more “fun” coming to those legs this weekend! Therapists (both physical and mental) are manning phones for your calls!