Zealand Falls Hut - March 2019

This has been planned for a while with the Manchild and his friends and it was exciting for it to finally come to fruition.  We hiked up to Zealand Falls Hut on a bluebird day, taking the longer route that led over Mt. Hale.  

The infamous Manchild actually had to head up on his own as he had religious duties related to his son to deal with earlier in the day.  He actually skied up to the Hut and made good time, too.  

Day 2 was a hike in wintery conditions to Mt. Zealand.  Afterwards we split up as Rob & Derek went back to the hut and Peter, Duncan and myself pressed on.  We had originally hoped to the Bonds but the snow was so high that we spent a lot of time battling the spruce branches that would normally be over our heads.  The landscape on Guyot was bare, unforgiving, awesome.  But non of us wanted to venture back into spruce misery to get to the Bonds so we called it a day.

Getting back to the hut by early afternoon was reward in and of itself as we enjoyed comradery and played board games.

On Day 3 we packed up and headed out.  All the other guys went out via Ethan Pond.  I went solo up to the Tom-Field-Willey ridge.  I had wanted to do the entire ridge but it took longer than I anticipated to get up there.  Once I did, the recent snow had masked the old trail up to Field and I had to turn back, defeated.  I made it to the top of Mt. Tom at least.  But my car at the Highland Center was half-buried in plowed snow so serves me right for parking there.

Despite the peaks that were denied, this trip was excellent!  Hard to beat a wintery trip to the Whites with good people. Here's the video:

Weekly Log: 2.25.19 - 3.3.19

Last week was a wash as I only got one run in due to apathy and aches.  I'll try to right the ship this week to end February on a good note.

Monday -  East Providence, RI - 5 miles - minimal elevation

Windy as hell out there today.  Went over to the Ten Mile River bikepath for some lazy miles to restart the engine.  My beard was at a 90 degree angle for the entire run.  Had to watch out for a few falling branches.

Tuesday - 0 miles

Wednesday - Providence, RI - 3.5 miles - 1200' elevation

More climbing at Neutaconkanut Hill.  Crunchy snow and icy on the trails and had to be a little careful at times.  Is all this hill work helping?  It's hard to tell sometimes.

Thursday - Charlestown, RI - 6.5 miles - 600' elevation

Working from home due to snow (we received very little in Charlestown but Providence got a bit more).  Went for my lunch run at Carter which was just as lovely as can be.  Just enough snow on the ground to make it beautiful but it was still easy to run in.

Friday - East Providence, RI - 5 miles - minimal elevation

Motivation lacking and I needed to find somewhere to run up near work.  Settled on the traintracks that lead up towards Attleboro.  Another nice snow run - they received a little more snow but I was able to use ATV tracks for much of the run to keep my shoes from getting too wet.  Another nice easy run (I guess this sums up pretty much all my runs these days) and I enjoyed the snow while it's here.

Saturday - 0 miles

Sunday - Exeter, RI - 9.5 miles - 750' elevation

A little more snow on Saturday but not a crazy amount (we haven't even had our driveway plowed once this winter!)  I wasn't sure what the conditions would be like in the woods and I worried that it would be a slushfest.  Luckily the cold night hardened things up but that proved to be it's own challenge.  I went over to Arcadia.  At first I stuck to the dirt roads but once I passed the gate I was just following boot and ski tracks.  What I didn't realize was that there was a thin but continuous layer of ice under the snow.  It was treacherous at spots, especially the downhills (didn't even occur to me to bring spikes - it's been that weak a winter).

Once I hit the singletrack of the Shelter trail I wasn't dealing with as much ice but now I was starting to break trail so the going got slower.  Much of Breakheart trail hadn't been touched and I was hiking much of the climbs now.  Once sharp curve hid ice underneath and I went down - didn't realize how bloody my knee was until I got back to the car but it turned out to be mostly cosmetic.  Not a super long distance/elevation but the snow made it a good workout.

Weekly Mileage: 30 miles / 2800' elevation

January Totals: 93 miles / 17,800' elevation

February Totals: 96 miles / 14,700' elevation

Year to Date: 204 miles / 33,300' elevation

Weekly Log: 2.11.19 - 2.17.19

Monday - 0 miles

Tuesday - Charlestown, RI - 6.7 miles - 650' elevation

Working from home with a snow storm coming and I went to run over at Carter Preserve for lunch.  Great time to run just as the snow was starting to fall.  Beautiful day out there!  Glad I did it early in the storm as everything turned to slush by the end of the day.

Wednesday - 0 miles

Slush fest out there.  No thanks.

Thursday - West Greenwich, RI - 9 miles - 1200' elevation

An early start to the day led me to Arcadia before work.   The remaining snow froze up again and was a crunchy delight.  Perfect for running.  A solid mix of hills and a satisfying run to start the day.

Friday - Providence, RI - 6 miles - 650' elevation

Aimless wandering over College Hill.  Happy to just get out there and slog out some easy miles.

Saturday - Charlestown, RI - 6 miles - 1000' elevation

Heading up to New Hampshire with Ezri for the long weekend but wanted to get some trail miles in before we left.  Didn't quite get in the long run I was hoping for as time was an issue but an hour in the woods is still good.  Or so I thought.  Went over the the DuVal trails.  Rolled my bad ankle halfway through and it hurt like a bastard.  I even had the brace on but I guess it wasn't tight enough.

Then I'm at the bottom of a hill and up top a big dog starts barking/growling at me.  No collar or anything.  It takes a few steps towards me but then holds its ground and I'm able to walk away.  By the time I crest the next hill I can see its owner attempting to calm it down.  This pissed me off as I was doing an out and back and knew I'd have to encounter it again.  Sure enough I round a corner and it charges at me.  It stops a few feet away.  I'm yelling at it, waiver a stick - the old man is slowly sauntering up behind seemingly unconcerned in the least.  I really let this old bastard have it - told him he was irresponsible, didn't know who was out here, couldn't control the animal without a collar even if he wanted to, yadda yadda.  He just muttered "sorry, she's kind of crazy."  GRRRR.

Sunday - New Hampshire - 3 miles - 600' 'elevation

Ezri and I started to hike up Mt Waumbek but she just wasn't into it.  No motivation whatsoever and there was no point in making her trudge onward.  Instead we went back to the car and opted to hike around the lake at the Highland Center.  This was more her speed on this trip.  Too bad as it was a gorgeous day.

Weekly Mileage: 30 miles / 4150' elevation

Year to Date: 167 miles / 29,500' elevation

Weekly Log: 1.28.19 - 2.11.19

I didn't update my blog for the past two weeks so I'll include them both here.  I was resting much of the week of Jan 28th with an ankle strain but I did manage to get in a few runs over that weekend.

Saturday - South Kingstown, RI - 4 miles - 200' elevation

A few easy miles on the bike path to test out the ankle.  Was still sore but running seemed alright.  Couldn't resist a bit of trail climbing that led up to an unfamiliar neighborhood.  Good to be back out.

Sunday - North Stonington, CT - 5.8 miles - 2000' elevation

With the ankle feeling better, I strapped on my ankle brace and did some Sunday morning repeats at Lantern Hill.  A good way to finish up an otherwise quiet week.

Weekly Mileage: 9.8 miles / 2275' elevation

January Totals: 93 miles / 17,800' elevation

Year to Date: 103 miles / 20,000' elevation

Monday - Pawtucket, RI - 6 miles / 100' elevation

Warm one out there.  I ran on the 10 Mile River Bike Path in shorts and a T-shirt.  This is February?  Decided to make a loop incorporating some sidewalks through a portion of Seekonk.  Feet a little sore by the end but the ankle wasn't an issue.

Tuesday - Providence, RI - 4 miles / 1000' elevation

Back over to Neutaconacut Hill on the west side of the city for more hill repeats.  Another warm one.  Mixed in most of the trails in this park among the various hill repeats.  Pretty tired by the end but happy to get 1000 feet of climbing.

Wednesday - Seekonk, MA - 5 miles / 300' elevation

Easy trail miles in the Seekonk Meadows.  Didn't consider how this warm weather would affect the trails - they were very muddy in places.  Still, a good run that served as a stressbuster for the struggles at work.

Thursday - 0 miles

P90X3 The Challenge - been a while since I did this pull-up/push-up routine.  Humbling.

Friday - Providence, RI - 8 miles / 900' elevation

I wanted to get in some decent mileage today but also some hills.  So the nearby city roads of College Hill was the default choice.  I felt pretty good right away on this run and sort of meandered up and down the various roads around Brown.  A satisfying run.

Saturday - 0 miles

Sunday - North Stonington, CT - 11 miles / 2800' elevation

What a shock - back at Lantern Hill again.  Still enjoying my Sundays here and did a little more exploring of the local trails among the hill repeats.  Continued on the Narragansett trail for a while but after it passes the dump the trail becomes difficult to follow due to rerouting.  I went as far as I could until I came upon a cow farm and couldn't find any more blazes.  Then back to Lantern Hill for a few more repeats.  Finished with over 5k elevation for the week which I'm happy about.

Weekly Mileage:  34 miles / 5200' elevation

Year to Date: 137 miles / 25,300' elevation