Saturday, August 21, 2010

National Trail Running Day

Bet you didn't know today was National Trail Running Day. I celebrated with a 12 mile run on the trails in Brookhaven State Park. The weather was great and wildlife was active. I saw several deer and a flock of wild turkeys. At one point I nearly ran into a young fawn—I turned a corner and the little guy ran right across the trail only inches away from me, a surprise for both of us! The trails in BSP are pretty typical of what you find in the Long Island Pine Barrens. I ran a couple miles of rolling, winding, pine needle covered single track, but mostly it's relatively flat sandy trails winding through pitch pine and scrub oak. The night before the Richmond Blueberry Fiddle Festival in New Hampshire we treated ourselves to dinner at The Newfane Cafe and Creamery and a night in a cool little bed and breakfast, Red Wing Farm, in Vermont. This was quite a treat for the road weary Homies. After driving 4,000 miles, eating lots of fast food, and staying in cookie cutter budget motels over the past 6 weeks, it was nice to get off the highway (through a covered bridge!) and enjoy the natural beauty and friendly folks in rural Vermont. The inn was just down the road from Townshend State Park. Before we hit the road for the festival, I ran down the dirt road to the State Forest Rd and into the park where I enjoyed a nice trail run up to the top of Bald Mountain. This was bit different than Long Island trail running. The 1.7 mile trail up the mountain was a rocky, rooty, twisting trail with one shallow stream crossing, fun, fun, fun! The festival was great, too. This festival is a fund raiser for The Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Richmond VT. The IHM school is run by a group of "fiddlin'" Catholic sisters, though the student body only numbers 35 they have plenty of talent that has been nurtured by the sisters. At various times during the festival I would say most of the student body appeared on stage, either performing with the BFF Fiddlers or playing a part in The New England Melodrama.

Next week we will be doing another day trip down to Somerset NJ for a free show at The Franklin Township Public Libray on Wednesday, August 25, at 7 pm.

We'll be closing out the month with a local performance at The Sayville Seafood, Crafts and Music Festival. Our set is at 1:20 on Saturday the 28th. Come early to see the opening set at 12 by our buddies, The Tobacco Roadies, and stay late to catch the closing act, Donna Jean Godchaux and Jeff Matson, at 4:20 pm.

Photo by Erica Jackofsky


2 comments:

  1. Wow, I didn't know there was a Brookhaven State Park. I had to google it after I saw you post. I'm working this Saturday, otherwise I would come to the seafood festival. Friends of mine tell me it's awesome.

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  2. I didn't know it was there either, until I got lost running the trails behind Shoreham Wading River HS and ended up at the entrance to the park.

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