Run and Fun at Wolfe's Neck

We woke to a beautiful morning. Blue skies, a bit of a breeze, the air crisp and cool and dry. Ahhh, fall, I love you! I hit the road around 7:15, leaving behind a rather bewildered Sammy: "You take the blue car and meet us at Wolfe's Neck, Mama?" "No, Sammy, Mama's running to Wolfe's Neck and will meet you there." The first few miles of the run found me wandering the streets of downtown Topsham and Brunswick, making my way out to Pleasant Hill Road. Once there, I ran along the Crystal Spring Farm fields, past sheep eating in their pastures, past the Bowdoin Organic Gardens where the yellow, orange and rust heads of the sunflowers were turned up towards the billowing clouds above. They had already hayed some of the fields so it was too late in the season to see any Bobolinks, which was too bad, but it certainly wasn't ugly. I turned onto Casco around mile 6, which marked the start of the slight incline that would continue, with only a few flats and downhills, until I reached the farm house at the top of the dirt road at Wolfe's Neck Farm proper. Despite the majority of this run being on pavement, it really was a beautiful run. Off Casco, onto Flying Point Road, past large fields that swept down to big houses and the ocean, and onto the dirt road into the campground. Past the farm, where the Belted Galloways grazed out in the fields of swaying green grasses, across the inlet, looking out onto the water, and up the final hill, turning left towards the park. I felt amazingly good for most of the 13 miles, chugging along at under 9:00 pace.

My Garmin beeped 13 miles just after I turned off onto the trail system, and there my pace slowed fairly dramatically, with the final 3 miles coming in at over 11:00 pace. But honestly, I wasn't running hard, I was just enjoying the meander through the woods and down along the water, taking trails we hadn't hiked on before. I circled through the parking lot at mile 15, but since the bright yellow beacon wasn't there, I said a quick hello to Tami and headed back out for the final mile. As I was coming down the old woods road towards the parking lot, noting that I had only about a 1/4 mile left, I saw the Matrix drive by. I did a quick lap up through the picnic field, and was back at the car just as Ryan was taking Sam out. How's that for timing?! I had told Ryan to plan on 2 1/2 hours, and my watch was reading 2:30:35. I'd say that's pretty good! 

After a quick change, we walked down to the beach, where the tide was coming in. We sat on the rocks and watched Sam play at the water's edge. We picked shells and dug in the sand. We picked up hermit crabs, and laughed as they skittered across our palms. We sat with our feet in a tidal pool and ate a snack. We had a bit of a cry (and by we, I mean Sam :-)), as our little bum got scratched by a rock while picking periwinkles off the rocky ledges. We watched as the water rose, and finally made our retreat. A fine morning, indeed! :-)

And since no Wolfe's Neck post is complete with photos, here are a few:

Digging in the sand

Sunny day

High tide

"Mama, put down your phone and hold out your hand, so I can put this mud in it"

Looking for treasures

Watching the hermit crabs in the shallows waters