What's Next?: Cliff Trail and Runaround Pond

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Cliff Trail and Runaround Pond

Out hiking yesterday instead of running, exploring yet another new place with Sam and Ryan in the afternoon: The Cliff Trail down in Harpswell. The trail started at the back of the town hall lot and made a big loop beside Strawberry Creek and back along the ocean. We enjoyed the pine-needle covered singletrack that wound through the pine forest and took us high on the ridge above Long Reach. There were some beautiful vistas, a few blueberries to eat, good sections of cushiony trail for a bit of trail running with Sam and several designated Fairy House building areas too. Of course, the mosquitos were also along for the ride, but otherwise, we had a great time and were out there for almost 2 1/2 hours on the 2.6 mile loop. Even on an overcast afternoon, it offered up a lot to look at with some nice views and we all enjoyed it.

The Cliff Trail

Strawberry Creek

New singletrack

Along the head of Strawberry Creek

Groovin' along ;)

Down at the edge of the shale cliffs

Up in the woods

Fairy House zone

Starting work on her fairy house

Fun out in the woods together

Up on the cliffs

Beautiful views

This morning, I met up with Amy for a nice 10 mile backroad run out to and around Runaround Pond. Very pretty out there, and good to get in the miles before things heated up too much. Saw bobolinks, goldfinch, swallows and red-winged blackbirds out in the fields and enjoyed the waterlilies in the pond. Sometimes road running isn't so bad ;) Thanks for the run, Amy!

Tested out my new pack; same style as my "old" pack - the Intensity - but obviously an updated version. A few changes with a better pocket style and a slightly different fit to the chest strap, but otherwise very similar and comfy. Figured it would be a good idea to have a second pack so as to have the option for a total swap out at the 100, so gotta break this one in! Oh darn, new gear ;)