Chesterfield Gorge

Day 8 - 3.2 miles
The road winds into Chesterfield, past the Chesterfield Gorge. The Trustees of Reservations have maintained this site for a long time -- it's a beautiful place to hike. The British Redcoats apparently marched back to Boston over this gorge when the old post road ran over a bridge over the gorge. The roads open up here from the woods of Worthington into more open pasture land (used to be a lot of sheep grazing out here) and into colonial/federal buildings. It's an interesting contrast

Here's a link to the gorge from the road
https://goo.gl/maps/yc9aAM5kBzyFQhup6

Worthington Health Center

Day 7
4 more miles takes me down near the center of Worthington, past the Hilltown Community Health Center. I have a lot of respect for the people that work in rural community health centers. I didn't realize this is where it was. I don't know that I would have the medical skill to work out here in the countryside - it is isolated, and not a lot of support. I am glad they are out here - it'd be interesting to talk with them about their job and how they manage. If I were actually, and not virtually, running through town, I'd probably stop in.

S Curves through Worthington

Day 6 - A 3 mile run followed by 1.5 miles of walking and birding takes me down Rte 143, past the Worth the Wait chicken farm, past the custom dog leash and collar leather business, past the Glen Cove Wildlife Sanctuary, and past the Worthington State Forest. Lots of woods and winding roads. Lots of maple sugaring going on in these woods, I think.

https://goo.gl/maps/h7ZetTZhQCMPDvtw8

Here's the map so far:

https://goo.gl/maps/ogC4H1TGcD8votEy9

Who are the Schnopps?

Day 6
Long 6 mile run today, with an extra 2 miles of walking at the end of it, takes me to a total of 28 miles so far. Today's route took me along the wooded roads of Hinsdale and Peru, specifically Frank Schnopp Road, and George Schnopp Road. I saw those roads on the map and thought - there's a story, I'll just look those two names up! A lot harder to find anything out than you might think -- all of the links lead to real estate listings (if you're up for purchasing some property near some nice waterfront in Western Mass, there might be a place for you)
Still don't know who the Schnopps were, except for one Frank Schnopp who was a businessman in the area. Next time I meet anyone from Hinsdale I'll find out for you.

Here's a nice view of what the local roads look like
https://goo.gl/maps/ZSPbendBLMzW2FfT7

Dalton and Crane and Wahconah

Day 5
A four mile run takes me out of Pittsfield and down Rte 8 through Dalton, Mass. As I click through town I notice a big mill building on the south side of the road. "Crane's Government Mill' the googlemap says. I had forgotten that Crane & Co - that company that seems to make all of the good stationery cards - was based in Dalton, Mass. What I didn't know was that Crane is responsible for making ALL of the paper that US Currency is printed on. All of it. Since the 19th century.

The rest of the run heads out of Dalton past Wahconah Regional High School. Wahconah, incidentally, after which the local baseball stadium and waterfall are also named, refers to a young Native American woman who was being courted by two different men. The chief and medicine man decided that fate should decide who gets to marry her and came up with some contest involving Wahconah in a canoe without a paddle, and whichever bank of the river she went toward, that would be the man she would marry. Of course, Wahconah managed to rig the contest and marry the guy she wanted.

The things you learn when you run across Massachusetts...

The Berkshire Mall

Day 4
A 4 mile run takes us south along Lake Pontoosuc. This stretch of road I know well - the Williams crew bus would take us along this stretch every afternoon and right around 4:30 we'd be dropped off at the far end of Pontoosuc, to run the last 1.5 miles to the boathouse on Lake Onota, and start practice. Less commonly, when we managed to secure transportation from the college, we'd take a left just as we reached the Lake, and head over to the Berkshire Mall. To be honest, the only thing I remember about going to the Berkshire Mall was the movie theater. And as I read about it now, it turns out that that's about the only thing left. That, and a Target. The rest of the mall closed almost exactly one year ago, in May 2019. There seem to be a bunch of proposals to repurpose it, maybe for recreation, but maybe for farming or senior housing.
The Berkshire Mall certainly isn't the only mall that is shuttering these days -- there seems to be a lot of opportunity out there and a lot of real estate for the right project. Wonder what that will turn out to be...

https://goo.gl/maps/eFdYxDGGDmXJzRH69

After leaving the Berkshire Mall (or what has become of it), the route heads south down Rte 8 into fast food and retail land. Maybe I can make a virtual stop at Five Guys. That certainly wasn't there back in college...

Days 1-3 - and I'm off!

By the time this blog started, I was already 12 miles in to the Run Across Massachusetts. Here were the first three stops:

Day 1 (5/16/2020) -- (Virtually) starting at the tower atop Mt. Greylock. 4 miles gets us as far as the Jones Nose Trailhead on Mt Greylock, one of the trails that gets you toward the summit

Day 2 (5/17/2020) -- 5 miles - Gets to the bottom of Greylock and the entrance to the park. At the stop is Second Life Books, an appointment only used book store focusing on out-of-print books by and about women.

Day 3 (5/19/2020) -- 3 miles - From the base of Greylock head down Rte 7 through Lanesboro and end at the Skyline Country Club, established in 1963, where you can see 4 states from the 17th tee, and a round of 18 only costs $25.

Here's the map of the route so far:
https://goo.gl/maps/QEYd9HVGyu6oxny86

Starting from the Top

Pete's Tower-to-Tower Virtual Run Across Massachusetts

People sometimes ask if I'm a runner. Sometimes I am. I enjoy it. I like the exercise. I like the feeling after a good long run - it's a 'good tired' as Harry Chapin used to say. When I'm most successful, though, is when I have some outside motivation. If I have a race to train for, or if I see a friend on Runkeeper who's getting out there nearly every day, that'll work for a while.

I motivated this winter to train for the Daffodil 5K. I first thought I'd go out for the 10K but I know how that often goes - I train too much, too fast, get hurt, slow down, and then don't complete the race. So I started small, followed the training regimen, and ran the fastest 5K since I started keeping track 4 years ago. Then I moved on to training for a 10K this summer. Except...

...Covid19 hit. And all of the races were going virtual. So when a friend posted on Facebook about the 'Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee' I thought, 'That's cool. Except, I don't really have much connection to Tennessee, nice a state as it is. I wonder if they're doing something like that in Massachusetts.' And it turns out, they were. And I signed up - 250 miles from the Tower on top of Mt Greylock to the Pilgrim's Tower in Provincetown, MA.

The next day in the Hampshire Gazette, there's a big article about a guy who spent his time living abroad in Africa by clicking through Google Maps on a virtual journey across America. So, I was hooked. I figured I'd keep track of how I was doing, and maybe learn something about Massachusetts as I go. I doubt I'll click through evcry single step, but I'll run every mile. Not sure how long it'll take, but.. here we go.