Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Gosnold







Well….my quest to run in every town in Massachusetts is complete. On Monday Cath and I took the ferry to Cuttyhunk Island which is one of the Elizabeth Islands that make up the town of Gosnold. The ride over was pretty smooth unlike the stomach churning crossing when I went to Martha’s Vineyard last year.

We walked for a little bit, checking out what little there was to check out on Cuttyhunk. The Island has about 50 residents and only a couple of automobiles. Most of the islanders travel via golf cart or by walking. The island is very small. We found a dirt road that was not posted and off we went on a three mile jog. The area was very scenic, but the road was a bit overgrown and when we hit the single-track trail it was very grassy. I think it gets a lot of use in season, but this was pretty early in the year for tourists.

We did a nice climb up to the highest point on the island (Lookout hill – 154’) and took a short break on the summit to check out the view and for me to scramble down into one of the military bunkers (remnants from WW2). We finished with an easy jog down into town stopping at the town post office for a photo-op.

The day was just about perfect for walking around, but a bit warm while running. We stopped at the “market” and got some Gatorade, Coke and some snacks for the ride back. No messing around in our schedule as we were back on the ferry by noon and back into New Bedford harbor by 1:00. The ride back was even more pleasant than the ride out. There were many sailboats out and it seemed like everyone waived as they went past. The view was fantastic; you could see each of the islands and the faint outline of Falmouth off on the horizon. Heck, even New Bedford looked nice from a couple of miles out J

This was a most excellent way to finish all 351 towns/cities. I don’t think I’d ever try that again (although I’ve got ½ of the towns/cities in NH) but there are a few towns I’d like to go back to for some more exploring.

The next adventure will be hiking the Long Trail in July/August. I’ve never done a long distance hike, so I really don’t know what to expect. Albee and I will be heading out in late July to cover the 270 miles from the Mass border to Canada through the tops of many of Vermont’s most scenic mountains.

1 comment:

Scotty "PHAT" Graham said...

Congrad's Dave. I bet there are very few people who can say that they've ever been to all 351 towns in MA, never mind running in all of them. Then again who would want to!

1 NE state done, 5 to go.