Woo-hoo, Leg 4! Three legs in three weeks. We’re cooking now.

Started out at the Metropolitan District Commission’s (MDC) famous Reservoir #6 (the Rez). Most of the Farmington Valley goes there on Sunday morning if the temperature is above 50 degrees. For the most part, however, they are on the walking/jogging trails and not the rough-and-tumble Metacomet (there will be more on the “tumble” part in a moment).

The day started off pretty uneventfully, and I knew we were in for a relatively easy day – 8 miles or so and not a huge amount of elevation changes. After Rob released a depth charge at the porta potty MDC graciously provided, we were off to the races. For about a tenth of a mile. Then we crossed dangerous Route 44 and had to consult the map. If you are not really familiar with “the Rez” we found the number of criss-crossing trails a bit confounding. Many of the “popular” trails use the Metacomet for short stretches and you find yourself following the big, flat, easy downhill trail at every intersection. We’ve found that 99% of the time, the Metacomet is the one that is the most difficult (and uphill – always uphill) at any decision point. Also – much of the Metacomet is meant to be taken at hiking speed. When you need to focus on your footwork it is difficult to pick up on every blue blaze. I’ll stop bitching now – it was a great run today.

Typical trail section here - well marked trail, but nasty traprock.

Took off along the viaduct and then hung a right onto the trail. Some kind stranger found a nice Brooks running jacket on the trail and hung it up in plain sight – covering the blue blazed pole telling us to take a right. We quickly corrected, but it was the first of many slight missteps. Went into a series of uphill blasts that seemed to take forever (a recurring theme for the description of the first climb of the day) and got into the groove. Rob and I got into a nice rhythm and cranked out to about mile 2.25, but we seemed to have dropped Dave. We waited quite a while, thinking he may have been doing a bit of creative videography. When we spotted him coming up the trail he was limping a bit – oh no. Apparently he took a bit of a digger and turned his ankle pretty good in a muddy hole. He had a bit of dirt on the knee he wiped on last week, and I think he may have been hurting a bit more than he complained. He’s probably hopped up on Vitamin I (ibuprofen) as I write this… We took a bit of a break and soldiered on.

Who Kil(led)kenny?

We decided to take a little excursion to Kilkenny Rock and were glad we did. It’s a nice piece of stone. Rob wanted to boulder for a while, but we had work to do. Which turned into exploring some other rock precipice. I think we were subconciously giving Dave a break, but it was very cool nonetheless.

I can see my house from here.

Once you get out off the MDC property, things change drastically. Welcome to cul-de-sac-a-palooza. I credit the  CFPA with doing a wonderful job preserving the trail as best as can be done while time slowly marches on. Much of the trail turns into small residential roads named after the areas they ruined spoiled raped pillaged commemorated, such as “Metacomet Drive”. I guess they ran out of sickly sweet animal combos such as “Fox Run” or “Deer Path”. Sorry – this is turning a bit acerbic. We had a great run, but there was one guy with a six foot high electric fence that really set the tone for the trail versus asshole debate. You’re either trying to keep your idiot kids in your Supermax Prison or you are so afraid of wildlife that you should’ve really found a house that wasn’t in the FRICKIN WOODS.

A little bit more running, crossed a nasty Route 4, picked a couple ticks off, traipsed through a backyard or two and then boom. It was done – back at Poplar Hill Drive in Farmington. Yes, we parked right in front of Mike Tyson’s former mansion. I think it is now owned by Fitty Cent (but on the market, if you’re looking…). Next up: a pair of major road crossings (Route 6 and I-84) and on to Hard Hittin’ New Britain!

Excuse me, Mr. Cent?

Can I ride your pony? Thanks!