Got out on Thanksgiving for a quick re-build ride -- I'd been sick most of the week before, and was still getting back into shape. Because I was due to help out with the house before guests arrived, I did a quick 18 miles over one of the most persistently steep hills in the neighborhood -- Gulf Road, in Belchertown. One of my favorite climbs, with a lovely brook burbling beside it almost the whole way up. A nature preserve rewards me at the top: Scarborough Brook, brought to us by those excellent folks at Kestrel Land Trust. If you live near the Pioneer Valley, please consider helping them; they help ensure that the area stays beautiful and natural.
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| Scarborough Brook preserve from road |
Further inspection revealed an impressive beaver dam and pond:
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| Beaver leftovers |
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| Beaver works |
Yesterday, a longer jaunt down to a human-made dam, on the Quabbin Reservoir:
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| Local towns were razed and flooded in the 1930s to produce a scenic, functional reservoir |
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| The big hill in the middle is the one the loop climbs |
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| Someone was dissatisfied with the service for the port-a-potty at the top |
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| View from the top, as sunset approacheth |
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| Steel, water, earth, sky |
I try to be thankful all the time, not just on Thanksgiving, but it's hard to avoid a special rush of grattitude this weekend for the beautiful place in which we live. It's some of the best riding I've done anywhere.
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