In my mind, nothing beats running through the woods. Personally, I’m a fan of long runs where I run like a little kid – speed through the parts I’m excited about, stop to check out the really cool things, and slow down or even walk when I want to. I know this isn’t the proper way to train for a race, but I think running should be fun and firmly believe I’ll be a better runner (or at least go running more often) if I keep it fun.
That being said, eventually I’ll remember to take a camera with me on a run along the Ledge Hill Trail through Ravenswood Park. If you’ve never seen the view from the top of the ledge up there overlooking the harbor, you need to. So either go do it yourself now, or you’ll see it digitally when my camera makes it up there with me.
In any case, what I really want is for some of you to share your favorite spots to galavant through the woods of Cape Ann! If you’re willing to share, leave it in the comments section. And if you’ve got a picture, even better! Email it to me (dawn.gadow@gmail.com) and I’ll post it for all to enjoy… Meanwhile, get out and enjoy it!
Good Morning Gloucester 
Too many great places on Cape Ann to list them all, but some top runs for me are “the maze” in Norton’s Forest, Anne’s Path, the Highland Trail, and the Boulder Trail (all in Dogtown). Any trail run that incorporates a tour of Red Rocks is guaranteed to be beautiful. I also love starting a run at Manchester Essex Woods and heading out along the Ancient Line Trail either towards Gordon or to the unnamed trail (marked with pink blazes).
LikeLike
The Ancient Line trail offers access to so many trails (official and unofficial). It’s got to be top 5 in the Cape Ann area. I miss it.
LikeLike
I love any trail run that gets me lost. While at Gordon I enjoyed running the expansive ancient line trails and the beverly commons trails. Since moving to Gloucester I’ve had some fun exploring in Dogtown (especially Norton’s forest area).
LikeLike
I like running up the Old Farm Road across from Marmion Way in Rockport towards the South Woods. It’s not used much now but you can circle around the reservoir and back to Rockport, or cross over Nugent Stretch for a long run up to Whales Jaw and down to Carlson’s quarry…11 miles by my reckoning…
Rich
LikeLike
I had this thought the other day, and I’m not sure if it’s a new one or not… but how cool would it be to have a race through Rockport that goes along all of the public foot paths? I was driving around town the other day and noticing how many of them there are! I think it would be awesome…
LikeLike