Today was the final race of the Saratoga Stryders’ 2018 Trail Series. Each
race is 5K, held on the same course at Camp Saratoga, now called the Wilton
Wildlife Preserve and Park. The race has a mass start, with 80-100 runners
starting on top of a hill, converging almost immediately into double track.
Right after the start, runners pass through what was once a place for Scouts to
gather and listen to stories near the fire. We then run past one of my old
troop’s traditional camping spots, on the right, and a barely visible trail on
the left, leading to a bridge across the brook and then up to a concrete
lean-to. We used to play “Russian Spy” in these woods, a combination of “Hide
and Seek” and “Tag”. Today the understory has returned, and most of the traces
of the Scout camp are gone. Our old camping area looks like it has always been
woods, and the bridge I just mentioned had almost completely rotted away the
last time I checked.
