Use this topic for posts that will collect community stars for the Hammond Hill Hoctathon course. You can also ask questions or make comments about this course.
Here’s how it works.
Click the “Post Using This Template” button below to create a new post with a Story heading and boilerplate text.
Replace the boilerplate text with your report for one or both sections. The Story header is key for distinguishing between posts and replies—don’t change it.
Your post must be on the same calendar day as your run as entered in the leaderboard.
Story
To pick up a community star, replace this text with a write-up of what your run was like, a photo you took on the run, a link to your Strava track, or something similar. Don’t delete the Story heading above.
Holy Hoctathon, Batman!
What a gorgeous day it was for a trail run at Hammond Hill on Thursday to kick off my 2026 Challenge! Had the trails all to myself, except for a mountain biker near the finish. The course is in tremendous shape with just a few muddy spots.. Alas, my red newt count is still at zero, perhaps because it is a bit early or it was too chilly yet. Only a couple of trillium just beginning to pop where there is usually a large patch of them. But the view is always there:
It has stone wall sides. Last year I saw something about fire ponds that were built to collect water for fighting forest fires. Not sure if that is the purpose of this. Anyone know?
A Google search brought up this Facebook post from last fall where Ann Leonard responded with the exact information you had! “That mini pond was installed by the CCC as a fire control measure. There are two of them, the other is not far from the top of Ganotacherage fire road.”
The more you know!