Having a background in history stories of our past always peak my interest and there so happened to be trail that presented a unique adventure. Back in the 1800's there was an Acadian town located outside the village of Paradise in Annapolis County up on the south mountain. Some consider it a ghost town.....? Perhaps but from what I have read is that it appears that it was once an old logging town that struggled to survive following a harsh winter. How cool is it to run to an old ghost town that has long ceased to exist. Sounds like the run for me:)
So on Sunday just before noon I packed up and decided to head to Paradise to hit the trail. Following the Evangeline trail I arrived at Paradise and started to watch for Roxbury Road:( Ooops maybe I should have actually copied down the directions turns out the road is off the 201. Here it is for others so you don't experience my mistake.
When I arrived I parked the truck, grabbed my phone and then headed to the sign to check out the map for the trail ahead. I should have taken a picture of this too!!! This is all a learning experience.
It was time for me to start heading up the trail. This is not a very technical trail as it is an old ox trail maintained by the Department of Transportation. There is the odd paved part too but as a whole it is still fairly rough due to rough gravel. It is a quite peaceful trail to run on and a fairly decent climb as you are heading up the south "mountian". Along the way it was very quiet other than me surprising the odd bird or squirrel. On the way up the run went quite well although 5km of gradual climbing did take its toll. I think if you could get a better lookout of where you have ran it would make it a bit more fulfilling.
So the 5k up took me a very casual pace 30 minutes which I would love to complete again to actually give it a real good run. Once I got there I was glad I had came. I arrived at a welcome sign to Roxbury!!! Population 61. No kidding, you are back in the bush.
I think the best part is that little red mail box where guests can sign in. The day I arrived I was the only one to sign in but the day before there was a good one. A couple ladies wrote how there husbands decided to go for a walk searching for a good fishing spot and they so happened to randomly arrive at Roxbury. I can only imagine your surprise when you arrive at this little old abandoned town.
With my time running down on being out on my run since the real priority was visiting our friends I only managed to check out a couple of the old foundations before turning back.
Following a little bush whacking searching around and a few signs of berry scat it was time to head down hill. This was going to be fun. Time to really test my Brooks Cascadia's with a good push. Although IT band injuries usually hurt more on down hill runs I had no time to waste, I was going to bomb down the hill hard. Forget the loose gravel this was going to fun.
Man the Cascadia's lived up to there reputation, I did not slow down once. Traction was wicked and I didn't feel any of the rocks through the sole. THESE SHOES RULE!!!!
Well what did I learn? Next time don't have a time limit you can miss out on stuff and not really appreciate the surroundings as much as you should. Also I am going back to Roxbury again for sure. Next time I will either bring the wife or the dogs for a hike or run and check out the graveyard and the old farms.
Till next time.
For more info on the trail check out
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