Festival Time

Like the swallows returning to San Juan Capistrano, you know the Daffodil Festival is near when the carnival trucks arrive.

Visit #1474, Saturday 20 April 24, 7:50-9:45AM, 3.0 miles, 16.0 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 50s, light rain, ending later in the morning.

Visit #1475, Sunday 21 April 24, 6:45-8:25AM, 3.25 miles, 1.0 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the high 40s, partly sunny.

On a rainy Saturday morning I chose to get my feet and the rest of me wet with a hike in Hubbard Park, on the trails being persistently scarred by a certain vandal I'd previously reported on HERE.

I was not disappointed. Most I was able to remove; some I will have to return to address properly.

I found a number of these pink hearts much like I did last time. I was able to remove all of them. I'm heartless in that way.

The "Love Secret" was this message contained in the can.

Hmmm; and what might this message say? I took it home and let it dry to find out.

I found this interesting blank CD.

I'll spare you the deciphering. It says on one side-

"Brown Painter-I've had it with you-mind your business-watching you-stop putting glass in trail"

I did find quite a few piles of broken bottles today, deliberately in the center of the trail.

On the other side of the disc was written-

"Watching you-stop putting glass in trail-you are on camera"

Returning to the park, I cleaned up the dirt parking area near Mirror Lake. 

I was surprised to find someone couldn't finish their cognac.

Last week when I stopped at the playscape I found the statue of Noah clothed in this hoodie and hat.

I'll occasionally find clothing on him, which I find greatly disrespectful. I removed the items and if they clean well I'll bring them to Goodwill.

Fenton River Veterinary is in Stafford Springs, CT. Nice to see people visit Hubbard Park from so far away. I couldn't find any reasonable link to T.L. Rough Sawn except a YouTube channel, but they didn't sell any merchandise such as the knit hat so I don't think there's a relationship.

Despite the rain it was an interesting hike.

While hiking on Saturday I discovered a fallen branch had bent over some brush, pushing it into the trail. So I returned to the park early Sunday morning with my chainsaw to remove it.

I hadn't intended to remove the leaning tree which had been that way for at least several months, as there was plenty of room to pass underneath and I thought there would be a safety issue in removing it, but once I started, might as well remove the tree also.

What was originally planned for this week was to address the graffiti on this rock.

My initial thought was to just paint over it but instead I decided to try a discreet approach first.

I poured lacquer thinner on the rock and scrubbed with a wire brush. The results are better than the After photo but I'm still not satisfied. I will return with a Plan B.

Nearby on the trail I spied another rock with similar graffiti. My technique worked much better here.

At the Halfway House I found yet more graffiti but instead of lacquer thinner, I used Goof Off on the magic marker with good results.

Seeing graffiti on the inside, I thought I should inspect the outside perimeter. 

I was surprised to find this geocache stuffed within the rock wall. To leave it there would invite others, so I removed it. I knew it was a geocache because it said so on the note inside dated 13 April. With apologies to the owner "Zoe" I couldn't locate her to return the geocache because it seems you've got to create an account to gain access to cache locations and other information. No thanks.

While I had the chainsaw handy, I wanted to address this tree which had fallen across the trail around February of this year. Someone else had removed the section across the trail but left the ends cantilevered. I thought it didn't look right, so I gave the ends a trim.

Returning to the park I see the water department is progressing on their work installing a drainage pipe adjacent to the White Trail.

I can't wait for those carnival rides, and drier weather!

Amstel Gold

 The bike race not the beer! Why else would anyone get up so early for a hike?!

Visit #1473, Sunday 14 April 24, 6:15-8:45AM, 5.7 miles, 13.4 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the high 40s/low 50s, sunny.

The Ardennes spring classics, European bicycles bicycle races in where else but the Ardennes region which encompasses France, Luxembourg, and Belgium, are held in April. The Amstel Gold classic was today and due to the time difference, could be viewed on-line Sunday morning. But that meant finishing my weekly hike in time to get home.

Below you can watch the finale. I made it home in time to watch the last hour of the race.

The cold/flu which kept me off the trails last week has mostly subsided, or at least the symptoms abated enough to endure a hike.

Rounding the road by the retention ponds I discovered some clearcutting by the White Trail entrance. You can see the path turning right and up the hillside. What's this about? I would trim the entrance to this trail once or twice a year to prevent it from being overgrown. Looks like I won't have to do that anymore.

I later stopped by the water treatment plant to hang a trash bag...

...and saw the rows of piping. I'd guess the water department will be installing some sort of drainage to follow the road...

...to add to the flow of the brook.

Hiking behind the water tank, I found this smashed plate.

While I've encountered these plates before, only this morning did it occur to me that this smashing plate business has to be a "thing". So I did my googly searching and yes it is.

They're called "Letting Go" plates and they're covered with pithy sayings. Apparently letting go includes letting someone else clean up the mess.

After picking up the pieces I now had a heavy trash bag which was getting punctured by the shards of porcelain so I double bagged my litter and "let go" the first bag at the water treatment plant, above.

The plate partially explains why my trash haul this week weighed so much.

Hiking up toward Castle Craig I found some new-ish graffiti on a rock at the bottom of the Orange Trail.

I plan to hire an expert to remove it in the near future.

After last week's eclipse with a viewing party at Castle Craig, it was suggested to me by more than one person that there might be a large amount of litter at the peak in the aftermath. While I did not find that the case, I did clean up the parking lot and surrounding area. I proceeded to walk the road down the Merimere Reservoir.

The spillway was performing its duties in bleeding off excess water from the past week's rain.

And just like those Letting Go plates, painted rocks are still a thing. I spotted one roughly fifteen feet from the road, high above near a pair of trees, as I walked back to the park. In the photo above, it was near the two close trees at the top of the photo. You don't see it in the photo because I had already clambered up the slope and grabbed it.

I returned to the park to drop off my last bag of litter and race home to watch Amstel Gold, not HAVE an Amstel Gold!

At Least It Was Negative

Sorry to disappoint you, but I didn't visit Hubbard Park this weekend.

I began feeling ill on Friday at work, starting with a sore throat. Things went downhill from there with aches and plugged orifices and whatnot.

Saturday morning I crawled to the drugstore, thinking I might have COVID.

I self-tested negative on both Saturday and Sunday, but my body said STAY ON THE COUCH.

Till next week...

Muck Boots, Week #2

 

Today's essential tools.

Visit #1472, Saturday 30 March 24, 7:30-10:00AM, 2.8 miles, 30.0 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 40s rising to near 50, sunny with blustery winds.

Once a year I pick up litter from both banks of the stream which runs through Hubbard Park from the long gone petting zoo down to the lower pond. A friend asked me if I do this in advance of some Easter function in the park.

The answer is no; I do it this time of year because the skunk cabbage and all the vegetation hasn't grown in yet so it's easier to navigate, and to find litter.

The muck boots were handy last week; they were a must this week if I was going after litter in the brook and the adjacent soggy ground.

Well, the boots were handy UNTIL I stepped into a deceivingly deep, soft spot in the water.

Pour out the water and wring out the sock!

Here's one of the four bags of litter I collected.

The newly dredged pond, and reconstructed walls of the lower pond, completed around September 2023, look good, and the duck seems to approve.

While crawling around on the banks of the stream, I chanced upon this snake.

Looked dead to me as it wasn't moving a finger (do snakes have fingers to move?) but I wasn't about to grab it so I touched it with a stick. It's tongue flickered oh so slowly as if it came out of brumation a tad too early and got caught in the chill. I was going to call the snake ambulance (if you've never seen a snake ambulance, they're really long 😊), instead I just let it be.

This walkbridge could use some repairs. I know an experienced walkbridge repair consultant...

Returning to the parking lot, I found this:

Edible cannabis with deceiving, innocent candy names have been in the news lately. While this was a cannabis vape cartridge and not candy, the reference on the package is apropos to the discussion.

Here's hoping your children don't find edible cannabis candy in their Easter baskets!