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Sunday, March 17, 2024

A Broken Heart

 


The person who continues to defile the trails by painting rocks and writing on trees will experience a broken heart.

At the beginning of March, I mentioned this trail problem and said it would be the only time I would present updates to you.

I have changed my mind.

Visit #1470, Sunday 17 March 24, 6:55-9:25AM, 5.0 miles, 6.7 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 40s, cloudy.

By keeping you updated on this person's activity, perhaps I can bring pressure or action to stop this vandal or get them help for their psychological problems.

Like Jack Reacher, I've done this before (1:27 in the video).

Hang on for the ride. Here's a sample of what I've found recently.

Rest assured; I cover over or remove whatever I find.



Kind of ironic since this person is painting the trees themselves.


This tree has repeatedly seen such artwork; they even bother to replace the nails I remove. Strange obsession.

During last week's hike, I found that Hubbard Park's current serial vandal has taken to unsanctioned, unattractive marking of a trail.



I planned to hike this trail on Sunday and cover these marks.

To reach the trail, I had to cross the brook which was knee deep in rushing water last week.


What a difference a week makes!


Hiking the trail and covering the white circles with camoflage paint, I forgot to take After photos.

By my count, I PAINTED OVER 176 OF THOSE WHITE CIRCLES.

Also found along that trail today were two fallen trees. I will remove them in the next two weeks.



Also today, I found Season of the Missing Glove 2023/24 Entries #7 and 8.



This week I also found garden variety graffiti and stickers, all of which I removed.




The slightly blurry sticker refers to Zenleaf, a marijuana store with a branch in Meriden. Another hiker commented to me the smell of marijuana is now commonplace in Hubbard Park.


I also performed some garden variety trail maintenance, trimming back this brush which was leaning into the trail.



And about that broken heart...






Sunday, March 10, 2024

Water, Water Everywhere

 


"Water, water everywhere and not a place to stand..."

-Tables Will Turn, from The Individualist, by Todd Rundgren.

I think of those lyrics every time it rains a lot.

Visit #1469, Sunday 10 March 24, 7:10-9:15AM, 5.0 miles, 4.5 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 40s, rain from Saturday afternoon through the overnight has just ended, clearing skies.

Today I take you on a journey through Hubbard Park after a night of rain.

This brook leads to Hubbard Park and empties into Mirror Lake.

This fence post at the I-691 walkbridge is an unusually popular place for people to place stickers, as you can see from the residue from older stickers I've removed. And I continue to remove them.

I hiked up to the beehive fountain and followed a short loop, then headed up toward the road to Castle Craig.






Below is a case where, as martial arts expert said,

"Be formless, shapeless, like water.
If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup.
You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle.
You put water into a teapot and it becomes the teapot.
Now water can flow or it can crash.
Be water, my friend."

Here the water becomes the trail rather than cut the corner.


I followed the water, up.


I followed the water down.

Along the way, I removed this fallen tree from the trail.





Up until this point, I managed to keep my feet dry. But now I had to cross this torrent to reach the road.
My luck had just run out.


There was no tiptoeing around this and I wasn't Jesus so I couldn't walk on it, or have Dad part it.
I could only laugh once I reached the other side.


The spillway was doing its job.


During the squish-squish on the road back to the park, I found this synthetic hoodie, which I stuffed into my backpack to eventually make its way to Goodwill.



It only dawned on me a few minutes later: Wait a minute; the hoodie isn't wet which means it was put there VERY recently. Hmmm...

Not so fast-further on down the road as I neared the south end of Merimere Reservoir, a trio of runners who I see regularly on Sunday mornings, came up from behind. The leader, who I know by face but not by name, asked if I had found a hoodie.

Ding ding ding, we have a winner! In his eight years of running and occasionally leaving a piece of clothing by the roadside to pick up on the return leg from running up to Castle Craig, this was the first time his clothing was taken! We had a laugh and he was happy.

There was one small fallen tree near the south end of the reservoir which I managed to put onto the correct side of the guardrail.



Now to go home, wring out my socks and dry my boots and jeans.






Sunday, March 3, 2024

Going Public

Let's get the boring stuff out of the way.

Visit #1468, Sunday 3 March 24, 7:10-9:30AM, 4.1 miles, 9.2 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 30s, rapidly rising to the low 60s, sunny after a day and night of rain.

For the past few years, beginning roughly a couple years before Covid, I've been running a covert op, trying to keep some ne'er do well from sullying the trails with scribblings on trees, painted rocks, and cute little signage nailed to trees. I've not said anything publicly because I believe this person is active on the internet and quite possibly is aware of my blog. I've changed my mind, but just this once.

This blog entry will be the ONLY time I mention them and their activity, until conditions change.

The golden rule of hiking is, "Leave No Trace" as espoused by these two organizations:

ONE

TWO

Basically; Don't write on trees, paint rocks, or nail cute signs to trees. Oh, and pick up any litter.

This person follows the rules of Anti-Leave No Trace.

I've already removed a great number of signs, and painted over a similar number of eyesores yet the problem continues. I will stay the course however.

This week was no different. Here's a taste.


Obviously, this person has a chip on their shoulder regarding me. I cover over or remove what I can.


The tape around the trees is removed by me.


One thing I do know about this person is, they don't excel at spelling. But then ne'er do wells are never an intelligent bunch.


I suspect they are hoping to pin the graffiti on me by scribbling things like this on trees.








Did you know I'm an a$$hole AND a jerk?







These painted rocks had pink hearts underneath. The key word is "had".





Read this closely (it's disgusting) and you'll see yet another misspelling.



One thing I can say about them is, they are persistent, but then again, so is Vladimir Putin.

So far I've cataloged roughly 300 instances of this defiling of the trails in opposition to the rules of Leave No Trace.

I will continue to fight the good fight, as good will always triumph over evil.

On to today's fun.

Among today's finds were these two ziplock bags, found on a log just as you see them.

The contents included this collection of cheapo electronic devices.


...and a coupon folder.

I found this popular brand Turtle Fur neck gaiter hanging from this tree branch. I retrieved it, and will add it to the scarf and hat I recently collected, and all three will make their way to Goodwill. I actually had the scarf and beanie in my car and planned to drop them off at Goodwill after leaving Hubbard Park this morning, but with the Turtle Fur addition I decided to wait until I wash the neck gaiter then I'll deliver all three at once.