From The Top

Today's view of Mirror Lake from just below the Castle.

Visit #819, Saturday 14 September 13, 1:00-3:30PM, 4.5 miles.

Temps in the 70's; another silly beautiful dry, sunny day.

Virtually every visit to Hubbard Park I start at the parking lot by the pool. Today, the space between my ears was replaced with a brilliant thought; why not start at the top?

I was on-call so I had use of the company truck. The road to the Castle was open. I had ridden my bike up to West Peak and East Peak earlier in the week and noticed too much trash on both sides of the road.

The cogs in my head started to turn...

My bike ride up to West Peak on Tuesday revealed the TV's and trash bag I left near the parking lot had not been picked up yet by the Meriden Parks Department, and critters had already started clawing their way into the bag. A friendly e-mail to Mark Zebora and somewhere in the interim between then and today, the mess was hauled away. Thanks!

I parked at the Castle parking lot and policed up the perimeter and nearby surrounding grounds. There was a constant stream of vehicles coming and going. Despite the amount of time I spend in Hubbard Park, I had no idea the area around the Castle was so popular.

That's my truck on the far right.

I walked the road all the way down to the bottom of the climb cleaning up one side, then turned around and walked back up, cleaning up the other side of the road. When a bag was filled, I left it.

After returning to the parking lot at the Castle, I retrieved my truck and as I drove down, I stopped and picked up all the bags. That way there would be nothing unsightly for park visitors to see.

In the end, I collected 5 bags of trash and one hub cap.

Sometimes a plan just comes together!