When West Peak Calls

The steep trail to West Peak beckons.

Visit #869, Sunday 4 May 14, 5:45-8:10PM, 5.5 miles.
Temps in the low 60's, partly sunny with high winds.

Thanks to the Meriden Parks Department. From my report last week, the tires and trash I left at the north end of Merimere Reservoir were picked up and the vandalized gate was repaired.

The week after the Daffodil Festival this year was a mixed bag of pluses and minuses.

On the plus side, the weather Saturday prevented launch of the fireworks. Therefore there would be little or no mess to clean up from the launch site at the Halfway House.

On the minus side, the road to Castle Craig and West Peak opened for the season this week, meaning more litter on the road and both parking lots.

Paul Bernier joined me on Friday for some extra-curricular, non-Adopt A Park trail maintenance. While we started and ended in Hubbard Park, the majority of our work was outside of park property. Nevertheless, we managed to collect one bag of trash and left it at the West Peak parking lot.

I thought I'd return to West Peak on Sunday, clean around the area and the parking lot, and leave additional bags of trash to justify notifying the Meriden Parks Department to pick them up.

However, when I arrived at West Peak Sunday, the bag you see above was GONE. I'm hoping it was properly disposed of.

So I amended my plan and, after cleaning the surrounding area and the parking lot,  walked the road to the intersection of West Peak/East Peak while I continued to pick up trash, and deposited my first bag there for easy locating on Monday morning.

I then hiked trails down to the Halfway House, to Merimere Reservoir, and back to the park via the Soap Box Derby Trail, where I found the most remnants of the Daffodil Festival.

Find of the Week:

When taking Minastrin, you're not supposed to skip the last four pills in the packet, even though they're placebos. And some will wonder why their birth control pills didn't work... ;-)

I leave you this week with a view of West Peak from Below. It looks remarkably cylindrical.

Cheers!