Temps in the 40's with light rain developing.
Visit #989, Sunday 29 November 15, 6:05-8:00AM, 5.0 miles.
Temps in the 40's, partly sunny.
Last week I supplied a teaser, saying I spied something in Merimere Reservoir which would be this week's subject. I loaded up my backpack and set off to extract this long sunken "treasure".
But I couldn't find it.
Last week I made sure to orient myself to a reference point so I could easily locate the item. In fact, the item was in 2 pieces, a door and a cabinet. I pulled the door from the receding shoreline and placed it in the road, directly across the road from my reference point but could neither find the door nor the cabinet. I even walked the shoreline and came up empty. I asked the "park regulars" I encountered. They all saw the door last week but not this week.
I was starting to think there was somebody out there as nuts as I was (not likely) who removed BOTH items. It was messing with my head.
I gave up after 15 minutes and walked to the north end of Merimere Reservoir, picking up trash as I walked.
As perhaps a consolation prize, I found this on the shore of the reservoir:
But wait; there's more!
I tossed the tire into the road to retrieve on the return trip; I wasn't done looking for that box, yet.
And then, elsewhere along the reservoir shoreline, I hit the motherlode:
54 cents.
And there's always your standard pair of briefs.
Anyway, I turned around at the north end, determined to find that damn box! I prowled the shoreline again, finding it harder to believe there was someone else out there stealing my trash.
I was right.
I found the door on the opposite side of the road where I left it last week. But it was nowhere near where I would find the box. That took another 15 minutes and 200 yards of separation. Next was the task of hauling it up to the road. That necessitated a comealong and roughly 50 feet of rigging.
I asked one of the hikers you see in the background to help me get it over the fence as the box weighed roughly 100lbs.
I gathered the tire, door, and box and stacked them for later pickup by the Meriden Parks Department.
And just what is it, you ask? It's a dollar bill exchanging machine. Someone (most likely more than one due to the weight) must have stolen the machine, extracted the money, and dumped the thing in Merimere Reservoir many years ago.
And if that's all you think is in Merimere Reservoir, I'm about to set you straight.
I've heard rumors of submarines being sighted in the reservoir which obviously sounds ridiculous, until Saturday.
As you can see by the exposed hull, it's a nuclear powered submarine.
Retrieving the bill exchanger was Chore #1 of 2. I dropped off my first bag of trash at the water treatment plant and headed toward Chore #2.
Enroute, I found this package label, which reinforces my suspicion there's a homeless person living in the woods of Hubbard Park. Couple the axe with the survival knife packaging I found recently and it fits.
Anyway, I hiked over to the walkbridge over I-691 because I spied some graffiti I'd missed which was an exact copy of graffiti I painted over in August.
You can see by the concrete it had started to rain. I was concerned my spray paint wouldn't stick or would be trampled by all the hikers I saw, but a return visit Sunday allayed my fears.
At the same spot I picked up a nice sized microfiber towel courtesy of Camp Sloper.
I turned around and returned to the park to drop off my 2nd bag of trash for the day.
During Saturday's expedition, I received a report of graffiti seen along the road up to East/West Peak. In fact, just like the "I ♥ U Raye", this graffiti was a repeat of graffiti I found in October and covered up.
My schedule said I would have to tackle this on Sunday morning, so I set off before sunrise to get it over with.
Covering up clocked in at 8 minutes.
Good thing I was out on the road this morning. I found this tree had fallen across the road. It could not be moved further off the road so I'll contact the Meriden Parks Department and ask them to cut it up.
Another unique find this week was this Polaroid-type photo.
I crossed over I-691 and returned to the parking lot to drop off my last bag of trash for the week.
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