Beating Storm Jonas

The leading edge of Storm Jonas drifts over Meriden, Hubbard Park, and points southeast, just before the snow begins.

Visit #998, Saturday 23 January 16, 7:05-9:20AM, 5.0 miles.

Temps in the 20's with blizzard-condition winds brewing and snow forecast.

Meriden was expected to escape the majority of the snowfall which could dump as much as 2 feet of snow on Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and perhaps New York City. Nevertheless, we were going to get SOMETHING. (8-14" eventually fell in Meriden)

I wanted to get out in advance of the snowfall otherwise I wasn't going to find much litter in the area I planned to operate in today.

Last week while we were cleaning up the area surrounding Castle Craig, Paul Bernier commented to me that there was A LOT of trash outside the wall surrounding the castle. People toss all sorts of junk over this wall and I'd cleaned it once before years ago but the steep slope and thorny brush make it time consuming and treacherous; a real pain.

Nevertheless, I thought I'd give it a shot. I hiked up from the park through an icy wind and began my work. Here's what Castle Craig looked like from my vantage point:

For followers of my blog, the Season of the Missing Glove continues. This is Number 7.

Here are views east with South Mountain in the background, and south toward the Johnson Avenue water tank, from where I stood.

 

When I was done, I couldn't leave my trash bags at Castle Craig because due to the weather, the Meriden Parks Department crews wouldn't likely be able to reach the parking lot to pick them up until spring. So I had to carry both bags all the way back to the park.

Enroute at about 8:30AM, snow began to appear on the trails.

I returned to the park over I-691. Along the way I came across my Find of the Week, dangling from a tree.

Due to the weight of both bags I had to stop numerous times to regroup but I made it back to the park and dropped off my trash.

For personal reasons, I then made a SECOND, shorter trip back toward Merimere Reservoir. Along the way I discovered the lock to the gate at the south end of Merimere Reservoir has been cut for the umpteenth time. No doubt the ATVers and snowmobilers needed to prepare the way for their illegal winter fun. I'll contact the Meriden Parks Department and see if they can replace the lock soon.