Avoiding The Crowds

The view of South Mountain from high above Merimere Reservoir. The crowds at the Daffodil Festival didn't know what they were missing.

Visit #1012, Saturday 30 April 16, 12:45-2:45PM, 4.0 miles.
Temps in the 60's, sunny.

With the Daffodil Festival in full swing, this would be the second consecutive week I entered Hubbard Park from the quiet north end to do my work.

There were quite a few hikers on the trails today. Those that I talked to parked on the Chamberlain Highway and hiked in via the Blue Trail past Elmere Reservoir.

I started at the north end of Merimere Reservoir and quickly came across my Find of the Week.

This fully intact fishing rod came complete with reel, line, AND Mepps Trophy Series lure, ready to hook 'em.

I did not field test the setup to see if it worked.

I shortly picked up a trail which parallels the road to Castle Craig.  Since I cleaned the road last week, there was no sense in doing so again so soon.

Good thing I took the trail, for I discovered a downed tree across it.

Give me a week or two and I'll return with my chainsaw and take care of it. As an aside, later on Saturday I returned to Hubbard Park via mountain bike and on my route decided to check on another trail with many hemlock trees. My suspicions were if the first trail had a fallen hemlock, then the other trail likely did as well. I was right. In fact, there were THREE more downed trees on that trail. I plan to clear both trails on the same day. Stay tuned.

This trail is popular with mountain bikers. Gee, how did I figure that out?!

Reaching Castle Craig I cleaned up the perimeter of the parking lot then took the Blue Trail north back to my starting point. That's where I took the opening photo of South Mountain.

I returned to my car and took my bag of trash with me.