Early Rising

Early morning at Hubbard Park. Was I the only one awake at this hour?

Visit #1193, Saturday 18 May 19, 6:25-8:35AM, 4.6miles, 3.9lbs. of trash.
Temps in the low 60's, sunny.

I wanted to get an early start this week because I was going to use some spray paint and I wanted it to dry before anyone could step on it. Also, I had a personal To Do List and by getting my weekly fix at Hubbard Park done early I could free up the day for other duties.

I left the parking lot and shortly picked up the trails, leading me to the Halfway House.

How that slender tree wound up where you see it is a mystery to me, but I did toss it back into the woods.

I hiked up toward Castle Craig, and to the rock which I spray painted a couple weeks ago, to cover some graffiti. I wasn't satisfied with the gray paint I used then, so I brought some brown paint with me this week.

Not a good match, but it got the job done.

The brown paint will look more discrete once it dries and loses its sheen.

Reaching Castle Craig, I made a somewhat pleasant discovery. A park bench has been installed at the base of Castle Craig.

I think this was a great idea. SOME thought was put into it, because the concrete pad elevates the bench just enough to take in the view over the surrounding wall.

Here's the view.

However, I question HOW MUCH thought was actually put into the project. To improve the bench's appearance, I could see the concrete pad embedded with the same traprock used on Castle Craig and the surrounding wall. The rock was free as it could have been harvested from the talus slope on the trail below.

But that's a minor, subjective complaint. Where I really think the project went off-the-rails was here:

Man, that looks cheap.  If some local person received permission to install the bench and the concrete pad, and it was presumably a gift to the City of Meriden and Hubbard Park, they could at least identify themselves in a professional fashion. The mysterious initials, and date haphazardly engraved into the concrete are nothing more than graffiti in its present form. Quite frankly it looks like a turd, and an unpolished turd at that.

Adjacent to the bench is an electrical outlet, most likely convenient for Christmas lights on Castle Craig.

However; I'm sure people will be disappointed there's no USB socket in the outlet so they can keep their smartphones topped off 😏. Expect the masses to be charging to the mayor's office with their tiki torches lit, demanding free USB ports on those outlets!

I left Castle Craig and returned to the trails. The scene through the woods was peaceful early on a Saturday morning.

Near the bottom of the trail, I discovered another hemlock has fallen across the trail.

This means next week will be a Power Tool Weekend®, when I remove the tree. Woohoo!

I returned to the parking lot while it was still early, and dropped off my bag of trash for the week.