Short Timer

Early morning at Mirror Lake in Hubbard Park. A few people were already "chaired up" at the water's edge, enjoying the day.

Visit #1204, Sunday 28 July 19, 7:00-8:05AM, 2.1 miles, 20.4 lbs. of litter.
Sunny with temps in the 70's and rising humidity and temps throughout the day.

I was on-call this week and with it came a dent in my Hubbard Park plans. I usually like to spend at least two hours keeping an eye on the trails, but on-call duties required I cut short my time this week.

I would have only an hour to spend today so I made a "rule"; I would quit after an hour or after collecting 5lbs. of trash, whichever came first. 5lbs. is a decent number but somewhat high for only a one hour excursion. It was a coincidence that I met both goals at the same time.

I started hiking a trail behind the daffodils and got all excited when I found these two trees had fallen across this well-used path.

Combine that with the fallen tree I found last week, and I've got some fun with power tools coming up next weekend! I'll have to start early so I don't alarm early visitors to the park.

I reached the walkbridge over I-691 and strolled to the other side then back across.

Returning to the park via the trails, I found this shopping bag filled with empty cans, hanging from a tree. It didn't do much toward my 5lb. minimum, but every little bit helps!

I reached the park and as 8AM neared I had one more location to clean up; the small dirt lot at the northwest corner of Mirror Lake.

That's where I hit the jackpot.

This pile of garbage conveniently put me waaaay over my minimum; a weird thing to be thankful for, but thanks 😜 to whoever left it; I surpassed my trash goal!

I returned to the parking lot and dropped off both bags of trash for the week, while eagerly awaiting next week's power tool session.

I leave you with another shot of Mirror Lake on early Sunday morning.

Dedication

Meriden was in the midst of a heat wave. You'd think I would just stay home. But I'm dedicated. I also lack common sense...

Someone else who's dedicated is Director of the Parks Department, Chris Bourdon. Last week I left a bag of trash at West Peak, and sent him an e-mail asking him to send a crew to pick it up. I received a reply saying he would be out of the office for the week, which wouldn't do any good if you were a trash bag waiting for the bus.

I contacted an alternative but did not receive a reply. Out of curiosity, I rode my bike up to West Peak on Wednesday to check on the bag and it was gone. Thanks, Chris!

Visit #1203, Sunday 21 July 19, 6:30-9:10AM, 5.3 miles, 9.1lbs. of trash.
Temps in the 70's and rising to the 90's today, Relative Humidity 90%!

I left the parking lot wondering what this hike had in store for me; with the heat and humidity so high, you prepare and pray for the best. I packed extra water and wore light clothing; no jeans on a day like today.

I started my hike at the gate across the road where I noted last week the missing bollard had been replaced. This week I learned they weren't finished with their work then; the Parks Department returned, cut off the excess threads on the bolts, and spray painted over everything. Nice job.

Up the road, I reached Merimere Reservoir, where little bugs flitted along the surface of the water, just begging to become fish food.

 After pronouncing the bugs stupid to flirt with death (unless they were in a mating frenzy, in which case they were doubly stupid) I picked up the trails, making my way to the Halfway House, where I believe someone took the time to pick up some of the broken glass to be found inside the Halfway House, and intentionally left it for me. Not a problem, and I'm glad they did it.

The trails in Hubbard Park offer lots of shade, which was a necessity on a day like today, and the route I picked out provided plenty of it.

Turning up the steep trail to Castle Craig, I discovered wild raspberry bushes line the trail, and the fruit will be ready for picking soon.

I took a break at Castle Craig, and checked out the sunrise over Meriden.

Descending from Castle Craig, I made a brief circuit of the area and the parking lot picking up litter, and left a bag for Mr. Dedication and his crew to pick up.

I followed the road to a trail leading down to Merimere Reservoir, partly for the shade, and partly because I picked up trash from the road just last week so it should still be reasonably clean.

The heat and humidity affected creatures of all kinds. This guy wasn't exactly smoking his tires climbing up the tree.

Good thing I took the trail, as I discovered another hemlock has fallen across it. I'll remove it in two weeks.

I reached the bottom and followed the road back to the parking lot. Enroute, I discovered the city has been busy patching the potholes on the road around the reservoir with geometric precision, or an anal retentive parks worker!

In the aftermath of their work, they left this orphaned traffic cone.

I know the cone still worked, because I had to walk around it. 😏
I picked up the cone intending to bring it back to the parks department garage. Instead, along the way, I spied another cone at the water treatment plant and reunited mother and child.

Back at the parking lot I deposited my second bag of trash and my remaining sweat.

In The Grip of Summer

Canadian geese form an early morning conga line, enroute to who knows where?

Visit #1202, Sunday 14 July 19, 6:50-10:00AM, 5.8 miles, 18.0lbs. of litter.
Temps in the high 70's, climbing to near 90 today, moderate humidity.

There was no avoiding the summer heat, and Lord knows I tried by starting early today.

I hiked my way around Mirror Lake, watching the Canadian geese, before I picked up the trail enroute to the fallen tree I found last week.

Someone had elevated the tree to make it easy to pass by. I used a pruning saw to remove it.

I continued on this trail which I walked last week and soon came upon these little balls.

At first I thought some robins on Thalidomide were laying malformed eggs.  I was soon given a clue to the  truth.

Goggles? Funny eggs? The final clue was nearby.

Whoever was playing paintball left in haste, leaving extra ammo and other supplies. I guess their spot was overrun and they retreated. I later learned that paintballs are biodegradeable, which is a good thing because I found a lot of robin's eggs in the area.

Hiking up the trails was a sweatfest, but eventually I made it to West Peak to enjoy the views.

I turned toward the West Peak parking lot. I hadn't been there in a while and it showed; I picked up enough litter to leave a large bag there.

It was all downhill from here as I walked the road back. Along the way, I spied this two-box combo tossed into the woods. If I had to guess, someone took their pet for "a ride".

Carol should have removed the shipping label.

 

I strolled around the north end of Merimere Reservoir, back toward the park.

When I reached the gate, I was pleased to see the parks department had replaced the missing bollard. The original bollard was cemented into the ground and likely due to a chemical reaction or moisture between the concrete and the iron in the bollard, had rusted away.

Notice that the replacement was not mounted directly into the concrete like the original, but bolted down. I hate to be pessimistic, but I expect someone to either unbolt it and sell it for scrap, or for ATV'ers to remove it for easier access to the road. I considered applying some unbreakable Loctite threadlocker to the bolt threads (I've got just the stuff to do the job) but decided against it as it would make maintenance or repair a miserable task. Let's sit back and see how long this lasts. I'll keep tabs on it.

I returned to the parking lot with plenty of time for the day's temperatures to reach 90, and dropped off my second bag of litter.

Wise Decision

Visit #1201, Sunday 7 July 19, 7:15-9:00AM, 2.2 miles, 2.9lbs. of trash.
Temps in the low 70's, humid.

As reported last week, the flags normally displayed on the I-691 walkbridge were missing. I suspected if I knew the habits of the mysterious person who installs and maintains these flags, they would have them replaced in time for the July 4th holiday.

To satisfy my curiosity, and see how well I know the goings-on in Hubbard Park, I took a quick bike ride to the walkbridge on July 4th to see if I was right.

What does this tell ya? Both flags were present.

Filled with smugness at being right, I turned around and rode home.

Saturday's equatorial heat and humidity  would not make for an enjoyable hike, so I made the wise decision to choose Sunday instead, where lower temps and humidity would hopefully make things more tolerable.

And as promised from last week (I just KNOW you were dying to see this sequel!) I returned with my boltcutters to remove the lock hanging from the fencing on the I-691 walkbridge, so I could add it to last week's collection.

Done on the walkbridge, I hiked over to the parking area on West Main Street adjacent to Belmont Avenue, and found the car bumper part. Being lightweight despite its size, I was able to carry it with me back to the park rather than ask the parks department to pick it up.

I returned to the park proper and and cleaned up the parking area in the northwest corner of Mirror Lake. I managed to fill up two trash bags and was ready to carry everything back to the trash cans, when I spotted two young summer parks employees with an ATV picking up trash around Mirror Lake. From a distance, they saw me and knew exactly what I needed, and drove over and took the bags and the bumper from me. I wanted to weigh everything as is my custom, but my scale was misbehaving, so I gave up and just let them take the trash.

Returning to the trail, I found this tree which was maliciously bent over. I could not remove it from the trail so I'll have to return next week with a saw.

I returned to the parking lot with my last bag of litter and finished for the day, before the temps and humidity would become an issue.