History

The "alligator" in Merimere Reservoir is visible; the water level is low.

Visit #1211, Saturday 14 September 19, 10:15AM-12:45PM, mileage and trash n/a.
Temps in the 60's, cloudy with showers threatening in the afternoon.

Visit #1212, Sunday 15 September 19, 8:20-10:45AM, 4.3 miles, 9.1lbs. of trash.
Temps in the mid-60's, sunny and dry.

I entered Hubbard Park today to reroute the trail around the tree which I discovered last week had fallen over the trail close to I-691.

Removing the leaning tree was out of the question so I had to think of an alternative. The alternative was to reroute the trail AROUND the tree, but there was another leaning tree in my way. Let's see how this worked out.

I came armed with a quiver of weapons. I wound up breaking the "Craigslist Bargain" orange handled rake. That explains why there was so much electrical tape on it.

I raked a partial path and used the comealong to remove one fallen tree lying in the way of the new route.

I didn't bring my chainsaw because I thought felling the smaller leaning tree would be dangerous. So, I hooked the comealong onto it as well. The bottom ten feet of the tree broke off and fell spectacularly. Then I winched it to the side of the new trail.

That left a "widowmaker" hung up in the tree, but it's not a danger to any hikers.

I dug up the roots of any bushes, and raked the area smooth. On Sunday, in sunny weather, I returned to admire my work. Years from now, when I'm dead and gone, people may wonder when that tree fell and who cleared a path around it. I kind of feel I will have become part of the history of the trails in Hubbard Park.

By the way, I plan on piling more brush under the leaning tree to persuade hikers to use the new path. But if that leaner ever drops I'll probably try to restore the original route.

Roughly a week ago I received an e-mail from someone inquiring about the possible whereabouts of a beehive fountain in Hubbard Park other than the well known fountain on the main trail below West Peak. He was able to provide a very old photo of what he thinks is the fountain in question.

Cool, huh? Well, by myself I wasn't going to solve this mystery, so I enlisted the help of a friend who does a lot of off-trail adventuring in Hubbard Park and together we came up with a pretty good explanation.

The slope of the dirt road, its straightness, the slope of the hill behind the fountain, and the shape of the rocks comprising the fountain all lead us to believe the fountain was located HERE, on Percival Park Road:

Somewhere along this stretch of pavement leading up to the south end of Merimere Reservoir is where we think the fountain was located.

The next clue is, there is a perpetual spring running just off the right side of the photo, which possibly fed the fountain. That's not just a puddle but year 'round running water.

Of course, with the construction of I-691 in the 60's, the terrain underneath the overpasses was significantly changed. One has to wonder, if you waited until the foliage died and did some scrounging around, would you find any of the original stone or the fountain itself?

Walk further up the road and you'll encounter this stone wall with blocks that have a much similar, sharp-edged shape to those of the old fountain.

If not near the puddle, we think the fountain was located somewhere between there and roughly the stone wall above. All the stone used in the fountain had to be what could be had lying around.

Here's a photo from Sunday of the familiar beehive fountain; note the different, smooth round stones used here.

An interesting part of the history of Hubbard Park.

After briefly investigating the area of where the fountain might have been located, I walked the road around Merimere Reservoir and up toward the peaks, taking the trails down and over I-691 and back to the park.