Transformer

Visit #1260, Saturday 25 July 20, 7:00-9:50AM, 3.0 miles, 4.6lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 70's, climbing into the 90's today, with very high humidity. Sunny.

This week I played "Transformer", changing from mild-mannered hiker in disguise to special purpose machine when my task changed.

Of course, I arrived at Hubbard Park as a mild-mannered hiker. I transformed into a chainsaw wielding trail blazer, heading out to clear a fallen tree I discovered last week on the trail behind the water tank.

Immediately after starting out, I found what looked like new graffiti on a tree.

Fortunately, I was set straight by a passing Hubbard Park regular who said people were out in force earlier in the week, re-marking the trails. They also told me the group was picking up litter, so I didn't expect to find much this week.

Further up the Soap Box Derby trail, I came upon another new trail marker. This was beginning to look good. Unfortunately, my travels today would not permit me to examine more of the trails to see the quality of the job.

I shortly reached my tree.

This was a quick and easy job.

The cut tree in the background-I removed that in September 2011. That was a much larger job.

I made the short walk back to my van and transformed into my next machine.

The approach to the same trail that led me to the fallen tree goes up a steep hillside, which for decades has been littered with glass. As the trail erodes it exposes more glass. Roughly once a year I try to clear the trail. In the past I would bag the dirt and glass and cart it away. This year I decided to rake and shovel it off-trail.

Surprisingly, just prior to reaching the trail, I met a woman walking her dog and she complained of the glass on the trail which prohibited her from walking her dog on that trail. She was thrilled to hear I would be trying to clean it up today. The work took roughly 30 minutes. It will be interesting to see if this work needs to be repeated next year.

I returned to my van for a second time and transformed back into mild-mannered hiker, albeit with my constant companions the hedge clippers and loppers. I canvassed the trails on the south side of I-691, picking up litter and trail trimming as necessary, mostly thorn bushes.

At the walkbridge over I-691 I found another new trail marker.

I then started finding "trail markers" which I considered less than professional, such as this one. Clearly, the group performing the work was neither experienced nor considerate of maintaining the natural beauty of the trails.

Returning to my van yet again, I transformed from mild-mannered hiker into Map Repairman.

In February of 2020, I labeled the map board in the parking lot with the significant landmarks. At the time, I used a removable adhesive. Sticky fingers recently removed two of the labels. I replaced the labels using silicone adhesive.

I transformed back from Map Repairman to mild-mannered hiker and dropped off my litter.

Following the Evidence

Despite the high temps and humidity, it was a good degree cooler and drier on the shaded trails.

Bugs weren't an issue either.

Visit #1259, Saturday 18 July 20, 6:40-9:50AM, 5.1 miles, 7.2lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 70's and climbing to 90 today, very high humidity.

Last week I found graffiti on the Halfway House which needed attention, and the trail leading directly up to Castle Craig was narrowed and overgrown, so today I would trim it back.

In the past I've commented on the number of empty water bottles I find on the trails. In fact, I once devoted an entire blog post to the issue.

With the ongoing Covid-19 work and school restrictions, I noticed a significant increase in the number of discarded water bottles on the trail.  This week I decided to photograph every bottle I found. You count 'em; see if the number makes an impression on you. It's been like this every week since the Covid-19 shutdown began and people started flocking to Hubbard Park to alleviate stay-at-home pressures. And I don't cover every trail each time I hike, so I'm sure there are more bottles out there.

People actually pay upwards of $1/bottle for this stuff, when my faucet mounted water filter will provide the same great tasting water at roughly 1.33 cents per bottle. And don't forget the 5 cents they tossed away with the bottle. Am I missing something?

Now that we have THAT out of the way...

Hiking up toward the Halfway House, I found a newly fallen tree on the trail behind the water tank.

I'll remove it from the trail next week.

Before I began work on the graffiti at the Halfway House, I found Painted Rock #25.

To reach the graffiti, I had to stand on the stone wall. I used brown spray paint to cover it, although I apparently forgot to take an After photo here.

Now, this second piece of graffiti at the Halfway House was higher up, and difficult for me to reach. After thinking about it for a couple days, I came up with a home brew solution.

But before I show my solution, a little background on this graffiti tag.

It first appeared on my radar in May 2020. Earlier this week, I noticed the same tag elsewhere in Meriden, on West Main Street roughly adjacent to each other.

So they are a versatile graffiti artist (I use that term VERY loosely); they work in both spray paint and crayon/grease pencil/whatever. I was concerned the spray paint would not adhere to whatever was used at the Halfway House. And I had to be able to reach it.

I took a length of wood and glued a sponge to it.

I then glued a piece of 100 grit sandpaper to the sponge.

With this widget I was able to sand the markings prior to paint. Done.

I used the rest of my can of spray paint covering over various other eyesores on the Halfway House, including graffiti Cat #7, first appearing in November 2016.

Just prior to turning onto the trail to take me to Castle Craig, I found Painted Rocks #26 and 27.

On the reverse side of the rock on the right, I found this message:

The author obviously knows me and has a (rock) chip on their shoulder. I can rock that. I must be popular. Here's what Dirty Harry would say to me:

Heading up the steep trail to Castle Craig, I noticed last week the trail needed some attention. I spent some time with hedge clippers and loppers trimming the brush. I couldn't capture the results well on camera, so you'll have to go there and see for yourself.

Reaching Castle Craig, I performed a cursory cleaning of the area, and the parking lot. My reward was finding this full can of Sprite! Yeah, it was bulging and dented but it was still sealed.

I hiked the trails down, collecting litter and cataloging all the water bottles. I was getting hotter and steamier as I walked, and I was glad to finish the day under somewhat sane temperatures.

I dropped off my trash for the week...

...then went home and popped open a cold one. Ahhh...