The Fallen

 Everything's fallin', including the leaves.

Visit #1274, Sunday 25 October 20, 6:45-9:30AM, 3.1 miles, 5.4lbs. of litter.

Temps in the low 40's, partly sunny.

The sun hadn't even cracked the eastern hills when I started today's journey. Yes; it was dark. And I was on a special mission. I thought by starting in the dark I wouldn't disturb anyone with my chainsaw, expecting the park to be empty. I was wrong.

I was on-call this week, and semi-tethered to my vehicle in case a service call popped up. But I wanted to remove a fallen tree branch on a trail, very close to the road, up near Castle Craig. I thought if I beat the sunrise and drove up to the spot, I'd also beat the early morning walkers and such. But instead, there were people braving the dark, wearing headlamps and reflective clothing, walking along the road. I even encountered a bicycle rider, all before there was enough daylight to see.

I reached the branch, which was conveniently close to the road.

Almost done.

Done, and the sun is finally showing its bald head.

I drove the short distance to Castle Craig to tend to some minor graffiti I spotted last week on the klieg lights.

I know it's small, but give an inch and they'll eventually take a mile. This was on the inside of the housing. Sandpaper wasn't working that well, so I spray painted over it.

The gray paint matched up well to graffiti on the outside of the housings.

I covered a few other spots and as I was driving away it dawned on my addled brain that I had the time and resources to clean up the parking lot and surrounding area, and I could drive away with the bag of litter, unlike last week. So I turned around and did just that.

Afterwards, I drove down the road and with the chainsaw handy, tended to some unsightly branches on the roadside. Here a just a couple examples:

And this one.

You can see by the number of people in the photo that the road saw quite a bit of pedestrian activity, even at 8AM.

I returned to the parking lot and hiked the trails on the south side of I-691, picking up litter and trimming thorn bushes drooping into the trail.

Next Sunday will be November 1st, and the road to Castle Craig and West Peak will be closed for the season. If the foliage holds up, it will be a scenic, traffic-free walk on the road so get out there if the opportunity presents itself!

Sunrise

 

Sunrise hasn't quite reached the lower elevations of Hubbard Park.

Visit #1273, Sunday 18 October 20, 7:10-9:45AM, 4.7miles, 19.0 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 30's, quickly rising to the 50's, sunny.

Later sunrises and cooler morning temperatures result in a quieter Hubbard Park at that time of day.

During last week's venture up to Castle Craig I noticed graffiti inside the castle, on the stairway. 

This week I brought the tools to clean things up.

Enroute, as I gained elevation, I would catch glimpses of the sun as it rose in the east. It felt warm, and brought out the fall colors.

 

Reaching Castle Craig, I arrived at my work site.

 

I laid out my supplies for the work. First I used sandpaper, then Goof-Off, and last, lacquer thinner.

Together my method was working but taking longer than I cared for, so I pulled out the big guns and used black spray paint.

 

The paint actually blends in better than the photo would appear. Stop by and see if you agree. I climbed the stairs to the top and touched up other graffiti as I saw necessary.

Incidentally, the haze you see in the center of the photos is the result of scratches on my camera lens. Gotta figure out what I'm going to do about it...

I cleaned up the parking lot and surrounding area and left a bag of trash for later collection by the parks department.

Before leaving, I paused to take in the view south as the sun covered all of Meriden.

I hiked another trail down to Merimere Reservoir, while the morning sun penetrated the deeper woods.

 

Down at Merimere Reservoir,  I see the resident "alligator" is making its appearance due to the low water level.

 

Walking back to the park on the road, I spotted a rock climber (in red) near the top of the cliffs. See if you can spot the red dot. I sized the picture "original size" to give you some help!

I returned to the park and dropped off my second bag of litter and basked in the sun.

The Smell of Fall

 Crunchy, decaying leaves? Orange, red, and yellow? Yeah; fall is here.

Visit #1272, Sunday 11 October 20, 7:10-9:40AM, 4.1 miles, 17.9lbs. of litter.

Temps in the low 60's, sunny and dry.

The sun is rising later in the morning, resulting in later starts to my weekly jaunts. Can't wait until clocks roll back an hour!

Just like last week, it was remarkably warm for an October morning, and I'm not gonna complain.

From the photo above, you can see I hiked up to Merimere Reservoir, and eventually to Castle Craig.

As I cleaned up the area, I quickly filled up a bag of litter. Due to the light weight of the trash bag and the brisk winds, the bag was turning into a tumbleweed, so I tied it off to the sign.

I opened up another bag and soon, that was filled as well.

I thought that would be the end of it so I began walking on the road away from Castle Craig. But within a hundred yards I filled up a third bag. I turned around and eventually tied it to the other two bags. At the end of October, the road to East/West Peaks will be closed for the season and the areas will get some relief from all the littering.

All work and no play makes Peter a dull boy, so I stopped to enjoy the morning view east toward Middlefield.

The hike back to the parking lot included warm sun and more color.

After I dropped off my last bag of litter, I got the idea to do some "fall cooking", and obviously that should include pumpkin. I went grocery shopping at Big Y on Broad Street in Meriden and picked up this insane pumpkin recipe magazine (found in the magazine aisle). I'm ready and smelling fall in my kitchen...

Fall Scenery

Sunday morning started lookin' good, and only got better.

Visit #1271, Sunday 4 October 20, 7:25-10:15AM, 5.2 miles, 17.4lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 40's, quickly rising throught the 50's, sunny and dry.

The morning started off chilly, but within minutes I warmed up enough to take off my fleece. I was shocked to start dripping sweat off my hat with temps still in the 40-50 degree range, but I knew that meant enjoyable hiking weather.

Talking to a regular reader of my blog recently, he remarked that I hadn't posted any photos of condoms I find, in quite some time. That's because I hadn't found any. Well, this week ended the drought.

Here ya' go, Mike! Aren't you glad he asked?

During last week's hike, I found a polyester filled blanket abandoned near one of the fireplaces around Mirror Lake. At the time, I spied the Meriden Parks crew cleaning up the grounds and assumed they would pick it up. They did not, and when I saw it still in place this morning, I decided to walk it over to the nearest trash can.

I continued on, up and over I-691.

You may recall from reading this blog that I kept an eye on the flags which adorned the walkbridge over I-691. I would remove them when they became unserviceable. I had been finding these flags since May 2012 (the article mentions he had been installing the flags for the past 5-6 years. My records show much longer.), yet never knew or saw the person who installed them. 

I'm excited to report the mystery has been solved, courtesy of the Meriden Record Journal. I couldn't link to the article; I hope you can still read it despite the small print.

I hiked up to West Peak, where I was paid handsomely for my effort.

I was also rewarded with the view.

I cleaned up the West Peak area and the parking lot, and left a bag of litter for the Meriden Parks Department to collect later.

I picked up another trail, heading down toward Merimere Reservoir. The trail was peaceful and autumn-looking.

At the trail's end, I followed the road around Merimere Reservoir. One reason I chose this route this week was because I wanted to address some previously discovered graffiti on a gate at the north end of the reservoir. I totally forgot about it until I walked past it. I did an about-face.

I used sandpaper to start the removal process, then finished the job with Goof-Off and toothbrush muscle.

This is the third nip bottle flower arrangement I've found since September.

Walking south along the road, I noticed some Christmas ornaments on the tree at Echo Point that had not been removed from previous years. Expect to see the tree redecorated for 2020, sometime in December.

I returned to the park in gloriously warm sunshine to drop off my last bag of litter.

A dry summer usually indicates poor fall foliage. From what I saw on my hike today, I have to disagree. Now's the time to get out there on the trails!