Where Did (Fill In The Blank) Go?

 One holiday down, and one to go, then it's "arrivederci!" to 2020.

Visit #1284, Saturday 26 December 20, 9:10AM-1:25PM, 5.5 miles, 12.0lbs. of litter.

Temps in the low 30's, with a sharp breeze.

In compiling the stats for 2020, it was nice to review the blog posts and reminisce about the warmer months gone by!

And here are the numbers for 2020:

Miles hiked: 219.9

Litter collected: 560.7 lbs.

A few weeks ago I asked a hiker exiting the trail along the ridgeline of Merimere Reservoir if there were any downed limbs or trees on that trail. Only one came to his mind.

I armed myself with the chainsaw this week to remove whatever it was. What could possibly go wrong?

Last week's dumping of 12" of snow disappeared in merely days as unseasonably warm temps and heavy rain washed most of it away. And that snow and rain made its way to Merimere Reservoir with haste. I managed to keep my feet dry crossing the brook to the trailhead.

I quickly encountered the first fallen tree, but it wasn't the tree described by the hiker. It was dispatched with ease. That's Merimere Reservoir in the background, as I climb the ridgeline.

From there, the fallen trees and limbs just kept coming. Instead of merely removing what the hiker mentioned, I went through an entire tank of gas running my chainsaw to clear the trail.

Here are the Before and After photos.

These hanging branches would have better been trimmed with my loppers, but all I had was my chainsaw. You know what they say, "when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail".

I took time away from the chainsaw to enjoy the view of the reservoir and Miner's Island.

This is what your boxers would look like if you stuck them in the freezer, which is of course what all guys do to keep their boxers fresh. From what I can tell, the tartan below signifies the Scottish "Hanes" clan, the only clan known to possess underwear beneath their kilts.

Just prior to reaching Castle Craig, I headed down the Orange Trail, only to encounter the biggest obstacle of the day. The trail went underneath the tree's arch. It didn't look too safe to me.

The trail was steep, the footing unsure, and how the tree might react to cutting questionable. Not to mention I was low on fuel. It took time, and I kept having to stop for the parade of hikers that materialized out of nowhere. Why weren't they home staring at their screens or playing with their Christmas gifts?!

But we got it done. Those are all the cut branches in the background.

Further down the trail, I found another finial from the flagpole. I know there have been at least a couple flagpoles at different times at Castle Craig. 

 I couldn't get off the slope without squeezing enough gas from my chainsaw for one more tree. Here it is in mid-removal.

I hiked the trails down and behind the water tank. As I was passing, I decided to check on the backside of the water tank to see if any graffiti has appeared since the Meriden Water Department covered over the last edition. It's barely been a month, and there's new graffiti. "JK" has tagged Hubbard Park before, as far back as April 2015.

While checking out the graffiti, I looked down and spied yet another of the many painted rocks I find.

Returning to the parking lot, I dropped off my last bag of litter for 2020.

While packing up for the day, I see the new kiosk has been populated with a trail map and other useful information.