Calm Before The Storm

 Visit #1290, Sunday 31 January 21, 11:50AM-2:00PM, 3.0 miles, 8.0lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 20's and cloudy, in advance of a snowstorm beginning tonight.

During last week's walk along the road around Merimere Reservoir, I noticed that while the holiday decorations had been removed from the "Echo Point Christmas Tree", the adjoining Christmas wreath lingered, far beyond any etiquette.

These rules of etiquette say by the 12th Day of Christmas, or around the 5th or 6th of January, you should remove your decorations or risk bad luck. Well, too late for someone... I removed it.

Since I was on-call, I wasn't straying far and wide, so after bagging the wreath I turned around and returned to the park. Being on a short leash, I decided to walk all the paths and parking lots in Hubbard Park and pick up litter. After recently reading the just-published Images of America: Hubbard Park, I looked at all the points of interest with a sincere, heightened knowledge and appreciation.

Coincidentally, as I neared the entrance of Hubbard Park near Mirror Lake, I found a second wreath, although this was the classic Memorial Wreath Decorated With Alcohol. The wreath originally hung on the pole.

I walked around Mirror Lake, dropped off my litter for the week, and calmly went home to plug in my shovel prior to the impending snowfall.

The Bernie Jurale Tradition Run, My Edition

 

It was a cold day on Sunday, as evidenced by the ice forming on Merimere Reservoir. A perfect day to hold the Bernie Jurale Tradition Run.

Visit #1289, Sunday 24 January 21, 10:05AM-12:30PM, 5.1 miles, 18.7lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 20's with a nasty cold wind.

The Bernie Jurale Tradition Run is held every January about this week, weather be damned. Covid-19 put a cancel stamp on what would have been the 52nd edition. I decided to keep the tradition alive my own way, and walk the road up to Castle Craig, collecting litter along the way.

From what I observed, I get the feeling I wasn't the only upholding the tradition on this day. In the parking lot, I noticed several of these stickers on cars:

The sticker SAYS IT ALL . But from what I've learned from some runners, it's sorta okay to run at least 5k on your own in a town that doesn't host an event. Anyway, from the number of stickers I spied in the parking lot, the number of runners that passed by today, and some of the large groups walking up the road, I'd say I wasn't the only one trying to keep the Tradition Run alive. In fact, last week I encountered a group doing expressly that, so I'd say Bernie is smiling down appreciatively at us all.

And the conditions were worthy of the Tradition Run; it was nasty cold and the wind was a sharp slap in the face. Conditions temporarily improved once past the north end of Merimere Reservoir, in the treed shelter of the climb.

The classic method of testing the ice thickness, toss a rock and see if it breaks the ice.

It took me just over an hour to reach Castle Craig, where I had an objective: People toss their trash over the surrounding wall and for some time I wanted to clean up the area as I'd spied some large items there.

There be the wall.

Here be what I collected. There's actually a tent there, too.

Hiking back to the parking lot, I found this miniature Polariod (said so on the back!) photo of East Peak and Castle Craig. People still take Polaroids? Is this a trend I don't know about?

I dropped of my bag of trash and found my car sun-baked warm inside. Yum.

In early January it was announced that a local teacher had published a book on Hubbard Park. I jumped on the opportunity and pre-publication ordered several copies. They arrived this week.

I think this is a landmark book that was long overdue. The many historic photos and well-written text take you back in time, providing all the background and answering all the questions you ever had. I can't say enough good things about it; this is THE historical reference on Hubbard Park. Get your copy HERE.

Avoiding Catastrophe

In the far distance (is that redundant?!), some hikers walk the road down from East/West Peak. The parking lot was packed with people on the trails and elsewhere in Hubbard Park today.

 Visit #1288, Sunday 17 January 21, 10:20AM-12:35PM, 4.5 miles, 15.2lbs. of litter.

Temps in the low 40's, mostly cloudy and very breezy.

Last week I reported the passing of my old computer and my scramble to replace it so that I could publish the blog in a timely fashion.

Things went wonderfully for that first post on the new iMac.

Then the poop went sideways, as they say. I was without a working computer for all of last week as I worked with Apple Tech Support and the people at the Apple Store at West Farms Mall to sort out the problems with my new computer.

Apple Tech Support said my hard drive had failed, while the tech at the Apple Store said he couldn't find anything wrong with my new iMac. I still couldn't recover my old files; blog posts, photos, financial info, the works, despite everything being backed up to another hard drive.

I solved my problem just in time for this week's post, avoiding catastrophe.

While walking was very comfortable for this January day as temps were in the 40's, there was a stiff breeze which made its rule known at higher, exposed elevations.

I reached West Peak and followed the road to the Blue Trail and back down toward the Halfway House.

Crawling through the woods to grab a beer can, I came upon my Find of the Week, this ancient windshield wiper.

Further along the way I found Season of the Missing Glove Entries #9 and 10 (a mitten for all you sticklers for accuracy).

I dropped off my trash for the week and went home to a working computer to complete my blog post.

Head Down, Eyes Up

 A family of hikers walk across the north end of Merimere Reservoir as the sun sets behind all of us.

Visit #1287, Saturday 9 January 21, 2:45-4:10PM, 3.7 miles, 5.2 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the mid-30's, mostly sunny.

After all the recent winds, I had one trail left to inspect for fallen trees and other damage. Since I was starting so late in the day, I chose to park outside the north end of Merimere Reservoir to reach that trail and eliminate the possibility of getting caught out on the trails in the dark.

I expected today would be a pretty dull session, so I would just keep my head down/eyes up and just plug along looking for litter, and maybe the occasional trail debris which might need removing.

Walking along the road to the trail head, I noticed this hemlock had recently fallen across the road. The lower portion of the tree rests on the guardrail and spans the Maloney Canal on the right.

About the only interesting things I ran into on this day were a group of mountain bikers exiting the trail as I approached the trailhead. Later on, I observed them descending one of the illegal mountain bike trails constructed in the park.

And as I started up the trail, I was passed by a group of ATVer's including one motocross biker.

The trail itself was clear of fallen debris and litter. A good thing.

The trail ended at West Peak, and I descended back to Merimere Reservoir via the road, checking for litter as I went.

It was while walking the road back to my car that I came upon my Find of the Week. It literally pays to keep my head down and eyes up!

My lucky find subsidized Saturday's dinner of General Tso's Chicken.

2021-In With a Bang!

 Despite being in the midst of winter, Merimere Reservoir isn't frozen. Temperatures on the New Year's weekend were actually quite comfortable.

Visit #1285, Friday 1 January 21, 9:15AM-12:30PM, 1.6 miles, 83.0lbs. of litter.

Temps in the mid-40's,  partly sunny.

Visit #1286, Sunday 3 January 21, 10:15AM-12:55PM, 4.9 miles, 7.8lbs. of litter.

Temps in the low 30's, cloudy with freezing rain forecast for the evening.

The first bang of 2021 was, I woke up and discovered my computer died; I guess 2020 was a too tough of a year for it. 

As I type this, I have a new computer but I'm still trying to recover missing files and whatnot. I was worried I wouldn't be able to publish this week's post, which I know you would hate to miss!

I took advantage of the New Year's holiday, and distinct lack of any hangover, to perform my annual cleaning of the slope behind the playscape.

Despite signs prohibiting parking along the fence line (due to the pandemic), people still ignored the law, and tossed their litter over the fence. As an aside, all the small pieces of snow you see above are from a snowball fight for which I had a ringside seat!

I navigated around the fence, picked up litter, and dropped the bags over the fence as I filled them.

When I was finished, I gathered the bags in one spot in preparation of schlepping them over to the dumpster. The 83lbs. I collected was the second bang of the new year.

At this point a good samaritan came along, asked what I planned to do with the bags, and offered up his pickup truck to do the schlepping. He didn't have to ask me twice!

Walking back to my car, I noticed one of the posters originally in the new kiosk is now missing, despite having particularly pertinent seasonal information.

While mountain biking on the trails a week prior to New Year's Day, I found a fallen tree on the Green Trail. That's Merimere Reservoir in the background.

I returned to Hubbard Park on Sunday to remove it, and hopefully find other fallen trees so carrying the chainsaw wouldn't be wasted on just one tree.

Near that fallen tree was another one.

I took care of this one as well.

Onward I hiked up to Castle Craig, then followed another trail down toward Merimere Reservoir. Finding a third fallen tree today really made carrying the chainsaw a pleasure today.

 I reached the road and walked back to the park.

The third bang of this new year was the Season of the Missing Glove, 2020/21 entries, all of which I found on Sunday! These are entries 4 through 8.

The last bang is, a Meriden local has published a book about Hubbard Park. I'm certain to grab a couple copies.

 

Here's to another adventurous year!