Break Out The Shoes

 

Conditions for snowshoeing on the trails or ice skating on Mirror Lake were just right on Saturday morning.

Visit #1293, Saturday 20 February 21, 8:10-10:55AM, 6.3miles, 0.5lbs. of litter.

Temps in the low 30's, sunny and breezy.

A lengthy, light snow fell over Meriden in the course of 36 hours from Thursday through Friday. With an early start and some snowshoes, I could enjoy the trails, so I set off early.

Hiking west toward the walkbridge over I-691, I found new meaning for, "nailing yourself to a cross".

I hiked up the Blue Trail toward West Peak, through the "Valley of the Shadow of Death". Yes; it's as steep as it looks.

At West Peak I took in the view east toward Berlin and Cromwell. From the icing on the branches you can tell there were high winds here.

The parking area was plowed to provide access to the radio towers. With my snowshoes, I avoided the parking lot and bushwhacked through the woods.

I snowshoed off-trail, all the way down to the bottom of the road climb to East/West Peak. It was 9:30AM and you can see many people had already hiked up to the peaks. I switched from snowshoes to crampons for the walk back on the mostly unplowed road.

Someone braved the ice on Merimere Reservoir and built a snowman, who will continue to wave at passersby until spring.

I returned to the parking lot, dropped off my gear, and walked the roads around Hubbard Park picking up litter. Stopping at the Grecian Temple, I found these discarded wedding decorations-or so I thought...

I was going to drag them to the dumpster at the parks maintenance building but while they were lightweight they were clumsy, and I'd likely shed the decorations as I went. So I left them and headed to the garage empty-handed to see if I could get some assistance from a parks employee, who I saw on duty earlier.

When I couldn't find anyone, I decided I'd suck it up and remove them myself. Good thing I didn't do that first time for when I returned, someone was apparently setting up for a wedding ceremony and these were part of the soon-to-occur event!

I finished my loops of the park and deposited my trash for the week, but not before enjoying a winter view of Castle Craig.