Foliage Views

 

This week's post will be interspersed with foliage photos because things are lookin' pretty colorful.

Visit #1334. Sunday 24 October 21, 7:00-10:30AM, 6.6 miles, 16.1 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the high 40's to start, rising to near 60, sunny.

This week I headed up to West Peak as I had not been there recently.

Earlier this month, I found some grease pencil graffiti on the I-691 walkbridge, which I removed.

Last week, I found the same grease pencil graffiti closer to the park, on the I-691 underpass. I had tried removing it with Goo Gone, and sandpaper, but neither was effective on the concrete.

This week I brought out the toxic stuff. It takes no prisoners. It even removed the gray paint I used on older graffiti.

Reaching West Peak via the trails and the road from Castle Craig, I paused to enjoy the morning views.

What the photos don't show is, as I sat down, I spotted a low traveling hot-air balloon moving east-to-west across Meriden (left to right in the first photo). I was hoping to catch a photo of it as it passed below me toward Cheshire, but instead the balloon landed where I would guess was roughly at Ceppa Field.

As I returned to the parking lot this flock of geese sensed my presence from quite a distance and turned as a group away from my path. I was surprised they were aware of my approach from so far away.

And yes; when geese are on the ground they're called a "flock". If they're flying, they're a "skein". If they're on the water they're a "gaggle".  If they're in your yard they're a "turd factory".

I dropped off my first bag of litter...

...but I had about an hour to kill before the Halloween store at the Townline Plaza opened. Rather than stare blankly at a smartphone like most Americans (if I owned one!), I opened another trash bag and wandered about the park picking up litter to pass the time. Thus I accrued a second bag of litter.

Next week will be the last week of the year the road to Castle Craig and West Peak will be open to cars. So peel your eyes away from your own phone and drive up to the peaks and enjoy the foliage.