With Memorial Day weekend in effect, it's time to think of those that died in war.
It wouldn't hurt to watch a war movie either; Clint Eastwood's "Heartbreak Ridge" came to mind.
I titled this week's blog entry "Chainsaw Ridge" because all the trees to be removed from the trail were on the ridge near West Peak.
While I may not be as tough as Gunnery Sgt. Highway, I did carry a chainsaw for five miles. That must count for something, no?!
Visit #1369, Sunday 29 May 22, 7:00-10:00AM, 5.1 miles, 5.2 lbs. of litter. Temps in the high 50's, rising to the 80's, sunny and dry.
I parked north of Merimere Reservoir and walked in. Reaching the gate at the north end of the reservoir, I noticed the lock had been cut.
I'm not sure who is responsible for this gate, the Parks Department or the Water Department. I'll notify Chris Bourdon at the Parks Department and let him take it from there.
Seems to me this gate needs a vandal-resistant lock just similar to the one I suggested be installed at the south end of Merimere Reservoir, back in April 2016. The Parks Department quickly took my advice, and the gate remains secure to this day.
I suggested this style from one I'd seen at West Rock State Park, where I visit occasionally as part of my job.
I took the padlock and left the chain.
Anyway, I walked up the road to West Peak, picking up litter as I went along.
At West Peak, I followed the Blue Trail to the fallen tree.
In the background you can see pieces of another fallen tree I'd removed in January 2018. This time, I came prepared, with a longer chainsaw bar with a more aggressive chain. It took minutes this time, rather than a couple weeks!
Rather than pack up the saw, I carried it, knowing more fallen trees lay ahead.
The next one was merely a leaner.
The last tree was difficult because of the split in the trunk. It was under great compression and kept pinching my chainsaw bar. I was also concerned about how it would fall considering the compression and the split. Safety first!
You can see the Blue Trail marker on the tree.
But when it released, it fell upright, hung up in another tree, off the trail on the left. Works for me!
Done with my work on Chainsaw Ridge, I hiked down and followed the Main Trail east toward the Halfway House. Along the way, I came upon my Find of the Week.
It's a mixture of Native American Indian religion, Jehovah's Witness, and some sort of Mother Earth philosophy. Not only did they bother to post this junk, they made the effort to carry a stapler with them! Yeah; I removed all of it, and the staples too.
Once I reached the road, I walked north around the reservoir and back to my car, while others enjoyed a quiet walk themselves.
Visit #1368, Sunday 22 May 22, 7:00-10:00AM, 4.8 miles, 2.9 lbs. of litter.
Temps in the 70s reaching 90 today. In the midst of a freak, two day mid-spring heatwave. Very humid.
The unusual change in weather was certainly a jolt to the system. It did not affect my plans.
What DID affect my plans was, I was on-call this weekend. I had planned to use my chainsaw to remove a couple fallen trees on the Blue Trail near West Peak, as well as use my chainsaw to continue trimming the roadsides up to East West Peak.
But with a running chainsaw I would not hear my phone if I received a service call. So I ditched the power tools and used only hand tools for trimming. The fallen trees will have to wait until next week.
As I walked around Merimere Reservoir I noticed some new graffiti on the gate at the south end.
This would give me an opportunity to baptize my new graffiti scrub brush! I previously carried a toothbrush but it's proved too small for the jobs I encounter. Move over wimp; here comes the big guy!
I kept finding those F!CK Biden stickers and removed them when found. Today I counted four. Regardless of your political affiliation, they have to go.
Beyond the north end of Merimere Reservoir, I picked up where I left off a couple week's ago. Despite having only hand tools, I felt I made reasonable progress.
Before:
After:
Completing my self-imposed hour of trimming, I walked up the road collecting litter, then hiked my way back to the park, which was looking positively mid-summer to me.
That's your humble author patrolling the trails of Hubbard Park.
Visit #1367, Sunday 15 May 22, 7:15-9:45AM, 4.7 miles, 10.0lbs. of litter.
Temps in the low 60's, very foggy.
While writing this blog entry, I had to look up the origin of the phrase "onward through the fog" which is how I discovered my photo above. The origin of the phrase, you can find HERE. Check out the various links, images, etc.
I didn't expect it to be so foggy this morning. I hadn't hiked in these conditions in a long time.
The daffodils have done their job for this year. Time to pack it in and collect unemployment until next year.
Along the Blue Trail up to West Peak there are two trees down across the trail. I will remove them next week. This one is so large it will require installing the 20" bar on my chainsaw.
Up at West Peak, you were inside the fog bank. The fog was palpable.
I found some new graffiti on the rocks, which I removed.
Looking east toward Meriden from the Halfway House, you were underneath the cloud cover and could see the city. That was quite a contrast from higher up.
I have to go home now and fuel up my chicken for next week's adventure.
A stiff, chilly wind funnels through Merimere Reservoir early Sunday morning.
Visit #1366, Sunday 8 May 22, 6:30-9:40AM, 5.4 miles, 5.0lbs. of litter.
Temps in the low 50s, party sunny with a brisk wind.
One week after the Daffodil Festival and life is returning to normal in Hubbard Park.
The Meriden Parks Department did a commendable job cleaning up after the festivities; If you didn't know it, you wouldn't have thought there was a festival in the park for two consecutive weekends.
I started early because I would be running my chainsaw close to the park and did not want to alarm anyone.
When the Daffodil Festival was running and I was still able to hike the trails, I found this small tree had fallen across a trail close to the daffodils and Mirror Lake. Today I would be able to remove it without raising any eyebrows.
That was only a couple minutes' walk from the parking lot. Done, I turned around and walked around Merimere Reservoir, to continue trimming my roadside trimming project. Except instead of using my polesaw to clear low hanging branches, I would use the chainsaw to clear brush so I could reach the branches on another week.
I picked up where I left off a few weeks ago, at the north end of the reservoir.
This week I made reasonable progress of a couple hundred yards or so. Using the chainsaw instead of my loppers as I did in the past, was a trick I learned from pal Dave, who helped me clear this stretch of road several years ago. This quarter mile needs the most work. I'll tend to it every other week, then return with the pole saw to access those low hanging branches.
I followed the trails down and over the I-691 walkbridge, where I found this sticker.
Of course, I had to look it up when I returned home. Apparently they're trying to capitalize on the soon-to-be legal sale of marijuana in Connecticut. I guess all Cannacticut can sell for now are trinkets and baubles.
But the stuff is already here! After leaving Hubbard Park, I stopped at the Meriden Mall (not realizing they don't open until noon). With my car being one of only two in the entire parking lot, I could smell the distinct, pungent aroma of pot. Really, already stoned at 10AM on a Sunday...?
On the return leg to the park, I stopped to trim one more wayward fallen tree.
Whoever does not like me is persistent, if not deranged. They insulted me a few weeks ago on this stand of birch trees and I removed it.
They returned again this past week. So did I, except this time I used a paint approach.
With the party over, it's time to return to our regularly scheduled of fun.
Want to hike in Hubbard Park but there's no parking due to the Daffodil Festival? I see two options:
1. Take the available shuttle buses, go for a hike, enjoy some festival food, then shuttle bus your now, fatter self back to your car.
2. Park elsewhere such as north of Hubbard Park, in Berlin, and walk in.
On Saturday morning, I chose the latter.
With the festival on, even the normal early bird walkers were missing in Hubbard Park, so the road around Merimere Reservoir was all to myself. I walked the length of the reservoir, then turned onto the trails at the south end.
I had received a report of someone cutting away some trees blocking a trail illegally made by ATVers many years ago. I had deliberately not maintained this short trail hoping it would grow back in. In those years several trees had fallen across it, beginning the natural restoration. This weekend I would try to restart the process. Hopefully the illegal trail builders will give up.
It's the best I could do with what I had on-hand. This work consumed too much of my time so I couldn't do a proper job. I'll keep an eye on it and may return to improve on my work.
Further up the Green Trail I came upon my Find of the Week.
A two quart, stainless steel mixing bowl, with no campsite to be found. Huh?
At the Halfway House, I found this t-shirt commemorating a running event. I will say that while working on the trees above, I saw a group of young runners with their leader go by. They didn't see me. I wondered whether the t-shirt was left by one in the group and they intended to return for it. We'll never know. I'll wash the shirt and bring it to Goodwill, where the runner may find it if they're lucky...
Hiking up toward Castle Craig, I found a traffic cone far below, surely tossed by someone studying the effects of gravity on traffic cones.
I doubt this belongs to a cross country runner, nor that Goodwill could resell it, so I carried it up to Castle Craig for the parks department to hopefully recover before Isaac Newton gets his hands on it again.
My reward for climbing up was the early morning view as I hiked the Blue Trail toward the north end of Merimere Reservoir.
I managed to sneak back out of Hubbard Park before the Daffodil Festival had even opened for the day.
