Sidetracked

Visit #1382, Saturday 27 August 22, 7:35-9:35AM, 3.8 miles, 10.4 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the low 70s, sunny with moderate humidity.

Visit #1383, Sunday 28 August 22, 7:30-8:30AM, mileage and litter n/a.

Temps in the high 60s, cloudy morning with moderate humidity.

 As Dewey Oxburger (John Candy) said in the movie, "Stripes": "Well sir, we were going to this bingo parlor at the YMCA, well one thing led to another, and the instructions got all fouled up." Something similar but not so dramatic happened to me this weekend in Hubbard Park, resulting in a change of route.

I initially planned on heading straight up to Castle Craig but something piqued my interest in the northwest corner of Mirror Lake. After picking up litter in the dirt parking area, my bag was too heavy to carry all that distance up to the castle, so I stuck to the lower trails instead. Castle Craig will have to wait for another week.

While cleaning up the parking area, I learned Hubbard Park has another secret; it's a great place to treat your nail fungus. That should be in all the tourism brochures.

After having been detoured from my original route, I traversed the lower trails, passing the south end of Merimere Reservoir and observing the drop in water level as Connecticut's drought conditions continue.

My unplanned, shortened route left me with spare time so after returning to the park,  I cleaned up the area outside of the playscape and called it a day.

But someone told me I should return to the park and see what I possibly missed. I did just that on Sunday morning, but on my mountain bike so I could get a ride in.

The birch tree so lovingly tagged two week's ago  and erased by me, was re-tagged (and re-erased this week). It will be interesting to see where my fan's infatuation progresses.

While some people have a strange habit of carrying a purple marker just in case they experience a spontaneous need to tag a tree, some compulsive graffiti vandals use other means.

Our new, "Lets (sic) Go Brandon" tagger has reappeared since I cleared them from Hubbard Park just last week. I tried cleaning the tags best effort with the only tool I had. A return visit will be required.

Some graffiti was untouchable-for now. Wait until next week...

Done with the recon' for now, I was left with an enjoyable ride on a trail where I found a newly fallen tree. I put removing that on my To Do List.

Labor Day weekend usually brings with it dry, sunny conditions. I hopefully look forward to enjoying the same this year, and I hope you do, too.