Sneaky Moves, Week One

 

Arrive at Hubbard Park early enough (and leave!) during the first week of the Daffodil Festival and you'll be able to find parking.

Visit #1530, Sunday 27 April 25, 5:55-8:15AM, 5.7 miles, 3.0 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the upper 40s, partly cloudy with a chill breeze, but fine if you're hiking- or running.

During the first week of the festival if you park around Mirror Lake, or almost anywhere else for that matter, you'll have a hard time finding a spot and/or leaving. The trick this seasoned veteran has learned is to arrive early and park at the skate house.

As I walked past Mirror Lake I couldn't help but notice the absence of Canada Geese.

Then I noticed this unique, and clearly effective method to tell the geese to take their poop elsewhere while the festival was on.

The dog tag refers to the web site for these decoy german shepherds. I'd say that's quite observant of whoever was in charge of addressing the geese problem.

Walking up the road around Merimere Reservoir I was quickly collecting a bag of litter so I left it at the water treatment plant and opened another one.

As I was climbing a steep slope to retrieve a wayward beer can I heard a vehicle on the road around the reservoir. Knowing the road was closed to traffic, I wondered who it might be.

Seeing the sign they installed just up the road I figured out there was a running race this morning in conjunction with the festival. Then I went back to my opening thought-it sure was going to be hard for the runners to find parking!

I hiked up a trail which led me to the road just shy of Castle Craig. Where the Blue Trail nears the road then turns hard right, I found a fallen tree across the trail which I couldn't move unless I gave it a trim.

Once I cut off the tangle of branches I was able to pull it away from the trail.

But my loppers would be no match for the next fallen tree I found.

Which means next week will be a Power Tool Weekend®!

By the way, it says "FATE" on the tree.

It was about this location I began seeing ATV tire tracks and these unusual trail markings.

It was only as I returned to the park that I discovered what I presume explains the trail markings.

My guess is, the Meriden Fire Department was holding some sort of ATV operators' course. I hope they already held class because I scrubbed the markings on the trails!

Passing by the outbuilding near the two retention ponds, I noticed some graffiti on the door.

I removed it best effort with my magic elixir, then washed down the door with water from my waterbottle, which is why it looks a mess now but it will clear.

On the return trip past the water treatment plant I picked up my first trash bag so it would not be an eyesore for the runners. 

Next week's hike with the chainsaw to remove the tree above will be a long hike, and will require another sneaky move.

All Caught Up

 

Spectacular clouds over Meriden early Saturday morning. Looking toward South Mountain.

Visit #1529, Saturday 19 April 25, 5:55-8:20AM, 5.0 miles, 5.6 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 50s reaching the 70s today, an unusually warm April day.

Finally, today I would be inspecting the last trail for downed trees and branches after the late February ice storm. I get chilly just looking at the photos from that blog post.

As I hiked around Merimere Reservoir I found some other flowers trying to compete with the daffodils within the park. I'm always rooting for the underdog.

There was quite a wind pushing that warm air in from the south, as evidenced by the choppy water on Merimere Reservoir.

The wind was so strong it turned my trash bag into a balloon and I had to hang on tight or fear losing it.

The flag at Castle Craig would back me up on this.

At the north end of the reservoir, this sticker on this sign came to my attention last week but it wasn't coming off without a fight. So this week, I applied boiling water to soften the adhesive and removing it was a pleasure. My next challenge will be to try and remove the black paint. Stay tuned.

Up on the ridgeline Blue Trail, I found a letterbox that wasn't particularly well hidden. I corrected that after I inspected the contents.

While this letterbox did have more recent visitors, I merely turned to a random page to read the contents.

Down on the trails below Castle Craig, I found this child's thermal t-shirt. It will make a good shop rag.

I've found and removed so many stickers from this particular fence post on the walkbridge over I-691 that I've decided to keep a running tally. These would be numbers 15 and 16.

As I returned to the park, I cleaned up the dirt parking area around the northwest perimeter of Mirror Lake.

As I pursued a piece of litter which was fifteen feet or so into the woods, I found THIS.

YEAH BUDDY, HAPPY EASTER TO ME!

And Happy Easter to you.

Return of the Chainsaw II

 Picking up where I left off last week.

Visit #1528, Sunday 13 April 25, 6:00-8:50AM, 6.5 miles, 18.4 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the low 40s, lingering showers to start, then cloudy.

Determined to catch up on ice storm damage from many weeks ago, I saddled up the chainsaw for at least the third consecutive week.

I started at the crack of dawn so hopefully I would arrive home in time to watch the King of the Classics bicycle race, Paris-Roubaix. 150 miles, and twenty-six sections of cobblestones the size of your head that will detach your retinas, this year's edition was expected to be a brawl between two favorites, Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogacar, former and current world road champion respectively.

You can watch the action below by clicking on the "Watch on Youtube" link-skip the first 3:05 and jump into the good stuff.

I walked around Merimere Reservoir in the gloom of gray skies and a stiff, raw wind.

I picked up these two bolts, one old and one new, which were leftovers from the recent guardrail replacement and which someone left on the concrete blocks.

I hiked almost all the way to West Peak before reaching the fallen branch I intended to remove last week. It was a lot of distance for just one branch, but I'm not complaining-it was a workout worth every step.

I reached the road and intended to hike down another trail I hadn't yet inspected for storm damage. But along came a trail runner whom I asked about that trail and whether there was anything that needed removing. She said it was all clear which gave me the green light to walk down via the road instead.

Good thing too, because along the way I found a pair of the shock absorbent blocks used on the new guardrail. I'm not sure if they were forgotten or tossed, but I wasn't going to leave them there. Due to their shape I was able to slip them over my chainsaw bar versus carrying them by hand. They added over twelve pounds to my already heavy backpack but hey; it's just more of a workout, right?

The Maloney Canal was flowing like nobody's business after the recent rains.

And I finished in time to watch Paris Roubaix.

Maybe Next Week

 

Visit #1527, Saturday 5 April 25, 7:30-9:45AM, 5.0 miles, 5.0 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 40s, overcast with possible showers.

I'm still cleaning up after the late February ice storm. There were two trails at the far north end of Hubbard Park which were on my agenda today.

Walking up the road around Merimere Reservoir I found two of these painted rocks.

One of them drowned.

As I walked around the gate at the Maloney Canal, I see that my padlock, installed in January, is STILL in place.

I started up the trail, clearing any fallen trees or branches. Ooops; no After photo for the first one.

I was about as far away from the parking lot as you could get, when...

...I had to leave for an after hours service call. Which is why the dearth of photos of all the debris further up the trail.

Next week I won't be encumbered by service call duties so, weather permitting I'll be able to accomplish something.