Return/Revisit

 

The view west toward Cheshire/the West Johnson Avenue area, from the Blue Trail up to West Peak.

Visit #1544, Saturday 26 July 25, 8:05-10:30AM, 5.2 miles, 7.7 lbs. of litter. 

Last week I found and painted over some graffiti I found on the perimeter wall of the Lower Pond.

I reported then I wasn't satisfied with the job. On Saturday I returned to the site to touch up the paint and make it look a bit more orderly. Well, I forgot to take a photo so I parked by the playscape vowing to return after my hike and do so.

Checking on the progress of my weedkiller application on the I-691 walkbridge after two weeks I was pleasantly surprised.

Hiking up the Blue Trail to West Peak, I found even more wild raspberry bushes than I found last week. I should taste some next week.

Up at West Peak I discovered some new graffiti. Looks like a memorial to someone. It's hard to read but from what I can gather the deceased died at 27 years old and was nicknamed "Bri". I did some searching and came to no solid conclusion. I will cover over it next week, as I've done before there. It's not the first time I have encountered such tributes, one one which was for a woman who committed suicide in Hubbard Park.

Find of the Week. Brings new meaning to "the shoe's on the other foot".

Walking on the road back to the park I see the fire department has spruced up this fire hydrant.

And then I moved on to photograph MY spruced up paint job.

This looks more orderly than what I did last week.

If I get blowback on this I have another approach to remove my work as well as the graffiti underneath. 

Inspection

 

East Peak on a low humidity summer morning. You can tell by the lack of haze in the photo. But the humidity is forecast to rise to stupid levels today through Sunday.

Visit #1543, Saturday 19 July 25, 6:05-9:05AM, 6.8 miles, 2.1 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the upper 60s, rising into the 80s with rising humidity that would even flatten Rod Stewart's hair.

I arrived in Hubbard Park early to beat the predicted rise in humidity and to enjoy the cooler temps of the day. I certainly didn't have to worry about it flattening MY hair, because I don't have any!

By the way, if you want to find out how Rod got and maintains his signature hair style, he devotes an entire chapter of his 2012 autobiography, "Rod" to the subject. I just finished it myself. Quite the honest, no-holds barred telling. Worth it.

I was greeted by a newly striped parking lot. Looks good.

I've found money before in Hubbard Park so I wasn't surprised when I found two bucks on the trail.

Gotcha!

At the top of the trail I found the telephone poles rolled back and I can tell by the tire tracks someone tried to drive down the trail. I replaced the displaced pole best effort.

The sign at the fork to East/West Peak was getting overtaken by brush and pretty soon people would have a legitimate excuse when they said "I didn't see the sign". Let's fix that.

Hiking down, I found some graffiti which needed attention. Simple and quick.

On this same trail is a stretch of wild raspberry bushes. Yet another treat to be found in Hubbard Park.

I later saw a hiker picking some.

Last week I said I would contact the Meriden Parks Department and ask they mow the area around the Halfway House. When I did so I received a reply from Director Chris Bourdon-coincidentally it was on their schedule for the very next day! And what a fine job they did.

On another trail I found what I believe is called a "sky lantern" hanging from this broken tree. This one appears to be a memorial to someone.

Back at the park, I checked to see if there was any progress on the walkbridge near the Lower Pond. There was; this past week the foundation walls were poured.

As I walked around the Lower Pond I stumbled upon some new graffiti. Hmmm; what to do?

Planning on a mountain bike ride early Sunday morning to avoid the heat and humidity, I packed up some gear and rode to Hubbard Park to address this and then hit the trails.

The wire brush wouldn't begin to touch it so I applied the lacquer thinner, the scrub brush, and elbow grease.

I was hoping for better results. Good thing I brought Plan B.

Not bad, but gray paint may have been more appropriate and there's a lack of feng shui. I may treat this again to "bring in more harmony". 😉

My plans to ride the trails in Hubbard Park were nixed when I reached the south end of Merimere Reservoir.

I found these two dumped fishing poles so I carried them back to the park and dropped them into a trash bin. I then changed my mountain bike ride plans to a road ride to end my Sunday morning.

Was It Something I Said?

Visit #1542, Sunday 13 July 25, 5:55-9:20AM, 3.9 miles, 5.5 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the low 70s, overcast, mildly humid, yet pleasant.

I hiked over to the walkbridge over I-691 to check on the results of the weedkiller I applied last week.

Not bad, but as you can see I brought another bottle just in case and gave everything a second round application.

Good thing I decided to take the walkbridge as I found some new graffiti...

...which I promptly removed.

Because of the time taken to remove the graffiti, I had to shorten my originally planned route. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

As I hiked this shortened route I stumbled upon this hidden trail obviously made by the same person who made this one, as I found a number of similar tchotchkes hanging from the trees on this trail.

(Interesting side note: To ensure I spelled "tchotchkes" correctly, I consulted my American Heritage Dictionary and my Roget's Thesaurus and couldn't find the word in neither reference! I had to resort to the internet. 😞)

Well now, let's see what's on that card...

Is that card supposed to be FROM me or TO me?!

It was while documenting and removing all that junk from the trees on that trail that a doe and her fawn sauntered by. We watched each other for five minutes before they went about their way.

I think it's time for the Halfway House to have a mid-season mowing.  I'll make the suggestion to the right people and see what happens.

Just past the Halfway House was a bent tree leaning into the trail, which I removed.

But it was while I rode my bike up West Main Street past Hubbard Park last week that something caught my eye.

I've noted more than once in this blog that this walkbridge is in need of a refurb. I can only fantasize that my words reached the right eyeballs and resulted in what may be a worthy restoration. I'll keep an eye on it.

As a show of support for the project I picked up litter on the way to and from the spot as I ended my hike, picking up this discarded baby jogger frame along the way. Fortunately a weekend employee was nearby at the pool and I was able to toss it (the baby jogger, not the pool) in the back of his cart.

One thing I did  notice while walking across the park was how perfect and weed-free the lawn around the bandshell was; not a cloverleaf or dandelion to be seen! If you look closely in the photo, you can even see the line where the regular lawn ends and Wimbledon begins! I had to chuckle. There's no way I'd expect all the grass in the park to be golfcourse perfect, so this definitely stood out and made me laugh!