Annoying The Rude As A Hobby

A third Utopian outing in Hubbard Park in as many weeks. I'm running out of adjectives to describe such weather.

Visit #877, Sunday 22 June 14, 5:00-7:40PM, 5.3 miles.
Temps in the low 80's, dry and sunny.

In March 2013, pre-blog, I reported how someone found the hollow post of the gate near the water treatment plant an attractive place to put their empty coffee cups.

I decided to rain on their parade. I got the brilliant idea to fill the post with Great Stuff foam.

Well, I must be playing whack-a-mole with whoever is using the post as a trash can because a few weeks ago I discovered the same problem at the gate at the north end of Merimere Reservoir. Today's fun would include annoying whoever they may be.

I walked the road from the park to the north end of the reservoir and picked up trash as I went along.

When I reached the gate, I assessed the situation. Could be the work of a new villain because the coffee cups are different. Here's the scene of the crime.

Of course, if you remove the top coffee cup...

...you merely find another.

And on it goes. I broke out my tool of the trade. I left the rest of the stack of coffee cups in the post as "filler" to build my base upon. Otherwise I'd spend a small fortune to fill the entire post.

I emptied the entire can in the post and was surprised to see I didn't get the nice muffin top I wound up with the last time I tried this trick.

Slightly disappointed, I moved on up the road toward Castle Craig. On the way up the hill, I spied something new. Someone had dumped two CRT monitors in the woods. I pulled them out and left my bag of trash with them so they'd be easy to spot. I'll notify the Meriden Parks Department to pick up the junk.

At this point I decided to turn around and take the road back to the park. On the way down, I noticed the sign warning of the sharp bend in the road was obscured because a tall but slender tree had split and fallen over.

The sign was even less apparent than the photos would suggest. Fortunately, I had my loppers with me and was able to restore the sign's visibility from a distance.

I retraced my route and when I arrived at the gate again I was pleasantly surprised.

There was my muffin top, baby! I'd forgotten the foam continues to expand for a while after being dispensed. I suppose it really won't annoy our coffee cup depositor; they'll probably just toss it on the ground now instead. But hey; I can dream, can't I?!

At the south end of Merimere Reservoir I diverted myself from the road and took the trail behind the water tank, trimming it as I did another trail in last week's report.

Back on the road, I walked the Soap Box Derby track and back to the park, depositing my last bag of trash.

Cheers!

The Little Things

The top section of the Yellow Trail on a perfect Sunday in June.

Visit #876, Sunday 15 June 14, 4:30-6:50PM, 4.5 miles.
Temps in the low 80's, sumptuously sunny, warm, dry, breezy, and bug-free.

After tending to some trails for the past six years, I'm starting to see the results of my efforts. Less maintenance is required, particularly mid-season, when plants are in full bloom. The vegetation just doesn't swallow up the trails like it used to.

One trail that did need attention is sandwiched between the bank of daffodils adjacent to Mirror Lake and I-691. I brought my repertoire of lightweight tools with me to trim the trail section back, roughly 200 yards long.

That section consumed an hour of my time then it was off to complete a clockwise loop of the rest of the trail system below Castle Craig. Enroute to the walkbridge over I-691, I found some vines and branches had fallen into the trail. With my toolset I quickly cleared away what was really a minor inconvenience.

I'm pleased to report the two flags attached to the walkbridge are still there in good condition.


There wasn't much trash to pick up as I was expecting more than I found. The worst were the remnants of a small party at the Halfway House which included a campfire, a can of pineapple juice, an empty package of hotdogs, and a condom wrapper. I'm sure there's a story in there somewhere; I just don't want to think about it ;-)

I forgot to mention that, as you can see, my backpack has returned from zipper replacement and it works spectacularly, if you can get excited about such things. I had the semi-circular zipper you see in the photo replaced by Rainy Pass Repair, from Seattle Washington. Worth every penny. If you have any outdoor gear in need of fixin', check them out.

Cheers!

2014 National Trails Day

Visit #875, Saturday 7 June 14, 8:30AM-1:15PM, 6.7 miles.
Temps in the low 80's, magnificent weather!

It was serendipity that the Meriden Land Trust chose to host a National Trails Day event in Hubbard Park where I execute my volunteer duties. I decided to participate and maybe spread the word and inspire others through what I do.

Dwight Needles of the Meriden Land Trust led the hike along with knowledgeable local host Bob Pagini.

In the parking lot adjacent to the playscape I met Ben, a Meriden college student attending Temple University studying geology. He was participating in the hike for 2 reasons; the geology aspect of the hike, and the physical training as he was scheduled for a summer geology program in Montana which would require traipsing around rocks in that state. I gave Ben a 3rd reason to participate by handing him a trash bag and asking him to join me as we walked the road toward the north end of Merimere Reservoir where the hiking group would assemble.

The 2 of us cleaned up both sides of the road and arrived just prior to the bunch. We hiked to South Mountain, all the time being fed volumes of information from our 2 hosts. There's no "app" that could substitute for the personalized tour our group received.

Everyone in the group saw the trail with different eyes. Some saw the trail, some saw the plants, some saw the wildlife, and I covered the trash, which wasn't much once you left the road.

Your author, a "meat and potatoes" kind of guy, clearly missed all the wildlife around him while others could spy the tiniest of creatures camouflaged against the woods. Here are a few:

At South Mountain, all I needed was a lawn chair and a cooler and I would have been set for the day. The group took plenty of time to take in the views and relax, which made beginning the return trip all that much more difficult!

That's my impromptu assistant Ben with the camera.

Perhaps I did inspire someone during the hike. Lisa (far left at the edge of the photo) starting picking up shards of broken glass and throwing them in my trash bag.

Mirror Lake as viewed from South Mountain.

Our group made an about face and returned to the north end of Merimere Reservoir. Ben and I walked the road back to the parking lot rather than catch a ride from the others so he could get in more training miles.

Cheers!

It Pays To Do Your Homework

No, doing your homework won't get you a beer from me. This unopened can of Bud Light was my Find of the Week.

Visit #873, Thursday 29 May 14, 6:00-6:30PM, mileage n/a.
Temps in the low 70's, sunny.

Visit #874, Saturday 31 May 14, 10:00AM-12:55PM, 3.9 miles.
Temps in the low 70's, variable clouds, some sprinkles.

To form an idea of what my weekend To Do list would include, I took a bike ride to Hubbard Park on Thursday. I  pedaled the road up to Castle Craig and then over to West Peak. Both parking lots had a good amount of trash so after patrolling the trails below Castle Craig I decided both parking lots would be tended to on Saturday. Thursday's homework saved me a lot of aimless hiking, wondering where to maximize my efforts.

As luck would have it, Paul Bernier called to offer his services for Saturday. When Paul calls to lend a hand, I try to address any concerns he might have and fortunately, he noticed the same messy parking lots that I did. With our agendas in alignment, off we went.

We actually drove my car up to Castle Craig. I would stop my car as we went whenever one of us spied a large piece of trash, and Paul would get out and pick it up. Not the most thorough work, but better than nothing.

At Castle Craig, we split up and policed the parking lot and surrounding area, then walked over to West Peak. Our bags were full by the time we reached the fork in the road, so we deposited them there.

Just prior to reaching the parking lot at West Peak, Paul removed a couple small trees which had fallen partially into the road many months ago.

Once we finished with West Peak, we took the Blue Trail down and walked the Main Trail to the Halfway House, then performed an about face and hiked back up to Castle Craig to retrieve the car. We stopped at the fork in the road, collected the first 2 bags of trash, consolidated four trash bags into 3 bags, and returned to the park.

Many thanks to Paul Bernier for assisting me this week.

A Legend In My Own MInd

Joke: Why did the snake cross the road?
Answer: This one is asking himself the same question this week. Looks like he could use some Advil.

Visit #871, Wednesday 21 May 14, 6:10-8:15PM, 5.2 miles.
Temps in the low 70's, increasing clouds with showers forcasted for Thursday.

Visit #872, Sunday 25 May 14, 0545-0940AM, 4.4 miles.
Temps in the low 70's, sunny.

On 26 April, I discovered someone was tapping birch trees along the road to Castle Craig, for sap. I left the jugs alone assuming the owner would retrieve them soon even though it was late in the tree tapping season. When I revisited the road last week, I noticed the jugs were still hanging there.

They needed to be removed.

I couldn't justify walking the road for 3 consecutive weeks; there were other areas which needed my attention. So I decided a special mid-week visit to Hubbard Park was in order.

I walked on the road all the way, stopping to cut free the 2 birch tree tapped jugs.

While picking up trash and walking up the road, I was repeatedly passed by a cyclist performing repeat efforts up the climb. During one descent he slowed long enough to ask, "Are you Pete?" When I replied that I was, he said he had one more hill repeat to complete, the last of six I believe (!), then he would stop to talk to me.

Turns out Mike, from Glastonbury, recognized me from an internet bike forum we both participate in, and Mike also happened to remember me from over 20 years ago when I was affiliated with a Middletown-based bicycle club and he was a teen working in a bike shop. Now he's an accomplished cyclist, lawyer, and father.

We enjoyed our brief meeting and continued on our separate ways. One would think that if I'm being recognized by people in Hubbard Park, that I'm a celebrity of sorts. I think Dirty Harry would have something different to say on the matter...

With my temporarily inflated ego, I moved on. At the fork in the road I took the trail down, then turned left heading toward the Halfway House. I stopped at the intersection of the trail to Castle Craig because I spied my 2 Finds of the Week:

The glasses were just cheapo reading glasses, but the women's pullover top was from North Face and in seemingly good condition. Rather than stuff it in my trash bag, I brought it home, washed it, and dropped it off at Goodwill on Sunday.

Stopping by the Halfway House, you could see the eastern sky filling with water in preparation for Thursday's rain.

My trash bag was ripping so I transferred everything to a larger bag just prior to dropping it off at the park.

Now I was free to move on to my next project.

On Sunday I got a very early start. The Green Trail runs up from Merimere Reservoir for roughly a quarter mile. For whatever reason, the lower half tends to get heavily overgrown and narrow. I brought my loppers and hedge clippers to trim back the vegetation. Below is a "before" photo. If you get the chance, hike the Green Trail and see if I made any improvement-I spent a good 2 hours on that trail alone.

The tree you see in the photo fell during one of the big storms a few years ago. At that time, I deliberately cut a narrow gap between the two sections to force mountain bikers to keep their speed down. I may widen the gap in the late fall.

Done with that chore, I clipped, trimmed, and picked up trash as I made my way toward the walkbridge over I-691. I had completely forgotten about an errant sapling which was hanging low into the Main Trail and was on my long term checklist. With my lopping shears on hand, I was able to remove it.

 

When I reached the walkbridge over the highway I discovered that, for the third consecutive year, some patriotic person had attached American flags to the fencing. I reported last year's appearance of the flags in this blog. I'll keep an eye on the health of these flags.

 

The rain of the last week, combined with my mid-week visit to Hubbard Park, made the weekend trash haul light.

Happy Memorial Day!

My Missed Anniversary

Ooops. This explains the lack of a report last week.

Visit #870, Friday 16 May 14, 5-7:25PM, 6.3 miles.
Temps in the low 70's, foggy and light rain.

I injured my foot around the time of my last report and have been hobbling around since. I performed some self diagnosis and first concluded I had plantar fasciitis so I gathered up the ice, massage ball, and brace and diligently followed my own treatment regimen. The more I looked into it, the more my diagnosis seemed wrong, and I settled on having a stress fractured foot bone instead. However, I continued with the same treatment and improved my hobbling speed. I decided to test my treatment by venturing into Hubbard Park this week.

Alas, the injury prompted me to miss my 1 year anniversary on this blog with 52 consecutive weeks of posts. Two consecutive weeks off would have been more painful than my foot, so I chose the lessor of the two pains.

Friday's weather, along with the time of day, assured I would have the road to myself as I chose to walk from the park on the road all the way to West Peak. If my foot hurt too much I could easily turn around. West Peak was my goal because on my last visit I spied some graffiti which needed eradication.

By the time I reached the water treatment plant I had enough trash to leave the bag there; I was sure I'd fill another soon enough.

It started to rain just about the time I reached the fork to Castle Craig/West Peak, where I left my second bag of trash. I'll contact the Meriden Parks Department to pick it up.

By the time I reached the parking lot at West Peak it was raining pretty good so I didn't spend a lot of time there and I didn't need to as I already cleaned up the area two weeks ago.

As I began my descent via the Blue Trail, I stopped at the tree which was my main objective.

Time to break out my patented Graffiti Removal From TreesⓇ tool. Literally five minutes later...

Let nature do the rest and it'll fade into gray just nicely.

A little further on, though less visible, was more graffiti from the same can.

What it says is "Go Bak". Perhaps the artist was trying to conserve spray paint by leaving out the "c".

More use of my patented tool, visible in the upper right hand corner.

Down hill was harder on my gimpy foot, but I made it over I-691 and back to the parking lot.

Find of the week-check out this gal's "To Do" list. Some people lead more interesting lives than I do.

Cheers!

When West Peak Calls

The steep trail to West Peak beckons.

Visit #869, Sunday 4 May 14, 5:45-8:10PM, 5.5 miles.
Temps in the low 60's, partly sunny with high winds.

Thanks to the Meriden Parks Department. From my report last week, the tires and trash I left at the north end of Merimere Reservoir were picked up and the vandalized gate was repaired.

The week after the Daffodil Festival this year was a mixed bag of pluses and minuses.

On the plus side, the weather Saturday prevented launch of the fireworks. Therefore there would be little or no mess to clean up from the launch site at the Halfway House.

On the minus side, the road to Castle Craig and West Peak opened for the season this week, meaning more litter on the road and both parking lots.

Paul Bernier joined me on Friday for some extra-curricular, non-Adopt A Park trail maintenance. While we started and ended in Hubbard Park, the majority of our work was outside of park property. Nevertheless, we managed to collect one bag of trash and left it at the West Peak parking lot.

I thought I'd return to West Peak on Sunday, clean around the area and the parking lot, and leave additional bags of trash to justify notifying the Meriden Parks Department to pick them up.

However, when I arrived at West Peak Sunday, the bag you see above was GONE. I'm hoping it was properly disposed of.

So I amended my plan and, after cleaning the surrounding area and the parking lot,  walked the road to the intersection of West Peak/East Peak while I continued to pick up trash, and deposited my first bag there for easy locating on Monday morning.

I then hiked trails down to the Halfway House, to Merimere Reservoir, and back to the park via the Soap Box Derby Trail, where I found the most remnants of the Daffodil Festival.

Find of the Week:

When taking Minastrin, you're not supposed to skip the last four pills in the packet, even though they're placebos. And some will wonder why their birth control pills didn't work... ;-)

I leave you this week with a view of West Peak from Below. It looks remarkably cylindrical.

Cheers!