No More "Fending Off Boredom"

The last of the season's snow on Hubbard Park's trails.

Visit #856, Thursday 27 March 14

Visit #857, Saturday 29 March 14, 7:15-9:15AM, 5.5 miles.

Temps in the high 40's, impending rain this afternoon.

Last week I reported finding an orphaned letterbox and taking it home, in the hope of contacting the caretaker. By the way, here are the contents:

I did not get a reply, so I took it upon myself to follow the clues to the letterbox and try to place it back in its home. This is actually the very first time I've "gone letterboxing" or in my case, REVERSE letterboxing. I snatched the directions from the web site and with a little time before work one day last week, returned the letterbox to its rightful home-I hope.

 I covered it with some branches to make it less conspicuous to the casual observer, and I was done.

I'm also pleased to report the bag of trash and vinyl siding scraps I left at the gate across from Belmont Avenue last week were collected, thanks to the Meriden Parks Department.

On Thursday I decided to take a short mountain bike ride through the park to scope out some of the trails and give me an idea of where I should focus my labors the coming weekend. With the end of the snow and the warming temps, there is definitely an uptick in activity on Hubbard Park's trails as evidenced by the amount of trash I spied. That likely means for the rest of the season I won't be bored and hopefully neither will you, dear reader.

 After my short ride, I knew where to find the goods this weekend, as you shall shortly see.

On Saturday, knowing I'd likely wind up with a heavy load, I left my first, partially filled bag of trash at the water treatment plant.

I then hiked my way to all the trails below Castle Craig, planning a route with as little doubling back as possible. My main objective was the Halfway House. During my recon on Thursday, I'd discovered someone apparently spent the night there; someone who is not in very good health.

The night guest, who is a Meriden resident I'll only reveal as "Martin" from his abandoned prescription bottles (full name redacted from the labels), left his blanket and a leather jacket at the Halfway House.

He also felt he no longer needed to treat his epilepsy,

...nor his skin conditions,

But at least he followed good sterile protocols while caring for himself.

All this was too much for one trash bag so I wound up carrying 2 bags for the remainder of my counterclockwise trip.

Even though it looks wet outside in the photos, it wasn't raining at the time. My early start enabled me to beat the rainfall as was part of my plan.