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Sunday, May 10, 2015

Did Nero Fiddle While Hubbard Park Burned?


Castle Craig was a popular spot on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

Visit #952, Saturday 9 May 15, 11:55AM-3:00PM, mileage unknown.
Temps in the low 70's, partly sunny.

The Meriden Record-Journal reported this week of scattered brush fires in the local area due to the dry spring conditions.

Hubbard Park was not immune to these brush fires either. I can only conclude this brush fire was started by a discarded cigarette.

I had 2 objectives with this week's foray onto the trails: I'd received a report of one trail in need of cleaning due to scattered bottles and cans, and I wanted to straighten out the telephone poles blocking the end of another trail to deter vehicles from driving down it.

I hiked from the parking lot to the south end of Merimere Reservoir then turned left onto the trails, heading toward the Halfway House and up to Castle Craig.

I didn't travel more than a few hundred yards when I stumbled upon the charred remains of the brush fire, near the south end of Merimere Reservoir.


The scorched patch was roughly 100 x 20 feet in size.


I reached the trail which was the source of the trash complaint, checked it off my list, and dropped off my first  bag of trash at Castle Craig.



I continued on the trails then to the road, making my way to the telephone poles which were in need of some Feng Shui. My comealong did the Feng Shui-ing.





If these poles continue to be moved I'm going to suggest an alternative installation.

Between Castle Craig and West Peak I managed to collect enough trash that I needed to transfer everything from a 13 gallon to a 30 gallon bag. I guess it's not surprising to find so much trash in this area this time of year now that the road to Castle Craig and West Peak is open to traffic, and despite my occasional assistant Paul Bernier and I cleaning the area a mere 2 weeks ago. Sad but true.


Anyway, I walked down off West Peak and over I-691. Enroute back toward Hubbard Park as I walked off-trail to pick up some trash I chanced upon this well-hidden letterbox.

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