The Other Half

It was a hot and muggy hike up to Castle Craig on Saturday.

Visit #1027, Saturday 30 July 16, 0815-1030hrs, 4.8  miles.
Temps in the high 70’s, sunny and humid.

Visit #1028, Sunday 31 July 16, 1030-1115hrs, mileage n/a.
Temps in the 80’s, humid, cloudy, and threatening rain.

Since Paul Bernier and I cleaned the parking lot and the road to West Peak last week, I thought I'd clean "the other half" this week; the parking lot at Castle Craig.

I no sooner passed through the gate at the Soap Box Derby track when I came upon my Find of the Week.

Whoever lost 'em no doubt could easily comply with the smoking ban in Meriden's parks.

At the south end of Merimere Reservoir I checked on the lock at the gate and found it had been replaced.

During work last week, I came across another option for shrouding a lock to prevent vandals from cutting them off.

This was a new installation at West Rock State Park.

 The open-air design prevents bees and other insects from nesting in the shroud and the baffles prevent bolt cutters from reaching the hasp. Perhaps that will inspire the Meriden Parks Department to come up with a better design.

I reached Castle Craig and cleaned up the parking lot and surrounding area. I noticed the electrical outlet at the base of Castle Craig has been replaced.

What-no USB ports?! But I just HAVE to charge my smart phone! ;-)

I managed to fill up a bag with trash and left it at the monument for later collection by the Meriden Parks Department.

I followed the trails down and over I-691, and back to the park. On the trail behind the daffodils, bordering Mirror Lake, I found a tree has fallen across the path.

 

Now next week's work is planned out for me.

I dropped off my second bag of trash at the playscape.

While at Castle Craig on Saturday, I noticed some graffiti on the electrical distribution box on the perimeter of the parking lot. The weather forecast called for showers and I didn't want to stray far, so I took a bike ride up to Castle Craig on Sunday morning to paint over the graffiti.

The clouds shrouded Castle Craig in a light fog, combined with a slight breeze, caused the spray paint to run a little bit but it got the job done.

I also noticed the padlock which secured the electrical distribution box was unlocked. I intended to secure the lock, but I forgot. I'll tell the Meriden Parks Department about it.

Then I went over to the monument to check on the bag of trash I left yesterday. At first I thought it was picked up. But instead I found it stashed behind the marker.

I put another bag on it to protect it from critters and relocated the bag so it won't be missed when hopefully it's picked up on Monday.

As I turned to leave I discovered our fan of the Yankee version of Coloradoing has created Bent Tree #13 in Hubbard Park.

I won't be able to trim that back for a couple weeks.

I leave you this week with a view of the last stretch of the White Trail before reaching Castle Craig.