This Week In Hubbard Park: It's All About The Green

Today was all about the green, starting with the beautifully green canopied trails.

Visit #1031, Sunday 21 August 16, 8:50AM-12:10PM, 5.6 miles.
Temps in the low 80's, humid and clouding up in advance of rain.

I had a single focus today-I wanted to remove a tree up at Castle Craig which was "Coloradoed" recently. The fact that I was equipped for the work was a good thing, as I encountered more greenery that needed trimming of one sort or another.

I started at the Soap Box Derby track and hiked the trail behind the water tank. I picked up trash at the south end of Merimere Reservoir then walked the trails toward the Halfway House. Enroute, I passed the intersection with the Green Trail where I discovered the first piece of greenery that needed removal.

Without my bow saw this branch would have to wait for another day.

For such a lightweight tool it's pretty effective.

Done.

Past the Halfway House, I hiked the White Trail up to Castle Craig to tackle the bent tree.

This was easier than the first one.

Presumably finished tackling greenery for the day, I performed a cursory cleaning of the parking lot and surrounding area. After I was finished, I left the trash bag at the monument for later collection by the Meriden Parks Department.

It was while doing so that I was approached by two local residents who drove up to enjoy the view.

Steve Briers of Southington, left, and Joe Pulisciano, from Meriden.

After inquiring what I was doing, Steve was so appreciative of my work that he didn't hesitate to hand me my next "green" of the day.

It made me realize that there are many ways people show their support for a cause; lending a hand isn't the only way. Tom's donation certainly helps defray the costs of trash bags, work gloves, worn hiking shoes, and various other items.

This is only the second time since 2008 that someone was kind enough to offer some financial support. Never necessary; always appreciated. Steve can count himself as one of the few. Outside of donations, I've only FOUND a total of twelve bucks since 2008-just a little statistic. My work in Hubbard Park isn't exactly a profit making machine but that's not the point, right?

Joe seemed interested in what I was doing as well, particularly how much time I devote to it per week. Perhaps I planted the seed of inspiration in Joe to take up his own cause some day.

Meeting people like Steve and Joe makes all the dirty work worth it.

We parted ways and I picked up the Blue Trail along East Peak and encountered the next "green" of the day.

I sliced and diced up this branch. Looks better, doesn't it?

I focus most of my time on the road from Castle Craig so this section of the Blue Trail tends to get neglected, and it seems the Connecticut Forest and Park Association volunteer in charge of maintaining the Blue Trail through Hubbard Park doesn't come out that often, so today I played catch up and substitute.

The skies were clouding up, leading to tonight's rain, but the view was still nice.