Baptism

Two runners enjoy a peaceful jog around Merimere Reservoir Saturday morning.

Visit #1048, Saturday 3 December 16, 8:00-10:15AM, 4.5 miles.
Temps in the low 40's, sunny with a chilly breeze.

A few weeks ago I began receiving reports of trees across various trails as a result of windy, rainy weather Meriden experienced. My schedule didn't permit me to address the trees sooner. Today I was going to remove whatever had fallen and restore the trails.

Also, this would be the first time I was going to use my new chainsaw-specific Dakine backpack for its intended use; a baptism if you will. Time to see if it is all it's claimed to be.

Thanks to Paul Bernier for assisting me picking up trash...

...and for forwarding reports of the fallen trees. Such intel saves me a lot of wasted time checking on things after bad weather, when I could be home watching cartoons...

We parked outside the north end of Hubbard Park and walked in, picking up the Blue Trail along the western edge of Merimere Reservoir, where we reached our first tree.

I was so excited to use my chainsaw/backpack that I forgot to take a "before" photo. How about a "during" photo?

You can see the trail marker on the tree to the right. The trail's so wide now, even yo' momma can fit between the trees!

Due to the good intel provided by Paul, we didn't have to travel farther on this trail, so we turned around and picked up another trail which points up toward Castle Craig. It didn't take long to encounter our second tree.

It didn't take long to remove it, either.

One more.

That would be it for fallen trees today, and my new backpack passed baptism with flying  colors. It's very easy and quick to load/unload and I don't have to wait for the chainsaw to cool off before doing packing it.

Paul and I reached the top of the trail and walked the road down, picking up trash from the roadside as we went.

Last year someone fabricated a wreath along the road to the peaks and decorated it with ornaments. I blew their festive holiday decorations to hell a little too soon. So today, when I spied a new wreath in a similar location to last year's, I knew better to leave it alone and I will until after New Year's Day. Walk Percival Park Road and see if you can spot it.

Paul and I returned to the car with our trash bags and no ornaments inside.