This Week In Hubbard Park: Festival Time

Like the swallows returning to San Juan Capistrano, you know the Daffodil Festival is near when the carnival trucks arrive.

Visit #1474, Saturday 20 April 24, 7:50-9:45AM, 3.0 miles, 16.0 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 50s, light rain, ending later in the morning.

Visit #1475, Sunday 21 April 24, 6:45-8:25AM, 3.25 miles, 1.0 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the high 40s, partly sunny.

On a rainy Saturday morning I chose to get my feet and the rest of me wet with a hike in Hubbard Park, on the trails being persistently scarred by a certain vandal I'd previously reported on HERE.

I was not disappointed. Most I was able to remove; some I will have to return to address properly.

I found a number of these pink hearts much like I did last time. I was able to remove all of them. I'm heartless in that way.

The "Love Secret" was this message contained in the can.

Hmmm; and what might this message say? I took it home and let it dry to find out.

I found this interesting blank CD.

I'll spare you the deciphering. It says on one side-

"Brown Painter-I've had it with you-mind your business-watching you-stop putting glass in trail"

I did find quite a few piles of broken bottles today, deliberately in the center of the trail.

On the other side of the disc was written-

"Watching you-stop putting glass in trail-you are on camera"

Returning to the park, I cleaned up the dirt parking area near Mirror Lake.

I was surprised to find someone couldn't finish their cognac.

Last week when I stopped at the playscape I found the statue of Noah clothed in this hoodie and hat.

I'll occasionally find clothing on him, which I find greatly disrespectful. I removed the items and if they clean well I'll bring them to Goodwill.

Fenton River Veterinary is in Stafford Springs, CT. Nice to see people visit Hubbard Park from so far away. I couldn't find any reasonable link to T.L. Rough Sawn except a YouTube channel, but they didn't sell any merchandise such as the knit hat so I don't think there's a relationship.

Despite the rain it was an interesting hike.

While hiking on Saturday I discovered a fallen branch had bent over some brush, pushing it into the trail. So I returned to the park early Sunday morning with my chainsaw to remove it.

I hadn't intended to remove the leaning tree which had been that way for at least several months, as there was plenty of room to pass underneath and I thought there would be a safety issue in removing it, but once I started, might as well remove the tree also.

What was originally planned for this week was to address the graffiti on this rock.

My initial thought was to just paint over it but instead I decided to try a discreet approach first.

I poured lacquer thinner on the rock and scrubbed with a wire brush. The results are better than the After photo but I'm still not satisfied. I will return with a Plan B.

Nearby on the trail I spied another rock with similar graffiti. My technique worked much better here.

At the Halfway House I found yet more graffiti but instead of lacquer thinner, I used Goof Off on the magic marker with good results.

Seeing graffiti on the inside, I thought I should inspect the outside perimeter.

I was surprised to find this geocache stuffed within the rock wall. To leave it there would invite others, so I removed it. I knew it was a geocache because it said so on the note inside dated 13 April. With apologies to the owner "Zoe" I couldn't locate her to return the geocache because it seems you've got to create an account to gain access to cache locations and other information. No thanks.

While I had the chainsaw handy, I wanted to address this tree which had fallen across the trail around February of this year. Someone else had removed the section across the trail but left the ends cantilevered. I thought it didn't look right, so I gave the ends a trim.