This Week In Hubbard Park: With A Little Help From My Friends

I'm not a fan of The Beatles, nor of the song, but the title is appropriate for this week.

Visit #1558, Saturday 25 October 25, 7:20-9:20AM, 3.1 miles, no litter.

Temps in the upper 30s, partly sunny.

Visit #1559, Sunday 26 October 25, 7:20-10:20AM,

As I reported two weeks ago, my chainsaw crapped out. I brought it to the repair shop where it sits to this day. Without it I can't clean up the storm damage in Hubbard Park or worse, prepare the trails for the upcoming Three Peaks Challenge. I was fretting about this until I told myself to just relax, there's always next week, and it's not the end of the world. It'll get done sooner or later.

We live in an Amazon Prime world (I am NOT a member!) and we've forgotten how to exercise patience. I would exercise patience. I could have asked any of my chainsaw owning friends if I could borrow their saw but maybe it was pride, maybe it was my pro-patience stance, but I was going to let it be.

Until that is, after hearing my tale of first world woe, my coworker insisted I borrow her husband's chainsaw. In the interest of being sociable, and burying my pride, I accepted.

I'm glad I did.

See, I own a professional level saw. It's bigger and heavier duty than homeowner level saws. Borrowing such a saw would allow me to compare the two to see what how they compare.

I'm pleased to say the Stihl MS 170 performed very well. It's clearly lighter than my Stihl 026 Pro so it's easier to carry in my backpack, it's a bit more difficult to start (the procedure is different and it takes more force) but once you become familiar with those tasks, you're on your way to a good experience as I was.

So now with a saw in hand/backpack and with the calendar creeping toward the Three Peaks Challenge, I wanted to finish clearing the neglected trail.

I arose Saturday and drove to the north end of Hubbard Park.

I hiked the South Mountain trail directly to the tree where my chainsaw failed.

It was while removing this tree that an early morning hiker passed by and exclaimed, "But I LIKE HAVING TREES ACROSS THE TRAIL; I GET EXERCISE CLIMBING OVER THEM!"

I literally told him to walk faster. Geez; I can't please everyone.

Well, I'm not going to show you the rest of the trees I removed from the South Mountain trail which was about half a dozen. I will show you one other large tree.

This homeowner saw was punching above its weight.

So on Sunday I decided to return to the trails I hiked last week to remove the fallen trees I found, with my borrowed saw. Use 'em if you got 'em!

I arrived at Hubbard Park Sunday morning to discover there were TWO events being held; a Soap Box Derby race and a running race.

Walking around Merimere Reservoir I discovered all the speed bumps have been removed. I wonder whether this was the result of my reporting their poor state? Seems pretty early to be prepping for snow.

Up the trail I went in search of the fallen trees. I was disappointed.

Someone had removed all the other, much smaller fallen trees on this trail. Truth be told they only needed to be pulled off the trail, a deed handled by another kind hiker.

Up at West Peak I spied some new graffiti that needed removal.

Descending the Blue Trail from West Peak I began to tackle a large fallen tree when a hiker named Paul passed by. He's a Meriden resident who usually gets his exercise at the YMCA on West Main Street. He assisted me in moving these heavy logs out of the way after I cut them up.

There's also no excuse for placing stickers on public property.

Below the sticker was #17 in the series of cat graffiti since November 2016.

On the walkbridge was some new graffiti. I was surprised at how easy this was to remove. Also, from the writing it looks like they're coming from New York to tag things.