I Am A Poseur

Gotta get an early start; with the Daffodil Festival Tag Sale Weekend, parking would quickly get ugly.

 Visit #1595, Saturday 25 April 26, 6:40-9:50AM, 5.6 miles, 3.7 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the high 30s to start, quickly rising to more comfortable temps, mostly sunny.

Visit #1596, Sunday 26 April 26, 6:30-8:30AM, 4.1 miles, 3.0 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the low 50s, cloudy and drying after overnight rain.

By my records and rough estimates, I pick up 300-500 lbs. of litter each year in Hubbard Park.

After reading this recent article in the Meriden Record, I don't dare brag about my numbers.

Interesting that the CTDOT keeps numerical records of the litter they collect. I wonder if they got the idea from me? 😉

However, when starting Saturday's hike, I did find this unusually large dumping at the dirt parking lot in the northwest corner of Mirror Lake. I'll let the parks department know about it but they have their hands full with the Daffodil Festival, I'm sure.

I hadn't been to the farther reaches of Hubbard Park in many weeks and looked forward to the views and woods. First stop would be West Peak.

Along the way I found Cat Graffiti #26 since November 2016.

I did not have the tools with me to address this which is part of the reason I returned on Sunday. I did however have the tools to remove Cat Graffiti #s 27, 28, 29, and 30, all found on Saturday. I KNOW where to look.

After, a sample:

Along the way up to West Peak I picked up Find of the Week #1.

Why this mace canister was discarded on the Blue Trail, and why it was empty, we'll never know.

Reaching West Peak in the early morning, I took a few moments to enjoy the view.

Then it was back to work and hiking.

Taking this trail down, I found a few fallen trees, which I was able to remove with the help of the newest addition to my toolkit; compact, light, yet effective. I'm kicking myself for not being aware of this tool sooner.

Also on this long established yet little used trail, I started finding, and removing, these blue ribbons.

In fact, I removed FIFTY-TWO ribbons, and that wasn't all of them because they went off in other than my intended direction of travel. More on them next week.

And what hike wouldn't be complete without finding and removing more foam stickers? Here are #s 23 and 24 of 2026.

I found it necessary to return to Hubbard Park on Sunday because on Saturday's hike I found evidence of our park's red paint graffiti vandal, and if I went looking in the right places, I could expect to find, and remove, more.

I found DOZENS of unsightly tags, and covered whatever I found. Here is just a sample.

Heading back to the park on the trail behind the water tank, I found a fallen tree with branches encroaching on the trail. My handy saw to the rescue.

Walking on the Soap Box Derby Track  I picked up Find of the Week #2.

Since the road the Soap Box Derby is on was used for vendor parking for the tag sale as I noticed on Saturday, I suspect this was dumped by one of the vendors, otherwise this road is never open to traffic.

Regardless, this is sad. There was a trash truck parked by the tag sale tent so I tossed the tire and my Sunday trash into the truck.

What's not sad are the crowds attending the tag sale.  Good luck bargain hunting!