Ahead of the Crowd

 

Participants in the 53rd Bernie Jurale Memorial Tradition Run were greeted Sunday with comfortably cool, very calm conditions, and a clean road to Castle Craig.

Visit #1407, Sunday 22 January 23, 7:05-9:30AM, 5.2 miles, 18.7lbs. of litter.

Temps in the low 30s, overcast, calm, and seasonably comfortable.

I chose to start today well ahead of the arrival of any participants in the Bernie Jurale Tradition Run, and I hiked the event route to Castle Craig to ensure things looked purty by picking up any litter along the way.

Along the road I noticed a considerable number of trees have recently been removed as I kept seeing piles of wood chips, and piled logs.

I concluded it must be the work of the Meriden Water Department and not the Parks Department because the work stopped at the bottom of the road climb up to the peaks/entrance gate to the Maloney Canal.

At Echo Point, I found the holiday wreath, which was put up sometime in early December along with the nearby Christmas Tree decorations, had yet to be removed, but the tree decorations were gone.

I wasn't waiting any longer and took care of the former.

...while the road to Castle Craig awaited the runners, walkers, and probably some pets.

Last week's rain is bringing back satisfactory water levels to Merimere Reservoir.

We're supposed to get more rain tonight. Cloudy skies over Meriden predict the future.

I cleaned up area surrounding Castle Craig then hiked down and over I-691.

Enroute I visited a dead end trail where last week I found a bed sheet fabricated into a hammock.

I cut the bed sheet free and stuffed it in my bag of trash.

Also last week, as I returned to the parking lot, I noticed someone had hung a presumably forgotten jacket on the bronze statue of Noah, at the Adventure Hollow Playground. At that time I decided to leave it to see if it would be claimed. I returned this week to find the jacket still there. I removed the jacket and took it home for cleaning, then I'll take it to Goodwill.

Good thing I arrived early this morning for when I finished my hike, the parking lot was full of cars as people continued to arrive for the Tradition Run, due to start roughly thirty minutes later. Any event that has lasted 53 years is certain to have a following. Here's to the next 53 years!

Playtime

 Visit #1406, Saturday 14 January 23, 10:45AM-2:35PM, 5.6 miles, 1.0 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the low 30s, cloudy with a light breeze.

I returned to Hubbard Park this week with my chainsaw for a Power Tool Weekend®.

Last week was a recon hike for downed trees after Meriden experienced some windy days.

This week I'd retrace last week's route to remove all the fallen trees.

I had hoped the Meriden Parks Department wouldn't get too efficient and ruin my fun with the first tree I met, on the Soap Box Derby track.  Lucky me; it was party time!

One down, and one to go.

After removing both trees, I wanted to clean up the mess. I used my chainsaw's scabbard as a rake of sorts and pushed all the debris to the side. This was actually a good, total body workout.

The result of an hour's work.

I packed up and hiked on, up toward Castle Craig and the Blue Trail above Merimere Reservoir.

Here are a bunch of Before/After photos to show I wasn't slacking off.

I'm almost at the north end of Merimere Reservoir.

I turned uphill rather than taking the road, to remove more fallen trees.

I really had to cut sparingly so I would have enough fuel to finish today's work. 

Done with all the trail maintenance, I hiked over I-691 and back to the parking lot. Along the way I discovered my Find of the Week.

The hat, embroidered with The Loaded Goat Coffee Company logo (in Naugatuck, CT), is already washed and will join the headband which I found last week, when I take them both to Goodwill.

Next week I plan to inspect one last trail for wind damage.

A Windy Start to the New Year

 

Not a bad start to 2023, weather-wise.

Visit #1404, Sunday 1 January 2023, 9:30-10:15AM, 1.0 miles, 9.0 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the low 50s, sunny.

Visit #1405, Sunday 8 January 2023, 10:05AM-12:45PM, 5.6 miles, 5.0 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the mid-30s, sunny and calm.

Some people have suggested that I turn to social media for my Hubbard Park activities due to its wider exposure.

If you know me, you know that ain't gonna happen. Well, it turns out social media may be flaming out, and a return to blogging may be the next big thing. So that puts me ahead of the curve. Again.

After last Saturday's short-circuited work in Hubbard Park, I managed to return on New Year's Day and finish shuttling all the trash I collected over to the dumpsters before it became too much of an eyesore. That took maybe fifteen minutes, so I spent some extra time cleaning the area around and inside the playscape, as well as the parking lot.

In the process, I hit the motherlode of Season of the Missing Glove 2022/23.

Here are entries 4 through 13.

(There are a couple gloves hidden in this photo.)

Hey; it's cheap entertainment for me!

I also found a fleece headband. It's already washed and dried and waiting delivery to Goodwill.

Prior to heading to Hubbard Park today, I was folding clothes and among the drying things was a microfiber towel I found in the park last week.

Well, it's not the only one I've ever found there. Here's my collection from Hubbard Park.

They make great dusting cloths; just add a little Endust and go to town!

Now let's get to this week's finds.

They started off with a bang-this double trunked tree fell across the road just up from the Soap Box Derby track. 

The parks department has better things to do than cut this up; it's on a section of road in the park that's closed most of the time so there should be no rush. Hopefully they won't piss in my Wheaties this week and cut it up, so I can spend some quality time next weekend with power tools. Hey; spread the fun around, ya' know?

After all, I hiked up to the Blue Trail high above Merimere Reservoir and found quite a number of other recently fallen trees which will need my attention. Here they are:

Not to be outdone, the number of found Missing Gloves went up today as well. Here's #14 for the season.

Finally, this birch tree has been a graffiti magnet of sorts for at least the past year.

It seems someone took except to whoever cut down one of the trunks (not me) even though it was likely storm damage.

They let their objection be known.

I let it be unknown.

Here's an early heads-up: The Bernie Jurale Tradition Run is on for 22 January 23. 

If the weather holds and the parks department looks the other way, I'll get to report on some real fun next week.