Graffiti Bloom

 

Visit #1495, Saturday 7 September 24, 7:00-10:05AM, 5.6 miles, 8.3 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 60s, sunny and pleasant. Showers forecast for the afternoon.

During last week's hike I discovered some graffiti inside Castle Craig, which became a trail of graffiti apparently made by the same person. At that time I tried my usual removal methods but progress was too slow for my tastes. I was going to follow this trail in reverse and address it more aggressively.

I know it's not much but this scribble was the start of the trail as I walked up the road around Merimere Reservoir.

Along the way I found this very tired snake. Dead or not, I'm not touching him!

Nearing Echo Point, a couple on bikes who I've seen before, approached. As they passed, the man said something like "I see you here a lot; you do quite a bit of work.", to which the woman added, "You should be on the payroll!"

I got a belly laugh out of that!

At the north end of the reservoir was the next piece of wayward art which was obviously made with the same crayon.

I walked the road up to Castle Craig, and went inside to remove the graffiti which started all this last week. I tried removing this graffiti then which is why it's slightly dulled. But it was stubborn so my return visit was necessary. It didn't stand a chance against my magic rag.

I climbed the stairs to inspect for more and on the way down found what I was looking for. But I had already packed away the magic rag so I used Option #2. As pal Elmer wrote to me earlier this week, "Two is one, and one is none” its a military saying that means to have a backup plan. The idea is that if you have a mission-critical item, it will likely malfunction, get lost, or break, so you should have a backup."

This was  my backup.

Nearing the Halfway House, I found another playing card like the ones I found last week.

A game of Crazy Eights, anyone?

Hiking down back to the park I met another hiker who showed me a brief video on his phone of an animal he had just encountered on the road to West Peak, asking me what I thought it was.  The two had a brief staredown but the hiker wasn't going to play Marlin Perkins; like I said-the video was BRIEF.

The video was pretty clear. I'm no zoologist but it was either a bobcat or a mountain lion. Had I been able to take the video home to do some searching I could be more certain.

As I neared the park, I was disabused of the idea that I was done with graffiti for as I reached the Soap Box Derby Track, I found this:

The gray paint you see is from my previous work covering over graffiti several years ago. It was a good run while it lasted.

I couldn't let this go. So I returned Sunday morning at the crack of dawn to avoid scrutiny and applied a fresh coat of coverage.

Another hike is in the books.

Put Away Those Whites!

 Time to retire my sweat soaked hat for the season.

Visit #1494, Sunday 1 September 24,  6:45-8:55AM, 4.9 miles, 3.8 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the low 70s, cloudy/foggy and very humid.

This morning's dew point equaled the temperature which made for some sweaty conditions despite the cool temps.

In the past few weeks I was able to inspect and clear most of the trails from recent storm damage. I cheated a little bit and used my mountain bike to inspect one trail yesterday, finding it clear. That freed me up to hike the Blue Trail along the western ridge of Merimere Reservoir this morning.

Along the trail today I separately found these two playing cards, the start of a good hand.

Things got REALLY sweaty hiking up to Castle Craig.

Driving down East Main Street enroute to Hubbard Park this morning, I couldn't even SEE Castle Craig. Once I reached Castle Craig, I couldn't even see Meriden!

Even the castle and the flagpole were in a fog.

I connected to the Blue Trail and continued my hike along the ridgeline.

Passing a log, what I first dismissed as just another white mushroom turned out to be this:

At the north end of the reservoir I stopped to take a drink.

Now to head home to wash and put away my white hat. 

I Was Packin'

 It was a day for work. Load 'em up!

Visit #1493, Saturday 24 August 24, 6:50-9:20AM, 5.0 miles, 1.0 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the low 60s, sunny and dry.

I discovered a couple fallen trees on my hike last week. Let's go remove them.

I picked up the trail at the north end of Merimere Reservoir and hiked up.

Here was my first task. The trail goes directly over the rock.

Chop-chop.

The other tree was very near the top end of the trail. The trail is in there somewhere between those two trees...

I found it and re-established the trail.

Hiking down a steep trail, I could hear the footsteps of an early morning trail runner approaching from behind. Just as we met, we both slipped on the loose dirt and almost caught ourselves.

This particular trail has apparently seen some of the damage from last Sunday's "training thunderstorms" even though the most severe damage appeared west of Waterbury. I know I got dumped on but good.

Arriving home, I confirmed the "almost caught" part.

Hiking across the wooden walkbridge I spied this rusted piece of an old abandoned car. The car was removed decades ago and the chunk of metal just appeared recently, which is strange considering the countless times I've crossed this bridge. I carried it with me back to the park.

I dropped off today's haul and went home to unpack.

When It Rains...

 

...it pours.

Visit #1492, Sunday 18 August 24, 6:45-9:15AM, 5.1 miles, 4.0 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the low 70s, rain.

I woke up to cloudy skies and checked the weather. While it said there was a 70% chance of rain, the HOURLY forecast did not indicate when it would start; it only displayed "cloudy" icons. Because of this conflict, I wasn't expecting rain but I DID pack a rain jacket.

A couple trails were late season overgrown, so I used my hedgeclippers to trim one side. Hard to capture on film, so trust me.

It was still dry when I reached Castle Craig and policed the parking lot. The flag was reacting to the strong breeze.

I hiked down another trail leading down to Merimere Reservoir. The humid conditions made things greasy and I'm always mindful of slipping and spraining an ankle.

Which today I did. My knee went one way; my ankle went the other. I heard AND FELT that signature POP! While I didn't see stars, Jesus, or Elvis, it did smart and as I sit writing this, I feel a dull throbbing and have on the ankle brace I saved from the last time I sprained my ankle, in 2009.

This sprain was less severe as the last one as I don't have the swelling, just the pain and weakness.

Below is graphic content. Viewer discretion is advised. Scroll quickly if you're squeamish!

That's what my 2009 sprain looked like.

But it wasn't even raining yet!

At 8:30, shortly before exiting the trail, it started to rain. Then I heard a peal of thunder. I prayed to my deity of choice that there wouldn't be any more and they heard and answered my prayer.

Your deity and your mileage, may vary.

I sloshed my way back to the park along the road and enroute encountered two separate individuals jogging up the road in the rain. Thumbs up and smiles were exchanged.

Back at the parking lot, the dearth of cars reflected the weather, and my car is one of the three.

Rounding The Corner

 

Do you see any corners? I don't see any corners. But trust me; we've rounded a corner.

Visit #1491, Sunday 11 August 24, 7:00-9:30AM, 5.2 miles, 5.4 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the low 60s, sunny and dry.

After weeks and weeks of just life sapping heat and humidity, Sunday dawned with that perfect summer weather.

It appears that graffiti within the park proper has become more common, or at least I hope my sample of two in two weeks is not indicative of a trend.

Last week I found some graffiti on the gate leading to the Soap Box Derby track. This week I discovered some on this steel box:

I thought I could lick it with sandpaper or graffiti remover but neither had any effect.

However, for every problem there is a solution, and I shall return next week with the Arnold Schwarzenegger of graffiti removers and vanquish this foe.

The remainder of today's hike  up to West Peak was scenic, quiet, and devoid of graffiti.

Now to start training for next week's bout with that steel box...

My Master Plan

 

'Twas another sticky, humid hike. Really; Meriden is out there somewhere- the Saturday morning view from Castle Craig.

Visit #1490, Saturday 3 August 24, 6:45-8:30AM, 4.0 miles, 6.2 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 70s rising to near 90, cloudy with humidity over 90 percent.

This morning I began my hike and no sooner did I reach the gate at the soap box derby track that I encountered some graffiti.

I intentionally blurred the graffiti to obscure what was an Instagram address I verified when I returned home.  I did not want to give the creator any free advertising. Of course,  I removed the graffiti.

At the gate at the south end of Merimere Reservoir, I encountered #12 in the recurring series beginning November 2016, of this cat graffiti. Still off their meds, I guess.

I gave it the same treatment.

While cleaning up the parkling lot at Castle Craig I found a dog dish in reasonable condition. I thought I might clean it up and bring it to Goodwill, but when I stopped for a haircut after my hike, I offered it to my dog-owning barber, who took it.

And here was my "Master" Plan for today-remove this Master Lock.

Hiking down the Blue Trail, heading toward the beehive fountain, I found the trail had become overgrown. There's a reason why I carry hedge clippers in my backpack. Don't all hikers carry hedgeclippers?

I hope to perform more hedgeclipper magic next week.

I found another smiling rock. I wonder if it is related to the one I found last week.

I dropped my litter off for the week and drove my sweaty self to the barbershop.

But I wasn't done. At least, not for the weekend.

I took a bike ride early Sunday morning and decided to take my road bike a little off road, following the trail in Hubbard Park that parallels I-691. I had hiked this trail yesterday and it was clear. However, on Saturday afternoon strong thunderstorms with high winds rolled through the area. To my surprise, I found a fallen tree branch as a result of that storm.

I removed it from the trail and wondered if I'll find other trail issues on next week's hike.