The bike race not the beer! Why else would anyone get up so early for a hike?!
Visit #1473, Sunday 14 April 24, 6:15-8:45AM, 5.7 miles, 13.4 lbs. of litter.
Temps in the high 40s/low 50s, sunny.
The Ardennes spring classics, European bicycles bicycle races in where else but the Ardennes region which encompasses France, Luxembourg, and Belgium, are held in April. The Amstel Gold classic was today and due to the time difference, could be viewed on-line Sunday morning. But that meant finishing my weekly hike in time to get home.
Below you can watch the finale. I made it home in time to watch the last hour of the race.
The cold/flu which kept me off the trails last week has mostly subsided, or at least the symptoms abated enough to endure a hike.
Rounding the road by the retention ponds I discovered some clearcutting by the White Trail entrance. You can see the path turning right and up the hillside. What's this about? I would trim the entrance to this trail once or twice a year to prevent it from being overgrown. Looks like I won't have to do that anymore.
I later stopped by the water treatment plant to hang a trash bag...
...and saw the rows of piping. I'd guess the water department will be installing some sort of drainage to follow the road...
...to add to the flow of the brook.
Hiking behind the water tank, I found this smashed plate.
While I've encountered these plates before, only this morning did it occur to me that this smashing plate business has to be a "thing". So I did my googly searching and yes it is.
They're called "Letting Go" plates and they're covered with pithy sayings. Apparently letting go includes letting someone else clean up the mess.
After picking up the pieces I now had a heavy trash bag which was getting punctured by the shards of porcelain so I double bagged my litter and "let go" the first bag at the water treatment plant, above.
The plate partially explains why my trash haul this week weighed so much.
Hiking up toward Castle Craig I found some new-ish graffiti on a rock at the bottom of the Orange Trail.
I plan to hire an expert to remove it in the near future.
After last week's eclipse with a viewing party at Castle Craig, it was suggested to me by more than one person that there might be a large amount of litter at the peak in the aftermath. While I did not find that the case, I did clean up the parking lot and surrounding area. I proceeded to walk the road down the Merimere Reservoir.
The spillway was performing its duties in bleeding off excess water from the past week's rain.
And just like those Letting Go plates, painted rocks are still a thing. I spotted one roughly fifteen feet from the road, high above near a pair of trees, as I walked back to the park. In the photo above, it was near the two close trees at the top of the photo. You don't see it in the photo because I had already clambered up the slope and grabbed it.
I returned to the park to drop off my last bag of litter and race home to watch Amstel Gold, not HAVE an Amstel Gold!
Visit #1472, Saturday 30 March 24, 7:30-10:00AM, 2.8 miles, 30.0 lbs. of litter.
Temps in the 40s rising to near 50, sunny with blustery winds.
Once a year I pick up litter from both banks of the stream which runs through Hubbard Park from the long gone petting zoo down to the lower pond. A friend asked me if I do this in advance of some Easter function in the park.
The answer is no; I do it this time of year because the skunk cabbage and all the vegetation hasn't grown in yet so it's easier to navigate, and to find litter.
The muck boots were handy last week; they were a must this week if I was going after litter in the brook and the adjacent soggy ground.
Well, the boots were handy UNTIL I stepped into a deceivingly deep, soft spot in the water.
Pour out the water and wring out the sock!
Here's one of the four bags of litter I collected.
The newly dredged pond, and reconstructed walls of the lower pond, completed around September 2023, look good, and the duck seems to approve.
While crawling around on the banks of the stream, I chanced upon this snake.
Looked dead to me as it wasn't moving a finger (do snakes have fingers to move?) but I wasn't about to grab it so I touched it with a stick. It's tongue flickered oh so slowly as if it came out of brumation a tad too early and got caught in the chill. I was going to call the snake ambulance (if you've never seen a snake ambulance, they're really long 😊), instead I just let it be.
Edible cannabis with deceiving, innocent candy names have been in the news lately. While this was a cannabis vape cartridge and not candy, the reference on the package is apropos to the discussion.
Here's hoping your children don't find edible cannabis candy in their Easter baskets!
Visit #1471, Sunday 24 March 24, 6:55-9:00AM, 4.6 miles, 1.0 lbs. of litter.
Temps in the 20s, sunny with bitter, high winds from the north.
Just like two weeks ago, it rained heavily all day Saturday meaning any venture into Hubbard Park on Sunday was going to be a sloshy affair. (I washed my company van and my car in Saturday's rain, taking advantage of the free rinse!)
I had two different agendas to choose from for Sunday, so I chose the one where I was less likely to get wet, but the thought of drenching my feet again in cold water like the last tromp did not appeal to me.
What to do?
I entered the park via the north end early Sunday morning. The Merimere Reservoir spillway was dumping copious amounts of water.
The high side of the spillway was not employed.
Now I had to cross the same stream that soaked my jeans those two weeks ago.
This time I came prepared.
I switched into my muck boots to cross the brook, then removed them when I stopped to cut the first tree; the soles are too soft for hiking in rocky terrain to be practical.
On this trail last week, I found a couple fallen trees which needed removal from the trail.
As a warm up I cut back this hemlock which wasn't quite blocking the trail.
In the pic above, you can see one of the illegal trail markers I covered over last week, which I failed to show you then.
And boy; did I need a warm up. While working out Friday morning, (at 4:30 in the morning, Elmer!) this week's exercise routine included Sumo Deadlifts.
It was now Sunday and my ass felt like Sister Sebalda paddled me good for talking in class! Hopefully the hike and warm up would alleviate some of the soreness.
Now it was on to some REAL fallen trees.
First tree, done. On to the second.
I reached the top of the trail and began following the road toward West Peak when I chanced upon my Find of the Week.
The child's hat is currently soaking in Oxi-Clean then I'll bring it to Goodwill. You can't throw billed hats in with the regular wash; all that colliding with other clothes invariably cracks the hat's bill. I've ruined many a cycling hat that way, until I wisened up. I'm slow on the uptake...
I picked up another trail near West Peak that would take me back to Merimere Reservoir. I hadn't been on this trail for a while and having the chainsaw with me it would be handy if I found anything across the trail.
While I didn't find anything major, I did trim back one tree sticking into the trail.
Exiting the park at the north end, the spillover was flowing mightily.
The person who continues to defile the trails by painting rocks and writing on trees will experience a broken heart.
At the beginning of March, I mentioned this trail problem and said it would be the only time I would present updates to you.
I have changed my mind.
Visit #1470, Sunday 17 March 24, 6:55-9:25AM, 5.0 miles, 6.7 lbs. of litter.
Temps in the 40s, cloudy.
By keeping you updated on this person's activity, perhaps I can bring pressure or action to stop this vandal or get them help for their psychological problems.
Like Jack Reacher, I've done this before (1:27 in the video).
Hang on for the ride. Here's a sample of what I've found recently.
Rest assured; I cover over or remove whatever I find.
Kind of ironic since this person is painting the trees themselves.
This tree has repeatedly seen such artwork; they even bother to replace the nails I remove. Strange obsession.
During last week's hike, I found that Hubbard Park's current serial vandal has taken to unsanctioned, unattractive marking of a trail.
I planned to hike this trail on Sunday and cover these marks.
To reach the trail, I had to cross the brook which was knee deep in rushing water last week.
What a difference a week makes!
Hiking the trail and covering the white circles with camoflage paint, I forgot to take After photos.
By my count, I PAINTED OVER 176 OF THOSE WHITE CIRCLES.
Also found along that trail today were two fallen trees. I will remove them in the next two weeks.
Also today, I found Season of the Missing Glove 2023/24 Entries #7 and 8.
This week I also found garden variety graffiti and stickers, all of which I removed.
The slightly blurry sticker refers to Zenleaf, a marijuana store with a branch in Meriden. Another hiker commented to me the smell of marijuana is now commonplace in Hubbard Park.
I also performed some garden variety trail maintenance, trimming back this brush which was leaning into the trail.
