It Pays To Do Your Homework

No, doing your homework won't get you a beer from me. This unopened can of Bud Light was my Find of the Week.

Visit #873, Thursday 29 May 14, 6:00-6:30PM, mileage n/a.
Temps in the low 70's, sunny.

Visit #874, Saturday 31 May 14, 10:00AM-12:55PM, 3.9 miles.
Temps in the low 70's, variable clouds, some sprinkles.

To form an idea of what my weekend To Do list would include, I took a bike ride to Hubbard Park on Thursday. I  pedaled the road up to Castle Craig and then over to West Peak. Both parking lots had a good amount of trash so after patrolling the trails below Castle Craig I decided both parking lots would be tended to on Saturday. Thursday's homework saved me a lot of aimless hiking, wondering where to maximize my efforts.

As luck would have it, Paul Bernier called to offer his services for Saturday. When Paul calls to lend a hand, I try to address any concerns he might have and fortunately, he noticed the same messy parking lots that I did. With our agendas in alignment, off we went.

We actually drove my car up to Castle Craig. I would stop my car as we went whenever one of us spied a large piece of trash, and Paul would get out and pick it up. Not the most thorough work, but better than nothing.

At Castle Craig, we split up and policed the parking lot and surrounding area, then walked over to West Peak. Our bags were full by the time we reached the fork in the road, so we deposited them there.

Just prior to reaching the parking lot at West Peak, Paul removed a couple small trees which had fallen partially into the road many months ago.

Once we finished with West Peak, we took the Blue Trail down and walked the Main Trail to the Halfway House, then performed an about face and hiked back up to Castle Craig to retrieve the car. We stopped at the fork in the road, collected the first 2 bags of trash, consolidated four trash bags into 3 bags, and returned to the park.

Many thanks to Paul Bernier for assisting me this week.