Graffiti Like Gypsy Moths

Almost as colorful as 4th of July fireworks.

Visit #1086, Saturday 1 July 17, 9:45AM-12:35PM, 5.6 miles.
Temps in the low 80's, sunny.

Gypsy moths have been a real problem this year in Connecticut. While I doubt it's related, graffiti in Hubbard Park has also been a real problem this year. If you won't peruse earlier posts from my blog for proof, then just read this entry.

I was fortunate today to have the help of Paul Bernier in tidying up the trails before the holiday.

We hiked a clockwise loop. I wanted to continue the roadside trimming I started last week by extending my route up to West Peak.

Enroute, Paul stopped in numerous spots to cut back the thorns which grow aggressively in the summer months.

Along the way while picking up trash, I came upon my Find of the Week.

I was hoping to pop one of these babies and do a Timothy Leary imitation, but Paul suggested waiting until I was home, near a couch and able to dial 911 when things went wrong. Before I did however, I did a little research and found DMG was not going "to take me higher".

As we reached the walkbridge over I-691, we ran into a host of new graffiti which wasn't there in the past couple weeks. Fortunately I carried some spray paint which covered it reasonably well.

 

 

Both sides of the bridge were tagged. I untagged them.

While I was painting over the graffiti, Paul was removing numerous newly planted stickers from the bridge, and did more pruning.

Done with our maintenance on the bridge, we hiked the trails up to my first planned stop.

Last week I reported finding these rocks mysteriously painted white. I covered them with gray spray paint but the color you see didn't camouflage the rocks well. I may return and try another solution.

We reached the top of the trail and my second planned stop.

I began to use sandpaper to remove the graffiti I found here last week but it was time consuming. Then I realized the gray paint would definitely do the trick quickly.

Paul and I reached the road and walked toward West Peak, picking up trash and trimming roadside branches that get in the way of hikers. Enroute I continued to find graffiti and paint over it.

Same color as the graffiti I found on the walkbridge.

We stopped short of the West Peak parking lot and followed the road to Castle Craig, where we didn't clean up the parking lot but left a full bag of trash for the parks department to collect later.

Paul and I hiked the trails down from Castle Craig back to the park. As we walked by the water treatment plant, I spied the planks I picked up last week and placed against the fence. They still haven't been removed. Go figure.

I caught one more piece of graffiti before we reached the parking lot. "JK" has been mentioned here several times before. He's about as widespread as Gypsy moths, and about as welcome.

We dropped off our trash bags and left to prepare for the holiday. Paul and I plan to keep all our fingers; we hope you do, too.