I'm Current

According to the Centers for Disease Control, one out of six American children is obese. That sixth child was at Hubbard Park recently, and it wasn't pretty.

Finally, after weeks of playing catch up with all the storm damage in March, I've finally finished canvassing all the trails and clearing them as necessary.

Visit #1131, Sunday 8 April 18, 12:15-4:40PM, 6.0 miles.
Temps in the low 40's, partly sunny.

In an undocumented visit, I rode to Hubbard Park on Saturday on my mountain bike to eradicate some graffiti I found last week, and to get a bike ride in. This would save time on Sunday's trip.

I found a similar symbol on a nearby rock last fall. This time, I tried sandpaper to remove it, but progress wasn't fast enough for my liking. Anticipating this, I brought spray paint.

It's the same color as the underlying paint from my previous work so it should dry to the same shade.

I made my way down to near the beehive fountain, where the sandpaper worked just fine.

Freed of graffiti duties, I was able to concentrate on fallen trees and such, on Sunday. I hiked the walkbridge over I-691 where I found one of the two flags on the fencing has been removed. Rightly so, as it was getting tattered and I too had been thinking of removing it. I finished the other person's work by removing the tyraps and grommets left over from the flag.

I reached the road downhill from East/West Peak and enjoyed a library-quiet walk down the road while I picked up litter.

At the bottom of the descent, I picked up a trail that would return me to West Peak. I expected to find a lot of fallen branches and trees but the trail was surprisingly clear.

The rest of what I found on the trail was minor, UNTIL I reached the top end of the trail head, where I encountered Len has been busy disturbing the trails again. I had previously cut up this fallen hemlock and cast the branches aside; he piled them across the trail, only for me to clear them again today.

I exited the trail and walked to West Peak, where I cleaned the parking lot and surrounding area, leaving two heavy bags of litter to be collected by the parks department.

I stopped at West Peak and enjoyed the views east and south.

Upon rejoining the trail, I found one final tree to clear, making myself current and completing the restoration of the trails, until the next windstorm.

I followed the Blue Trail down to the lower trails, to the Halfway House, and back to the park where I deposited one last bag of litter. And I stayed off the swings...