Findings

 Visit #1216, Sunday 13 October 19, 7:40-11:20AM, 5.1 miles, 15.6lbs. of litter.
Temps in the low 60's, sunny and pleasant.

Last week I noticed a lot of spray painting on the road from the park, around Merimere Reservoir. Most of this is the result of charity running/walking events. While I understand the intent, the more the painting accrues, the more it becomes an eyesore.

I took it upon myself to paint over the markings this week, but found spray painting over other spray painting was ineffective. I'll probably return with a better approach in a few weeks.

I'm going to suggest to the city they tell event organizers use removable signage or chalk for their route markings.

Here I tried using gray spray paint over the existing marking. It did not blend in the road to my satisfaction. Besides, I ran out of paint...

Along the road I found this exhaust pipe. Rather than leave it for someone to pick up later, I carried it for the rest of my hike as sort of a workout exercise.

This seemed to be the week to find artistic rocks. I have found similar artifacts in the past.

My other goal today was to clean up litter tossed into the spillways at the north end of Merimere Reservoir. I had to wait until the spillways were dry, which occurs maybe once a year.

 I picked up the trail and hiked up toward Castle Craig. Along the way, I found a tree fallen across the trail. This means next week will be a Power Tool Weekend!

Aurora lost her goldfish. I set them free.

Reaching Castle Craig, I cleaned up the parking lot then followed the trails down. At the Halfway House I found yet another painted rock, this one in the form of that awful sweet, candy corn.

Clever, but yuck!

At the south end of Merimere Reservoir on the main trail I found another fallen tree. You can see from the photo how close it is to the road. I had forgotten about the high winds we had last week. This fallen tree extends far to the left of the photo.  A second fallen tree makes it easier to justify carrying the chainsaw next week.

 I can't wait for next week's chainsaw filled revelry!