The Wet and the Dead

The rain was coming after me.

Visit #1248, Saturday 23 May 20, 7:30AM-12:40PM, 8.4 miles, 20.4lbs. of litter.
Temps in the high 60's, showers developing.

Visit #1248x, Sunday 24 May 20, 6:30-7:30AM, mileage and litter n/a.

I called up reliable pal Paul Bernier to assist me in removing a fallen tree across a trail which I discovered last week.

We started early, hoping to avoid the forecasted rain.

Here's my assistant, resting after some heavy lifting.

With Paul's assistance, the job went MUCH quicker than had I done it all myself. We were finished in under 30 minutes.

Afterward, Paul and I parted ways. I hiked some trails up to West Peak, then returned to the park via the road, picking up litter along the way. Unfortunately, my luck didn't hold out, and it started to rain.

The rain didn't seem to bother this guy.

Nearing the gate, I found yet another of what's becoming the ubiquitous painted rocks.

Upon reaching the dumpster to drop off my collected litter for the day, both my camera and my weight scale were dead so I couldn't document my work. 😞

I decided to return to the park early Sunday morning with working equipment.

First I took a hike, and when I arrived at the Halfway House I found someone had ripped off one of the boards surrounding the support posts, and the board split in half along its length. I knew I had to fix it before the board went missing or was broken further.

I returned to the park, pulled my trash bag out of the dumpster and weighed it, along with litter collected on Sunday.

Later Sunday afternoon, I returned yet again armed with the tools make repairs at the Halfway House.

First, I had to remove all the brads originally used to install the board.

Then I used screws I had on-hand at home to secure the board. In the photo, you can see where the board was split along its length.

I had performed similar repairs in September 2010 and they've avoided sticky fingers since then so I don't see why this will fare any worse.

Happy Memorial Day.