Finally

 Finally, fall arrives. Cool dry mornings, aahhh...

Visit #1327, Monday-Labor Day, 6 September 21, 7:30-8:40AM, 1.0 miles, 5.3lbs. of litter.

Temps in the mid-60's, sunny and mildly humid.

Visit #1328, Saturday 11 September 21, 7:40-9:55AM, 3.6 miles, 8.9lbs. of litter.

Temps in the mid-50's to start, rising to the 70's today; sunny, dry, and very breezy up at Castle Craig.

I couldn't wait much longer to use my new pole saw to trim the roadsides to East and West Peak, so on Labor Day I finally began, starting at the Castle and working my way down. Unfortunately, I was only one hour into my task when I received an after hours service call and had to leave. I'm sure there will be plenty of good weekends coming up to continue. The opening photo is also a good example of how overhead clearances (at least on the left hand side, for now) are improved with the pruning.

Early Saturday morning I was finally able to address the graffiti at East Peak. I was alerted to this many weeks ago by a regular hiker, but Storms Elsa, Henri, and Ida kept forcing a delay as I dealt with fallen trees and limbs on the trails.

The morning was dry, sunny, and incredibly breezy out on the rocks.

And this recent bloom of graffiti was quite widespread.

My Find of the Week, grill tongs.

I also found one of the tools of the vandals' trade.

I painted over everything you see above, and more. The complete task took roughly an hour.

I returned my painting gear to my vehicle, removed my coveralls, picked up litter along the nearby trails, then continued to do so around Castle Craig and the parking lot.

Afterwards, I drove down to the park and cleaned up the trails on the south side of I-691. Finally I was done!