Into Fall

 

Saturday brought a cool morning. The rest of the day turned out picture-perfect.

Ah, fall is here.

Visit #1330, Saturday 25 September 21, 8:00-10:15AM, 4.8 miles, 9.0lbs. of litter.

Temps in the low 60's to start, climbing to near 80, sunny.

I hadn't been to West Peak in a while so Saturday's route would take me there, via East Peak and Castle Craig.

Recent grass cutting by the Meriden Parks Department along the Soap Box Derby track exposed a lot of hidden litter. I collected enough by the time I reached the water treatment plant that I chose to leave the bag there and open another.

On the Green Trail, I found a fallen tree which I vaguely recalled when inspecting from the recent tropical storms Henri and Ida, but apparently forgot about. I put it on the list to be removed in two week's time.

Just west of the Halfway House, this large branch had fallen. I removed it.

Up at Castle Craig, I found the parking lot and surrounding area very clean. I've been suspecting for roughly the last year that others, whether the Meriden Parks Department or privateers, have been keeping things cleaner than I would normally find them.

I reached West Peak and paused to enjoy the view.

On the way down I encountered another fallen tree, which I'll tend to in two week's time.

Back at the parking lot, I found it much more full than when I arrived at 8AM, when there were merely enough cars to count on one hand. Today was certainly a day to enjoy the outdoors.

I dropped off my trash for the weekend, but I still wasn't done.

During last week's adventures, I mentioned discovering some new graffiti but I couldn't photograph it due to a technical issue. I solved my problem, and I'm here to tell the story.

I found new graffiti at Echo Point but wasn't prepared to treat it. So I returned later that weekend on my bike with some tools.

Neither a plastic nor wire brush would remove it. However, I brought something stronger- Citri Strip.

I applied it once, went for a thirty minute bike ride, and upon return scrubbed it with both brushes. It definitely loosened the paint to a goo, made more so when I applied the brushes again. I slathered on more Citri-Strip and went home. I knew rain was scheduled during the week so the Citri-Strip would wash away. When I returned by bike again this past Sunday, this was the updated result.

Before going the Citri-Strip route a third time, I tried scrubbing with both the plastic and the wire brushes again.

Probably good enough for government work, but not for me. So I added Citri-Strip (is this beginning to sound like an infomercial?) one last time and will leave it for the week, where it will dry up naturally and I don't believe any rain is forecast. I will revisit this next week to inspect the final product.