Tropical Storm Nicole

Well now, I guess Nicole explains why I was rained on both Saturday and Sunday.

Plaster your nose right up against your phone and you might see the gold dome of city hall.

Visit #1393a, Saturday 12 November 22, 8:10-10:30AM, mileage not recorded, 3.2lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 60s, light rain reducing to sprinkles by hike's end.

Visit #1394, Sunday 13 November 22, 6:50-9:55AM, 5.5 miles, 9.0lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 50s, light steady rain dissipating by hike's end.

Saturday's hike was supposed to be off-the-record with no trash pickup or trail maintenance but once I saw the first piece of litter, my Pavlovian response kicked in and all bets were off.

I hiked off-trail because last week I spied something unusual which needed further inspection.

It's a car part for sure, and if you saw where I found it you'd be scratching your head as to how it got there.

I'm trying to identify it and have put out some feelers; we'll see where this leads.

Anyway, once I grabbed the car part, I emerged from the trail near Castle Craig and walked down the road toward Merimere Reservoir.

Passing by the water department gate near the Maloney Canal, I see they have replaced the missing lock I reported last week, and sent an e-mail to the water department advising them of the issue. And as predicted, no acknowledgement from them.

Speaking of the Maloney Canal, Nicole has it flowing like the shopping crowds on Black Friday, into the reservoir. As a sixty year old male with typical age related prostate issues, I DREAM of flowing like this!

Checking on the status of the Merimere Reservoir Alligator, I see despite Nicole's efforts, it's morphed into a flat-billed playpus.

And not only did Nicole bring rain, she brought wind, too.

I was able to move this off the road. Forgive the blurry photo.

However, I was unable to move this.

I returned to the parking lot and decided I'd rendezvous with this tree on Sunday with my chainsaw.

So on Sunday morning I came back to Hubbard Park under similar gray skies and rain, with my chainsaw.

But when I arrived at the fallen tree I discovered someone(s) had managed to move it aside. I guess they didn't have a chainsaw with them. But now I did, so I gave the tree a proper send off.

The other reason I wanted to bring my chainsaw was, I was informed by a park-goer of another fallen tree on a trail.

It was 8:30AM now still raining, but that didn't stop me from removing this fallen tree.

I hiked until I connected to the Blue Trail, where on Saturday I found graffiti on one of the Blue Trail markers.

Using Goof-Off and a plastic brush I was able to remove most of the ink and leave most of the paint. The trail marker is plastic so I couldn't flatten it.

Making my way back to the park, I stopped at one of the kiosks and found this ahem, uh, interesting poster. Whoever posted it actually had it sealed in plastic. I think their thoughts were sealed in something too.

Here's hoping you voted for the right "midget spirits"!