Call of Duty

 

Merimere Reservoir is invisible because of the high humidity.

Visit #1442, Saturday 9 September 23, 7:45-10:35AM, 5.8 miles, 4.7 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 70s, humidity in the 80% range (as you can see from the photo above).

Normally I would alternate weeks of regular trail maintenance with my special project trimming the roadsides to East/West Peak. This was to be a trimming week. But last week I was informed of some fallen trees on other trails. Rather than let them linger for another week I changed my schedule to address these trails.

Also last week, I reported the bollard at the people gate to the road had been missing. I assumed it was stolen. I notified the parks department and received a reply it had been repaired.

Looks like it's the original bollard so maybe it wasn't stolen but merely maliciously removed. Back in July 2019 I had predicted that a bolted bollard would eventually be vandalized. I wish I could predict the winning lottery numbers!

I hiked up the road already dripping in sweat, and had collected enough litter to leave a bag at the water treatment plant. I expected a long hike carrying a chainsaw and I didn't need the extra burden.

Based on the descriptions I received last week, I never did find the fallen trees they mentioned nor did I find evidence someone else did the work. Perhaps I didn't understand their directions. I did however, find several downed trees today so maybe I found what they were talking about.

The first fallen tree was on the Orange blazed trail leading up to Castle Craig.

I hiked the Blue Trail along the Merimere Reservoir ridgeline and never found the trees the hiker mentioned. At the bottom I turned left to another trail leading back up toward Castle Craig and found a hemlock tree partially blocking the trail.

There was no such thing as sweat evaporation today; I was soaked.

At the top I hiked the Blue Trail down and removed yet another tree which I failed to photograph. But I wasn't done yet.

Nearing the parking lot, on a trail behind the Spring House, was one last tree.

In an August 2023 post I listed reasons why I decided to carry bear spray. Well, the bear spray arrived but while the carrying case has a belt loop, it needed a little modification to strap to my backpack. That is now complete and will be a constant companion on my hikes.

The humidity, combined with the long hike and carrying the chainsaw really had me knackered when I was done. I went home and made good use of my couch for a couple hours.