My Christmas Gift To You

 Visit #1457, Saturday 23 December 23, 12:30-4:10PM, 4.9 miles, litter < l. 0 lbs.

Temps in the high 30s, cloudy.

Visit #1458, Sunday 24 December 23, 11:30AM-2:15PM, 5.3 miles, 10.0 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the low 40s, cloudy.

Rain with high winds passed through the area on Monday. I had no doubt I would find fallen trees and branches so I packed my chainsaw by default.

My Christmas gift to you dear Hubbard Park hiker are clear trails, although I still have a few trails to inspect in the coming weeks.

I'm just gonna post almost all the photos; many of the fallen trees and branches before and after, some in mid-removal. I posted them to give you an idea of the magnitude of storm damage. Hang on...

Here you can see the remainder of the vine hanging in the air.

Hard to tell from the photo below, but those are off-road motocyclists on the trail in the background. I don't know how they are accessing the trails since the gate at the end of Merimere Reservoir is secure.

Now for the fun stuff!

Season of the Missing Glove 2023/24, entries #2 and 3.

Up at West Peak I found a large bag of what I believe to be litter collected by some unknown person(s).

It weighed 27lbs.! It was likely strategically placed so parks employees would find it. They won't, because I put it in my van and drove it away.

The employees at the water department are STILL not getting the hint and taking away the found board I placed at the water treatment plant OVER THREE WEEKS AGO. Each week I place it against the fence and the following week I find it cast aside, like this week when I hung my first trash bag on the fence.

So I upped my game this week. Let's see if the knuckle draggers get the memo and take it away after I've slid it under the fence. Anyone want to place a bet?!

At the Halfway House I found Juan was practicing his rock carving skills.

While I didn't need practice to remove it.

I found and removed some graffiti from the I-691 walkbridge.

Merry Christmas!