Mellow

 

Visit #1534, Saturday 24 May 25, 6:50-8:50AM, 3.8 miles, 3.7 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 50s, cloudy with showers possible.

I like three-day weekends such as this Memorial Day weekend; there's that extra day to decompress-no rush to prepare for the week ahead.

It also makes it easier to rationalize getting up and hitting the trails so early. I was already up at Castle Craig at 7:45AM. Where were YOU?

Seeing the painted heart on the tree last week and doing something about it reminded me I better check on the other trails this vandal uses to see if I might find other signs. Yep.

I came prepared, found three more hearts (one addressed to ME!), and covered over them.

In addition, here's what else I found and removed. Weird stuff.

Done with that entertainment, I made my way to Castle Craig where I found a number of graffiti tags.

On the park bench I was able to cover it with spray paint; on the others I respected the rocks and instead used a wire brush to remove them.

I did take a break from my work to enjoy the view.

Hiking down from the castle, I found Lionel Messi's missing soccer ball.

It was while hiking toward the Halfway House that I came upon #16 in the series, since November 2016, of the cat's butt graffiti. The trail marker was too high for this height disadvantaged person to reach.

What to do?

Well, what I did was return even earlier to Hubbard Park on Sunday morning-on location at 6:33AM to be exact-on my  mountain bike.

Using my patented Short Person's Extend-o Stick® and Sin Remover Fluid, I made ahem, short work of the graffiti.

Now to spend the rest of the Memorial Day Weekend continuing to decompress. Enjoy your decompression, too.

Settling In For the Season

 A spider's gotta eat, too.

Visit #1533, Saturday 17 May 25, 6:35-9:00AM, 5.3 miles, 7.0 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 60s, very foggy.

Visit #1534, Sunday 18 May 25, 6:15-7:00AM, mileage and litter n/a.

Temps in the high 50s, sunny.

This being the first full week the road to East/West Peak would be open to traffic, I thought I'd walk the road up to West Peak and see if there was a spike in litter.

Foggy was the operative word of the day from the beginning of my hike to the end.

There was a new development on the road; the parks department has begun to install speed bumps. I've heard many complaints from walkers and hikers about speeding cars on this road so it was good to see the issue getting some attention.

 The project is not complete judging by the number of sign posts with bolts but no signage, and adjacent marking on the road but no speed bump.

But I'm stumped as to why some speed bumps are continuous across the pavement and some split into two sections-was this by design or something else?

Returning to the park, I noticed the heart painted on the tree has returned. As you can see from the black paint, I've covered it before. Shortly you'll see I returned to the park to cover it up.

While stopping at the dirt parking lot at the northwest corner of Mirror Lake to pick up litter, I found these totally burned up jumper cables. I can't imagine what improper application caused this, but they were clearly under-capacity for the current flowing through them. The resulting fire must have been impressive! And of course, I wonder whether the dead vehicle actually started after this.

I dropped off the toasted jumper cables along with my litter, at the trash cans and called it a day.

But I planned to return very early Sunday morning to paint over that heart on the tree, so I rode my mountain bike up West Main Street and entered the trail across from Belmont Avenue. I thought for sure I'd be the first one there but as I arrived there were two cars already parked, and a man was approaching from the trail carrying a box. Once I inquired about what he had, a conversation began...

Ryan has hosted parties at various parks in the state for some twenty years, some officially permitted, some not. Hubbard Park was of the latter. Saturday night's party was on the far side of the walkbridge over I-691 and if I recall about a dozen friends attended including some kids who were given glowsticks to play with, and one person traveled as far away as Worcester MA. This party wouldn't be complete without music so Ryan actually brought a DJ setup powered by a generator! To his credit, Ryan was sure to police up the area so as not to leave a trace, even picking up cigarette butts so while his party was not quite legal he was at least diligent in cleaning up afterwards-no harm/no foul. Unfortunately for him and the partygoers, things were cut short by Saturday night's showers. Ryan titles his parties for his adverts and this one was titled "Rainbows and Unicorns".

So before I tended to the graffiti, I offered to help remove the remaining equipment from his soiree and schlep it back to his car.

Done with assisting Ryan, I rode to the tree and spray painted yet again over the recurring heart.

The other reason I returned to Hubbard Park on Sunday is, upon leaving the park on Saturday I noticed a plush toy placed in the newly constructed beehive at Mirror Lake.

There were several in Hubbard Park at one time, with only one original beehive remaining that I know of.  This new incarnation was placed in memory of Walter Hubbard as per the plaque at its top. I'd previously seen other toys placed there such as these two from March of this year.

After confirming with Kathy Matula at the parks department that these were not officially sanctioned displays, and I considered them disrespectful to Walter, I decided I'd add to my list of duties to keep the beehive clean so I removed the duck and will continue to do so as I see things appear.

The Load Out

 

It ain't over until it's all packed away and gone.

Visit #1532, Saturday 10 May 25, 8:20-9:30AM, 4.2 miles, 2.5 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 50s, cloudy but clearing after Friday and overnight rain.

The Daffodil Festival is over, but some signs remain. It reminds me of this classic song:

After seeing the remnants of last week's fireworks display from the Halfway House and my concerns on whether the site would be cleaned up in the aftermath, I went hiking properly equipped.

I was ready to do the deed myself, but my concerns were for naught as Chris Bourdon and the parks crew did a righteous job themselves. A tip of the rake and my thanks to them all.

That left me with little to do but hunt down litter and remove a couple stickers.

This changed my time budget significantly. I returned to my vehicle, dropped off the rake, and used my loppers and hedge clippers to hike to another trail and trim back fast growing thorn bushes and other vegetation. Other trails will get similar attention in future weeks.

Hopefully the worst of the rain is behind us and drier trails are in our future.

Sneaky Moves, Week Two

 

First there were fireworks, then no fireworks, then fireworks!

Visit #1531, Sunday 4 May 25, 6:10-7:45AM, 2.4 miles, 1.0 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the upper 50s, cloudy after a night of showers.

On Saturday I rode my mountain bike on the trails in Hubbard Park. As I entered at the south end of Merimere Reservoir on that sunny day, I found the gate open and then mere seconds behind me came a parade of vehicles setting up for the Daffodil Festival fireworks display. I caught back up with the group as they parked and began setup. I chatted with the fire marshal as he looked for a spot to tie off caution tape. It was going to be good weather for fireworks...

Back home that night, it clouded up then I heard the pitter-patter of rain; I guess there were no fireworks... I thought the purpose of rescheduling the Daffodil Festival to a later date was to AVOID the spring rain?!

On Sunday morning I hiked onto the trails early to remove a fallen tree I discovered last week.

Maybe thirty minutes later using The Big Johnson, I was done.

I was curious if the fireworks really did go off last night so I hiked the couple hundred yards to the Halfway House to see for myself.

Yep, they did, despite the rain. I trust the parks department will send someone to the Halfway House to clean up the debris. In the past this has not been the case.

Unfortunately, leaving the soggy site was not so easy.

Either they lost a mudflap during their attempts to get unstuck, or used one for traction. I was kind enough to take it with me.

On the return trip to my vehicle I spotted Cat Graffiti #15 since November 2016.

This is also #15 REMOVED cat graffiti.

One other trinket found and removed today.