Punishing Heat

This heron had it easy; he could hang out near the water at Merimere Reservoir and maybe pick up some free breakfast.

Visit #1030, Saturday 12 August 16, 8:30-11:00AM, 6.8 miles. Temps in the 90's with humidity that could wilt the stiffest beehive hairdo.

My occasional assistant in Hubbard Park, Paul Bernier, mentioned to me a week or so ago that the parking lot at West Peak was returning to trashy conditions too soon after we had cleaned up the area.

With that tip in mind, I decided a return trip was in order.

We started relatively early in an attempt to beat the heat and humidity but failed on both counts. However, we did succeed in collecting a lot of trash from the roadsides as we walked. We soon filled and deposited our first pair of trash bags at the north end of Merimere Reservoir.

You can see the backside of my backpack is already soaked with sweat.

Up the road we trudged. Despite the oppressive weather, I was surprised to see a number of cyclists, runners, and walkers.

At the fork to East/West Peak we dropped off a second pair of trash bags, while Paul walked a little further toward East Peak to pick up a couple other pieces of trash. We then turned toward West Peak.

At West Peak we cleaned the parking lot and left another bag of trash, along with a couple car parts.

Note the color of Paul's pants; they're soaked with sweat to within inches of his shoes.

We hiked back to the parking lot where we dropped off what little remaining trash we collected, and talked of joining that heron in Merimere reservoir.

I leave you this week with a view from West Peak through the haze.