A Calm Saturday - NOT!

 

This was a day of opposites; the sky and water were turbulent while trail activity was mellow. Sort of.

Visit #1602, Saturday 30 May 26, 6:25-8:45AM. 4.4 miles, 3.0 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 40s, very breezy and clearing from overnight showers.

I started my hike on the trail behind the daffodils and was quite surprised to encounter a raccoon, which I only noticed when I heard a high pitched, low volume hiss. Raccoons are usually nocturnal so at first I thought it might be rabid, then guessed it may have given birth and was protecting its babies. My second suspicion turned out to be right.

I considered taking a photo of the raccoon but I am hardly as talented as St. Francis of Assisi, and I immediately moved on whereupon -

- I picked up my Find of the Week.

Up and over the highway I hiked, and further up, to the road to Castle Craig. But I walked the road down, and picked up litter along the way.

Reaching the sharp curve at the bottom of the road, I found, and removed, Cat Graffiti #34 since November 2016. I imagine the "artiste" is trying to make them difficult for me to remove since I had to precariously stand on a guardrail to reach it.

And speaking of counts and removals, add Foam Sticker #25 for 2026.

This weekend I helped a neighbor remove a stand of Japanese Knotweed. Until this week I had never heard of this aggressive, difficult to remove weed so I had to study up. Only then did I realize there is a stand of it IN HUBBARD PARK, down by the retention ponds. I'll have to photograph it soon.

My neighbor was sorely lacking in accurate information (and patience) on how to eradicate this. I gave him a lot of homework to do, and a bottle of weedkiller.