Playscapes

 

They're not all the same.

Visit #1610, Sunday 26 July 26, 6:15-9:35 a.m., 5.3 miles, 4.3 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the low 70s, sunny and dry.

In a previous post I commented and posted a photo about playscapes of yore versus today, where the children are protected from injury and the cities from lawsuits.

In a recent edition of The Economist magazne, I read Scandinavia has a different take on playscapes. It's a funny and interesting read, reprinted below. If you're computer savvy you can enlarge the article to make it easier to read.

Hubbard Park is MY playscape; sharp tools, tick bites, snakes, paint mess, and other potential harm aligns me closer to Scandinavia than America. In fact, I sorta look like the kid in the article above, after my hikes.

Last week I noticed some duplicate graffiti on the I-691 walkbridge. I was not able to remove all of it then so this week I came equipped to do so.

Enroute to the walkbridge I found this tag from national parks literature, and it was apparently addressed to me.

Ironically, the backside of the tag suggests volunteering at a park, which is somewhat contradictory to leaving things like this lying trailside. I do appreciate being recognized for my work, however.

At the walkbridge I found Cat Graffiti #38 since November 2016.

Before getting down to painting, I removed it.

As to the graffiti painting; I was not paying attention. Last week I pointed out the wax pencil tag was a duplicate of a spray painted tag at the far end of the walkbridge. What I noticed this week was the same tag was at the bollard end of the bridge as well. Compare them and see if you agree. I set up and went to work on both.

Incidentally, I weighed my backpack today after a conversation with a hiker got me curious. Today's load was a whopping 30.3 lbs.!

I was heading up to West Peak today. Nearing the top I encountered a wood frog who was patient enough to pose for me.

I hiked down a trail that led to the apparent logging project that's going on so I could confirm my suspicions.

I did find more tags and trees marked.

At the bottom I found a bag of trash.

I'm sure this trash belongs to the logger not because of all the Dunkin' cups and empty energy drink containers but because of the empty container of hydraulic fluid.

Since I found all this some distance from their equipment, I relocated everything closer so they would not forget to remove it.

Exiting the trail, I found new graffiti on the street sign. I've removed graffiti from this sign before.

The wax pencil proved tougher than my on-hand remedies and in the process I was removing the black paint. I found this tag in several other locations today. I plan to return next week to my playscape ready to play hardball.