Bake Oven Knob: Day 8 (12-May-2015)

Due to safety concerns this I am putting on hold the Bake Oven Knob project for now. There are too many people there, even on weekdays, and again today trash was thrown down when I was at the bottom. Most of the trash has been removed though, some of what is not I do not have the ability to get to. If I can't get to it, it basically means climbing gear is needed. There is also trash that I refuse to pick up.

This would be one such piece that I will not go anywhere near. I personally feel it is irresponsible to take a baby to a place like Bake Oven Knob. There is no way to take a stroller up there, the child has to be carried in and there is too great of a chance of falling on the uneven terrain. This is just my opinion. I also think if you did choose to take your child up there, you should take the responsibility of removing it's feces infested diaper from the site. This has been at the top since last Monday, others have cleaned up the top, but they all must feel like me because it hasn't moved. 

I worked my way further down the mountain than I have ventured before. It was interesting that all of these coolers ended up at the same elevation, just spread out. So I now refer to this area as the cooler line. These gave me the option to either take out more spray paint cans or glass bottles. I went with the cans, I still don't feel comfortable taking glass up the mountain. I have piled glass in some protective areas along the mountainside so the don't get crushed when other things come down.

Ever wonder what a soda bottle from the 90's looks like now? Well here's one and it looks basically the same as it did when it was thrown down there. It is missing that hard plastic base. 

Cans really don't degrade much either over the years. Someone did shoot this one at some point, but still about the same as when it was discarded.

Not sure if anyone was informed about this crash. It looked devastating and I don't think there were any survivors. My bags and the coolers were filled by the time I found this, so I had to leave it. I did take pieces of it that I found further up out on a previous day.

You're at Panera sitting, waiting for your food. The electronic coaster in front of you seems like it is calling to you. "Take me, take me" it whispers. So you shove it in your pocket and slowly head for the door. You forgot your food, but you weren't really hungry anyway. A bit of relief comes over you as you sit in your car. You did it. You made it out with the electronic coaster of your dreams. As you turn onto the main road out of the parking lot you see a police car in your rear view mirror. You look down at your beloved coaster now sitting on the passenger seat and think to yourself you betrayed me and because of you they are tracking me. Slowly your foot sinks on the gas peddle, you are taking off and soon there are lights flashing behind you. Driving fast you make a sharp left, then a right and soon with the outrageous moves and speeds you just pulled off the cop is nowhere to be seen and you are on a dirt road leading up a mountain. You think to yourself, I must get rid of the evidence. You pull into a parking lot at the top and you know what you must do. After about a half mile hike in from the car you come to a cliff and fling that item you had to have clear off to never be seen again. Yes, I do come up with little stories for just about every piece of trash I find. I'm weird, I know, but you come up with a better explanation of why I found this there.

Find of the day. A bottle from the future. No clue how it got there, but it is clearly labeled 2105. It looks like it was sent back to warn us about the space octopi. Can you tell I again spent a little too much time out in the heat.

This is looking back on the Knob on my way out. There was a group of kids and a couple with a baby when I reached the top. I watched one of the kids throw a full water bottle off the top and they watched me bring everything I collected up. When they saw that I was coming up a girl from the group said to the rest,  "look we can go down over here." I informed her that the Game Commission patrols the area regularly and unless you have a hunting license they will ticket you if they see you off the trail. What I said is true, but I didn't think they would believe it. As far as I saw none of them climbed down. I then said to them, "Please take all of your trash out with you, it isn't fun removing it from down there and I don't get paid for it." The same girl that wanted to go climbing down the side then said "So you are like a firefighter? you know you're volunteering." I call her a girl, but she was not a child. I would say very late teens and I looked at her and replied "I am nothing like a firefighter, but yes, I am a volunteer." All most all of this group had water bottles and some even had fast food bags. They all said they would take their trash with them. They passed me in the parking lot as I was packing things up. None of them had anything with them. It is one thing to ignorantly litter, I feel it is something else to watch a person clean up garbage, say to them yeah we will take all of our trash out, then just leave it. They disrespected me personally and the environment with that one. I am ending this very long post with a flower. I don't know the species, but it is so much nicer than trash.