Saturday, June 02, 2007

Safe-ly Removed

I spent the morning at the Don Valley cleanup day sponsored by the mountain biking community. A considerable amount of garbage gets tossed down the ravine slopes behind the apartment buildings in the Thorncliffe Park neighbourhood. Much of it is visible from the mountain biking trails, thus the cleanup days which according to the UofT mountain biking club posters, it is their 8th Annual.

Rather than grab a bag and pick up garbage, I decided to concentrate my efforts on one particular item. Lying beside the "Party Atmosphere" trail, just north of the Overlea Bridge, there was a rusty safe with no door. I brought along a hand truck and figured it would be a cinch to just load it on and wheel out of the woods. Unfortunately it turned out to be heavier than I thought. Composed of solid steel, it must have weighed 100+ kg. Not only that but the day turned out to be hot and humid and the mosquitoes were out in full force.


The 'safe' lying in the woods


It fell off my hand truck a couple of times where the trail is a bit uneven


Tim from TORBG lent a helping hand

It took all the stamina I had (and the contents of two water bottles) to muscle that sucker out along the trail. Fortunately, one of the mountain bikers came along and helped me push it out along the last part.

About 25 people showed up for the day and their efforts were rewarded by a free BBQ and a prize giveaway (I scored a Kryptonite U-lock!). As you can see by the small mountain of garbage, the valley benefited as well.


Five shopping carts, three chairs, and assorted other junk collected in two hours - not a bad haul.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

great job guys

Unknown said...

Well done DW & all others
2 hrs huh, imagine a full days worth

Anonymous said...

Nice to see so much trash out of the woods. Don Watcher, thanks for keeping us posted, Great job!

Anonymous said...

Kudos for removing the safe DW, was it only two hours, what an amazing impact. I hope for a larger turnout next year.