It's a crisp winter's day but the sun is out, which may make Al Douglas's job just a little less arduous. But he's still got hours of work to do, as he scrubs rock to take off the latest "tag" on one of the most popular climbing routes in the Smoke Bluffs Park.
Penny Lane was spray-painted with five-foot tall letters reading "SAM '09" last weekend, leaving the gleaming rockface tinted red.
Smoke Bluffs caretakers noticed the graffiti and asked Douglas, who has historically dedicated days at a time to building and cleaning routes, to see what he could do about erasing the paint. Some suspect the message refers to Sam Fitzpatrick, who was recently killed in a rock scaling accident, since it appeared on the weekend of Fitzpatrick's memorial service. In response, Douglas said he'd be happy to name one of the routes he's recently completed "Sam '09." But the paint must go, he said.
Vandalism in the form of graffiti, broken glass and various forms of garbage has been a problem in the park for as long as it's been accessible, said Brian Moorehead of the Smoke Bluffs Park Committee.
"The graffiti certainly changes the whole esthetic of the park," he said. "The Burgers and Fries has been a source of real frustration to us over the years. That's the one that really bothers us, and we're probably going to have to sandblast that because it's so bad."
Moorehead is trying to make residents aware that the pristine environment surrounding the wooded, trail-laden area takes a lot of mostly unseen, sometimes back-breaking work to maintain.
"The point I'm trying to make is there are a lot of volunteers working in the park and this is pretty well typical of them putting in time and effort, unpaid work in order the maintain the park."
Moorehead said he will "hit up" user groups for help, such as those involved in a military exercise in the park last summer and students at the North Vancouver Outdoor School.
"That's worked out quite well," he said.
The Squamish Access Society and the Climbers Access Society of B.C. have also held volunteer work sessions during the Squamish Mountain Festival, which has also led to successfully enhanced trails and infrastructure.
So successful, in fact, that Smoke Bluffs stewards are now ready to spread that source of free labour to other needy areas.
"This year it may not necessarily be in the Smoke Bluffs Park. We're in fairly good shape," he said. "We're feeling fairly good about the park so we may encourage work groups to move onto other areas that need a little attention."
