While hiking through scenic Stone Mountain Park in Stone Mountain, GA, I came across a hideous site of candy addiction gone awry. More specifically, bubblegum abuse. Less than halfway up the mountain’s trail there was a power pole in the middle of the granite path, which otherwise blended with the earthy landscape as much as possible. It was almost completely covered in chewed-up wads of gum. It was truly disgusting.
I don’t know what starts trends like this, but I’m sure we all remember the unpleasantness of squishing our fingers into someone else’s blob of gum on the underside of a school desk. In school, at least the reasoning behind such abhorrent behavior was somewhat understandable – kids aren’t supposed to chew gum in school, and sometimes the easiest place to stash it before the teacher walked by was under the desk. But a power pole in a park? Come on. Not only are there plenty of trashcans throughout the park, but from the height of a large number of the gum wads, I’d say that adults had a hand in desecrating the park.
I love gum – in fact, I chew it so often that sometimes I have to take a break or my jaw will be too sore to eat dinner. However, I’m always acutely aware of the potential for careless disposal, and am prepared with either the wrapper or a napkin or even a scrap of paper. We have a responsibility as Candy Addicts to share our love of candy, not our trash, with the world. Besides, nobody wants to see the pattern of your teeth in bright pink on a power pole.
EWWWWW!
Ha! Believe it or not, there was what locals in the Denver area referred to as the “Gum Tree” at the old Elitches amusement park in Denver Colorado. There was this tree that stood next to the “Splinter” a log ride of sorts. Rumor has it that the staff tried several times to rid the tree of the gum with little sucess so they gave up. The gum tree was absolutely covered with thousands of pieces of chewing gum in every imagineable color. It always made evryone waiting in line laugh while succinctly turning your stomach.
Oh, the title had me so hopeful for some awesome new gummy candy to go find and try (I do love gummy candies)! This is really gross, and being a nature lover and hiker myself, I’m glad I haven’t come across one of these in my outings. Man, some of those are so high up there that it looks like some folks REALLY had to put some serious effort into adding their little bit. Ick.
Oh my gosh!
I have seen that very same pole at Stone Mountain, it’s been covered in gum as long as I can remember! I believe there are two other poles with less gum somewhere on the trail.
i hesitate to even put up this link for those of you that are grossed out by a silly little pole:
http://www.locallinks.com/bubblegum_alley.htm
i’ve walked through a few times…even as a kid, i was torn between the sheer mindless fun of it and the overwhelming ick factor.
we had these at camp, and they served a great purpose. kids used to stick their gum under lunch tables so they put a pole right outside the mess hall. they were MEANT to put gum on, I think a lot of these start out that way.
–Anna
Digusting, but I cant help but think that it looks kinda cool.