Lehigh River (30-July-2015)

Picked up where I left off yesterday on the Lehigh Gap Nature Center property. It turned out to be a quick day. I did find enough non-recyclables to fill a whole bag, but only collected less than half a bag of recyclables. What stopped me today was running out of walkable shoreline. The brush just got too thick and there were no trails. I am happy it worked out this way because I was able to get out of there before the storms came in.

This was the last debris pile I ran into. It was washed up against what I think was an old bridge foundation. Some bottles, mostly footwear and styrofoam.

I think everyone remembers these from elementary school.

It takes a lot of force to do this to one of these paddles. Would have liked to have seen how this happened.

This is the only video game case I have ever found on a shoreline. I hope it is the last.

I know I am repeating myself, because I mentioned this in my last post. I find lots of sandals, river shoes and other footwear on river banks. It is extremely important that if you go on the river you wear old closed toes shoes that can be tied. I gave the example of a torn aluminum can yesterday, but below are two more very good reasons.

This was the third site this year that I have found needles. Wear shoes, you do not want an uncapped one of these stuck in your foot. I placed this in a thick gatorade bottle and the Lehigh Gap Nature Center was nice enough to take it off my hands today. If you find needles while hiking or paddling please inform local law enforcement and ask them to come and remove the item.

I found this knife open just as it is in the photo. I have found multiple knives on river banks and in the river itself. I rarely find them closed. Just another reason I cannot stress enough to wear proper footwear on or near the water.

It was nice to see the trash I collected yesterday was already picked up. Filled up the same can again today.

My next post may not be until Sunday or Monday. I will be out collecting again tomorrow, but I will be away for the weekend and will not have the ability to post.

Lehigh River (29-July-2015)

It was a hot one today. Being down by the river doesn't help much unless you are swimming or floating. I didn't partake in either today, just worked on taking out the trash. Three bags was the total, two of recyclables and one of junk. I worked on the Lehigh Gap Nature Center's property down stream of the boat launch. I hadn't been to this area recently so I didn't know what to expect.

Right below the boat launch there were a couple debris piles like this one, but not much trash. Seeing this I didn't think there would be much to collect all day. When I was at this particular debris pile I think I startled a man who was fishing. He swam from a small island over to around where I was to get something from his bags that were on the shore. He didn't see me until he was only about 15 feet away. Talked to him for a minute and he said that an area further down river had a good amount of trash.

Found this nice pair of specs. Added them to the collection.

Someone is truly missing this fancy footwear. If you are paddling or tubing down any river, please wear an old pair of shoes that can be tied. Sandals, crocs and water shoes often come off. It is for your own safety that you should wear something that won't come off and it helps keep unwanted footwear off our riverbanks. Also, just think what it would feel like if you stepped barefoot on a torn aluminum can.  

A nice view of the river with a small beach. It is views like this that make cleaning up other peoples trash bearable. 

I want to take this out of there, but it is huge and I don't know where I would go with it. I am sure I can get it downstream with my kayak, I just don't know where I would be able to take it off the river. 

For the longest time today the trash was really sporadic and then... I found these bottles... 

Then I saw this. Bottles and styrofoam were everywhere. Walked to what I thought was the middle of the trash field, set down my bags and just started collecting. 

This American Toad was in the heavily trashed area. Only two amphibian species all day. The other was a Pickerel Frog that didn't want to stick around for a photo.

I did however find these fake amphibian eggs. At least I think that's what this is. Any other ideas as to what this might have been from?

Filled my first bag of plastics then started piling up for the second bag. The trash field just kept going and I kept going and I really did feel overwhelmed. 

I had to stop collecting non-recyclables and topped the bag with the styrofoam cooler.

Found this when surrounded by plastic bottles and I just started laughing. Bottle, if only your message got out to more people. Definitely my favorite piece of trash today. 

This second pile topped of my second recyclable bag. Once that was filled I was done and had to try to figure out a way back to my car with three large garbage bags. I could't go out the way I came in because the path was just too narrow.

I ended up making my way out to this field. Never had seen this view of Lehigh Gap before. The Goldenrod and other plants in this field were up to six feet high and it wasn't easy making my way through. When I got out I realized my camera no longer had a lens cap. I already lost one this year, so I left the trash by the D&L Trail and went back in. It was like finding a lens cap in the field above. Only took me about fifteen minutes to find it and I was relieved. I don't want to leave anything behind when I am out cleaning up and especially not something I need.

Non-recycleables were left by the D&L Trail in this can. Loaded the recyclables in my car and I was off.

Sorted the recyclables when I got home. There should not be this much trash on our river banks. There is and there is more out there. Will probably pick up tomorrow on the same shore I worked on today going further downstream. 

Delaware River (27-July-2015)

Two full bags of recyclables taken out of Delaware Canal State Park. All of this was collected just below the fish ladder, at the confluence of the Lehigh and Delaware. I have cleaned this area multiple times in the past and I know there are groups that clean this section on occasion as well.  

When I collected today I put cans and bottles all together to make things go a little bit faster. Sorting at home doesn't take long and anything that makes cleaning up go a little faster works for me. 

There is no safe way to get this pile out of there without special tools, so it is still there. I believe the DCNR does clean this out from time to time. Just seeing this amount of trash bothers me. It's even more bothersome not being able to take care of it.

Before and after of a debris pile that is being consumed in green. Left the styrofoam today. There were no trash cans by the parking lot and my recycling does not take styrofoam. So I don't like to pick and choose with the trash I am collecting, but I need places to take what I collect.

You may notice in this before and after set that near the center of the after a lone plastic bottle was left behind. It looked to be filled with used toilet paper, so it will remain there.

When cans are found in areas like this they have to be torn open and washed out. It takes time, but its the only way they can be recycled.

River spatula.

Pulled multiple cans out of trees today the water must have been higher than I expected lately. There was also a lot of clothing items and plastic bags caught on branches. If anyone can find me a place near by this area to deposit non-recyclables I will be happy to got back and get what I left behind.

Took a walk down the canal path after I filled the two bags. In this photo there is one Red-Eared Slider on the left and three Painted Turtles on the right. Red-Eared Sliders are an introduced species that do not belong in our waterways. They are popular in the pet trade and for decades have been released in our streams, rivers, canals and lakes. The problem they pose is they might out compete our native species for resources. If you have Red-Eared Sliders as pets, please keep them, it is illegal to release any reptile or amphibian in PA and you may be harming the populations of turtles that belong here.

Painted turtle drifting down the canal.

Leaving you today with this view across the Lehigh into Easton. My car will be in the shop the next two days so hopefully I will have a new post up on Thursday. 

Lehigh River (26-July-2015)

Very little this afternoon. Worked on a small island in Slatington. It looked as though the recent high waters pushed the lighter items like plastics right through the island. The only place they seemed to settle was in debris piles at the downstream end.

This was the largest grouping of plastics. Not much at all. It was kind of nice walking down the island and passing debris pile after debris pile and seeing little to no trash.

Did find another pair of river glasses.

I hope the person who lost this didn't need it.

This barrel looks like it has spent a good amount of time tumbling down the river bottom. I wonder what was in it when it was thrown into the river and how far of a journey it had to get where it is now? This still remains on the island, didn't have anywhere to take it.

If you look closely you can see the twisted remain of either a car or truck. 

This spider and some domesticated/mallard ducks were the only wildlife I saw on my short collecting adventure. Going to the Delaware tomorrow. It would be nice if I didn't find that much trash there too, but I don't think that is likely.

Lehigh River (25-July-2015)

I was able to get out on the water again today. The trip started at the Glen Onoco access of Lehigh Gorge State Park. Normally on weekends I try to avoid this area. The access was packed with rafters, bikers and hikers and the amount of people there really stresses me out. Once on the water things were much better. I was able to paddle away from all the commotion and got to work looking for trash.

My first stop didn't yield much, but I did get to pick up some cans that had clearly been there for some time. The main reason I made this stop was that I did not take my skirt and the first set of rapids filled my boat and I had to deal with the unwanted water.  

I was only going to take recyclables today, but with the amount of footwear at my second stop I started a non-recyclable bag.

All of this was spread throughout debris piles. I was not expecting as much plastic as I found. There was a lot more than previous paddles I have done on this section.

More plastics from more debris piles. The red item is a fire extinguisher. It is another item that puzzles me as to why it ended up in the river.

This is a merganser with young. Mergansers are a fish eating duck and I often run into them while paddling or cleaning up trash on riverbanks.

There were more people tubing on the river than I have ever seen. Every single group had coolers floating along side and most individuals had a beer in their hand. It is illegal to drink on the water, I personally don't have a problem with it, I just have a problem when the empty containers end up in the river. So, please, if you ever go tubing and drinking take your trash with you. 

For the most part I was alone, it was nice. Paddling alone though, is not something I would recommend. Especially in the gorge. It is always best to have at least one other person with you on the water in case something goes wrong.

If you have never paddled the Lehigh, I hope these photos might inspire you to do so. If you go through the gorge you will get wet, at least with the current conditions. It is a nice mixture of rough and calm water and there is a lot to see.

If the rafting organizations put a little effort into it, they could easily keep the sections that they paddle clean. One or two well organized clean-ups would go a long way in this area. The businesses that are making money off of our shared waterway and bringing a good amount of garbage into it should be the ones cleaning it.

This is just the non-recyclables. Filled about half a bag, but really wasn't much. With the kayak I don't have to much room for trash and this had to be balanced on the stern. The hull was almost completely filled with recyclables with only room for my legs. I am going to try to do this paddle again soon. I think I can fill at least two more bags with non-recyclables and there are trash cans at my take out point which makes it nice. Anyone have any ideas for getting rid of tires?