Did not set out today with the expectation of this much trash. Close to three bags of recyclables, just about one of trash, two small buckets and a cracked aluminum bat. Again though I ended up taking more off of the Canal than the river, just like the trip with Mr. Greco. It was at the beginning of this month that the two of us worked on the same section. I thought we had done a good job on the canal and I still found lots of stuff that had been there for much longer than this past month.
Thought the canal was going to be a nice quick paddle up stream, I was very wrong and this ended up being the start of a four hour venture just on the canal.
By this point I find this funny. There are garbage cans along the canal in multiple places. Is it really that hard for people to hold onto their trash until they get to one? I can tell you I collected a lot of evidence that suggests it is.
Canal coconut. Years ago a friend of mine and I found lots of coconuts in the Delaware Canal. We couldn't figure out where they came from or why they were in there. Who knows? Like the ones we found in the past this one was a full coconut.
At the portage I walked out onto the lock and retrieved the trash that had piled up against it.
By this point my back hull was starting to fill up, but I didn't have all that much. That changed very quickly in this section.
With the kayak I was able to get back into some places we were not able to get with the canoe. Still the brush on the side is so think in some places I had to leave items that were tucked way back in.
I don't know how we missed this when we paddled by before. There was over half a contractors bag full of recyclables in about forty feet of shoreline. Even the canal should never get this bad.
The canal just seemed to go on and on forever and there was just bottle, after bottle, after styrofoam cup, after bottle. Somewhere around this point I realized doing this paddle with someone else is much better than a solo paddle.
This is what I had at the end of the canal. Dumped the trash off in a can and dragged the rest down to the river.
Ready to be done with this trip I was glad to see the river and it was a relief to be going with the current.
I did keep collecting and I did want to pack my boat as full as I could. The river needs so, so much work in this section. I wish I had more space.1
The Fish and Boat Commission probably wants that back. It does look to be tied in the tree, sometimes I do come across stuff like this that are due to flooding but in this case that is very unlikely.
A view looking up river I believe.
At this point I was pretty well full in and on top of my boat. I decided that was it and the rest of the paddle would be just that paddling. As you will see I couldn't stick to that.
The sun was beginning to fall and the lighting on the river was fantastic. It made a nice calm end to a very long paddle.
By the time I pulled into the island I just wanted to get off the river. My boat was packed, I was exhausted, but I couldn't sit anymore and I had to walk around the island for awhile.
Found more cans on the island. I could not bring myself to leave them. So in my boat they went. The box stayed on the island, that at least won't take forever to biodegrade. It was kind of weird that the box didn't match the cans.
Great Blue Heron taking flight.
Right before I got back to sand island this Osprey gave me a nice fly by. It has a fish in its talons.
I said I would return to this section and I did and will need to again. I could probably go through ten more times and still get the same amount every time. Maybe not plastics, but trash in general. This whole river needs to be managed more. This morning I did see something nice though. The trash can at the Sand Island takeout was overflowed with items taken out of the river. It is nice knowing someone else is cleaning stuff up, but its sad that it doesn't look like anyone has done much at all. Hopefully I will make it back again before it starts getting too cold.
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