The rain eased up some, but never stopped for the entirety of todays clean-up. When I set out today I thought I would just walk a section of the Appalachian Trail, driving up to the access point on top of the mountain on Ashfield Road changed my mind. I passed too much garbage on the way up so I decided to walk the road.
With it being wet and foggy road clean-ups are not the best idea. This road does not see much traffic though and there is plenty of room to get over on the sides.
Cans were the item of the day. There seemed to be one every ten feet.
Like many not well traveled roads in the area there is a lot of things dumped off of the side of this one. Most of the individuals that do this seem to pick the steepest areas to discard their refuse. I am really going to try hard this winter to come up with funding to start taking care of these non-recyclable items.
Can you see it? Around the center of the photo, underwater, is a Green Frog. There are two reasons I can think of that this frog was active today. The first would be that it has been an extremely warm November here and that it may be out and about on its own accord. The second would be that the rain today flushed it out of a site that it choose to overwinter in. I think both are good possibilities.
I had Penny along with me today and when we were getting close to the bottom she stopped and didn't want to go any further. It was raining, she was soaked, I was soaked, so I agreed with her silent protest of going any further and we started back up. She did so at full speed, pulling me up the mountain until we got to a deer carcass that we passed on the way down. She wasn't bothered by the rain at all and just wanted the deceased deer. We continued up and now I was pulling her up and away from that deer. This is what I ended up with by the time I got to the top. There are a lot of cans in the bag that you can't see.
Penny seemed to be doing just fine after a short break at the car and a snack. We then headed down the other side of the mountain. More trash, more dumpsites. I would like to point out too that the land on either side of the road at this point is all State Gamelands. Items discarded here not only poses a threat to wildlife, but also disrespects hunters who paid for this land with their license fees. This is a practice that needs to be stopped. If you ever see someone dumping items on the side of the road, please get their license plate number and call the police.
I know this photo isn't in focus, but I did want to highlight one of the items in it. On the right is a car battery, which I will be going back to get. I find car batteries more often than I should. They are not like tires, they are very easy to get rid of and most recycling centers will pay you to take them off your hands. I had to check with the recycling center I use to make sure they are still buying them and they are. With that battery I am going to get $7. It may not seem like much, but would you just throw money off of the side of the road?
This was a container with a mystery liquid. If I had to guess I would say used oil. I absolutely hate leaving items like this, but who knows what's in it and where do you take it? I am going to send an e-mail to a local WCO to see if the Game Commission will remove it before the contents end up on the outside of the container.
This was the from the second trip. Penny and I did not make it too far down the north side of the mountain, but we were both done for the day. I think we both weighed about twenty pounds more with water soaked into my clothes and into her fur.
Close to one bag total for the day. Currently I am happy to be home, warm and dry. I believe Penny is too.
You too can help with taking out the trash! If you get out hiking take a grocery bag with you, give it a second use and fill it with trash while you are out! Every bit helps. You can also help contributing to this project at:gofundme.com/takingoutthetrash
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