Fire Tower Road (22-Jan-2016)

With the storm not arriving until later tonight, I was able to get out one more time before everything is covered in white. Not wanting to go too far today, I did another check-up on Fire Tower Rd. Not really surprised, there was more trash.

Before I even set out on the trail I collected these items from around the parking area.

Found this tucked behind a tree. Not the condition I want to find cans in at this time of year. It got its own small bag to thaw in. 

This Downy Woodpecker was the only bird that was still enough for a photo today. Not too many species about, but I did also see Chickadees, Juncos and Nuthatches. 

The same old thing. More trailside trash.

When I found the two unbroken clay birds I just had to make a face. 

The second pack full of the day. I think this will be the last clean-up for awhile now. This area is predicted to get three to eight inches of snow and if the cold continues it will most likely stick around for some time. As soon as the snow is gone I will be out collecting once again. 

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 here: Help Fund Taking Out the Trash

Lehigh Gorge State Park: D&L Trail (21-Jan-2016)

Last month, on my way to the Lackawanna State Forest, I made a wrong turn in White Haven and I stumbled across an access to the Lehigh Gorge State Park and the D&L Trail. I had no idea the park or the trail continued up river past White Haven. I went back today to explore this new area to me and to take out some trash.

When I pulled into the parking lot I spotted this on the lots edge. I was not sure it was a cat until I got out of my car and had a closer look. House cats belong indoors. They are excellent predators and when left outside, this presents a major problem for our native wildlife. A study published in 2013 by Loss, et al. estimated that between 1.3-4 billion birds and 6.3-22.3 billion mammals are killed by domestic cats each year in the United States alone. Even at the low estimates, cats are taking out large numbers of wildlife and this is something that is completely preventable. 

The same old thing on the trailsides. Bottles and cans. Always, bottles and cans.

A side trail, not far from the parking area, took me to a part of the old canal system. So much work went into creating the canal system along the Lehigh and today much of it just lies in ruins. I find it nice seeing these historic sites revert back to a more natural setting like the state this lock is currently in. The graffiti, like that pictured on the right, I would much prefer not seeing.

Above the old lock I found this structure. I would suggest never going into buildings like this, especially if you are alone. People do sometimes live in them and it is best just to stay away. I did go in this one and there was a few items of trash and thankfully that was all. This was the first time I have found a fast food tray.

A not so new, not that old, Diet Pepsi Bottle.

Did not really get that far before I had my pack filled. I took this back to my car and set out again, this time sticking to the D&L Trail.

Along the trail there was not a lot of trash, but I did slowly fill the pack again. 

At the end of the trail this train passed by carrying some large cargo. The trail ends at a road and the opposing side is posted. There isn't much room to park at this end and the only marker for the trail here is a sign that states No Motorized Vehicles. 

When I turned around to go back my pack was somewhat full.

Instead of taking the D&L all the way back I found a path that ran between the trail and the river. This was taken from that path and was my favorite scene of the day. 

There were a lot of old stone structures along the river, most of which looked to be for fairly large buildings. I wonder how long ago they were in use and what they were for.

This was my second pack full of trash for the day. I think what I collected today was a lot for just a 1.5 mile section of trail.

With a snow storm moving in sometime tomorrow this may be my last trash post for awhile. I may get one more clean-up in tomorrow, but I am not sure if that will happen. I will still get out hiking even if there is snow and if I come across anything interesting I will still post even without the trash.

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 here: Help Fund Taking Out the Trash

Farm Park (19-Jan-2016)

From Riverfront Park, Mr. Greco and I headed over to the Norristown Farm Park. The idea was to hike some trails and find some birds. Like everywhere I go, this too, ended up becoming a trash clean-up. The above photo is the main office of the park, we did not go in, but it looked like a cool place from a distance. 

This park was huge and neither of us had been there before. Not knowing what the best areas are to check out we just picked a random parking lot and set out on the nearest trail. This one followed alongside the Kepner Creek.

Like Riverfront Park, the cold made some of the trash unretrievable. 

As for birds, not many wanted to get close or stick around for photos. The White-Throated Sparrows were an exception and this one did not care one bit that I was close when I took this shot.

Along the stream side I found this Great Blue Heron. I rarely see Great Blues in winter and with most of the stream here frozen, I wondered how this particular heron is able to get food during these cold times. 

This was on a small island. When the ground is thawed I would like to go back and remove it. Shopping carts a a very common river items, but finding them in a park like this with only a small creek running through was odd. 

Picked this large container up and filled in with non-recyclables from the trailside. 

Compared to Riverfront, there was very little trash in the section of this park that was covered. The recyclables were packed in my car and the true trash was put in one of the parks receptacles. 

I would like to once again thank Jeff Greco for the help! Thank You! It really was great to get some help on such a cold day and we were able to take out a good amount of trash between the two parks.

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 here: Help Fund Taking Out the Trash

Riverfront Park (19-Jan-2016)

Since I started this project I have been asking for requests of places to clean-up. Riverfront park in Norristown has been the only one I have received so far. The park isn't that big and it was packed full of trash. From what I could see there were several reasons for all of the trash. It receives wash-up from the river, from the amount of beer bottles it is a popular place to drink and although there are a lot of trash cans, it looks like they are not maintained well. I was glad I finally was able to get down to this park yesterday and even got some help. Jeff Greco, who helped me last year with a couple of the clean-ups was able to make it for this one as well. It was incredibly cold and the help was much appreciated.

I arrived early so I got to work on collecting the recyclables before Mr. Greco got there. The above is the fist large grouping of trash washed up in a debris pile. The idea was to do a walkthrough for recyclables first then go back on a second pass for the non-recyclables.

There was more than one basketball found in the park, this one was the only one with a neat ring of ice around it. I did pull this out of the river and placed it on the bank to be picked up later. 

Looking upriver on the Schuylkill. The park does offer two boat launches and this small concrete dock. This will make an excellent take out point for river clean-ups this spring and summer. I can't wait!

On the left was a debris line that I was able to pick through and remove the trash without a problem. The right photo shows items stuck in a strainer that I wasn't able to remove. I was able to reach some of them with the tongs, the problem was they were frozen solid in a small ice sheet. I couldn't do anything, but leave them there. On the second pass for non-recyclables I was able to remove the small green propane tank closest to shore, but that was it. 

The upriver side of the park ends in a berm that goes up to an old closed road. The berm was covered in trash and I worked my way up it and picked through the brush taking out everything I could see. This filled my first bag of recyclables and I headed back to the car and picked up another bag. 

After collecting recyclables around the back edge of the parking lot I went back to the rivers edge and worked downriver. More of the same. 

It did not take long to fill the second recyclable bag and I picked up a couple additional items which I took to the trash cans right away. The white item to the right in this photo is a huge chunk of what I call river foam. River foam is just huge chunks of styrofoam that I find on rivers. As I wrapped up this second bag Mr. Greco arrived and we started working on the non-recyclables. 

This is a Ring-Billed Gull. There was a small flock of these there the whole time we were there doing the clean-up. They probably enjoy some of the trash left in the park that contain food items.

Mr. Greco picking the trash out of the debris line I removed the recyclables from earlier. 

Two full bags plus of just trash and we only covered half the park by this point. Jeff wanted me to point out the NO LITTERING sign in this photo. It looks as though the sign is often ignored and I doubt many people have been prosecuted here. 

The non-recyclables from this round were deposited in this can and we returned to my car to pick up another bag. I don't like wasting bags, normally both would have been dumped out into the can in order to reuse the bags. In this case the first bag was dumped and the second was placed on top. This was done to keep all of the contents in the can. I just imagined dumping them out and with the wind, everything just blowing right back out again. 

This Red-Tailed Hawk landed just above my car when we were walking over to grab another bag. It stuck around for a few photos and then flew off.

A Ruby-Crowned Kinglet came and gave us a close look as we started working downriver for the non-recyclables. 

We came close to filling two more bags of non-recyclables by the end. Also, found more recyclables which more than filled my backpack. In total we removed over two bags of recyclables and deposited four bags of just plain old trash in the receptacles on site. 

Ending this post with a very colorful mural on a storage container in the park. From here, Jeff and I headed over to the nearby Norristown Farm Park. 

I will point out that we were not able to clean-up this park completely. We did our best under the frigid conditions and I will be back to work on this park again! 

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 here: Help Fund Taking Out the Trash

Owl Creek Reservoir Recreation Area (18-Jan-2016)

My 200th post. Not the most spectacular clean-up, under the current temperatures though, I think it was good enough. As the sign indicates I went to Owl Creek Reservoir Recreation Area which was only opened to the public a couple years back. There are two separate reservoirs with relatively new dams. This is the first time I have seen the upper reservoir filled and I decided to see if trails looped all the way around it. 

The upper reservoir. The ice is slowly closing over the top. I chose to start on the left side of the lake and found a well defined and marked trail. 

There is a small parking area for the disabled and a boat launch near the corner photographed above. There were only these couple bottles around the lot and launch. 

Some more views of the reservoir. I would describe the whole hike around it as calm. Didn't come across any wildlife other than a couple native brook trout in the creek flowing into the lake. Everything was quiet and cold. 

Balloons made up the number one trash item around the lake. These three were all within ten feet of one another. 

Although the dams are new, the two reservoirs have been here for a long time. The amount of work that went into them in the past is astonishing. Most of the small streams that flow into the reservoirs have been hand lined with rock. This is just one of several that I have come across around the two water bodies. 

I was wondering if I would be able to make it over the main stream flowing into the lake. Luckily this homemade bride spanned the water, it was much sturdier than it looks. 

The only trash item on the far side of the lake, another balloon.

I have said in the past that you can find Red-Spotted Newts year round. These two were on the move in the channel that links the two reservoirs. 

This was all. It was nice to see such a large lake that is open to the public that is this clean. I don't think a lot of people know about it yet and the fishing is still catch and release. I hope that it stays clean even as it takes on more visitors, which I am sure the area will see in the future. 

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 here: Help Fund Taking Out the Trash