Saturday, January 2, 2016

Appalachian Trail (2-Jan-2016)


Began today's trash collecting adventure on Ashfield Road in Lehigh Furnace Gap. From there I hiked toward Lehigh Gap and I wasn't sure what I would find in between. This was the first time I ever hiked all the way through this section and to properly clean every piece of trail I would need more time. There are several side paths that I was unable to get to.


The first piece of trash I picked up in 2016! This was near a fire ring someone had made and recently used not far from the small parking area off of Ashfield. 


Bare trees and not nothing stirring on the trailsides. Not even a squirrel along the entire section. 


This frozen fungus was the coolest thing found today. I have no idea what species it is or even how to go about figuring that out.  


These old gamelands/county markers are all along the mountain top. This one was in good shape, others have not faired so well. There are several towers along this section and for some reason they always have trash around them. There was a good amount of plastic bottles left around this one.


Looking out over the Lehigh and Carbon County. I can't wait to get back on the water this year! This section will be one of my first trips down. Sadly there will probably be just as much trash as I collected this past year. 


This was a new fire ring. I don't know why there are so many fire rings throughout this section. This was the most elaborate and I wish people would just leave things alone. 


Of course there was trash in and around the fire ring. A couple bottles, a holiday dunkin donuts cup and a bottle of hand sanitizer.


This was towards the end of my just over five mile hike. For the most part this section was fairly clean. 


The second Dora the Explorer balloon I have found. 



In total there was close to half a garbage bag and around a full pack of trash. I think this was a pretty good start to the year. I am still fighting a cold, but I did get some rest yesterday so as long as the temperatures stay up and there is a lack of precipitation I will still be going out.

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

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