Lehigh Gorge State Park (29-Mar-2016)

Back to the Rockport Access and back down river on the D&L Trail. The goal for the day was to go back to the area near where Drake's Creek enters the Lehigh and finish up that section. It is over two miles in and in the shadow of the gorge on the way there and with the wind it was much colder than I anticipated. 

Arriving at the area I was happy to be back in the sunlight. It warmed my day up a lot. I have never been on the other side where Drake's Creek comes in. Definitely something I will have to check out this summer. 

Almost right away I found some sunglasses I missed last week. Sunglasses are one thing I have kept since the start of this project. I am going to have to do a count soon to see how many I actually have now.

A tiny boot. I am sure this is old, it looks very well made. 

There were some things I couldn't remove and this can was one of them. The other items were also cans, but they were in the river, still to cold to go in after them. 

Not a full wallet this time, just an insert, but this was the newest so far and contained on credit card and two medical cards. They expired just last year. May be able to track this person down as well. 

I try not to put Penny in the blog too often, but she was extremely well behaved on this trip. It was a huge change compared to the past two weeks. The only time she even barked was when two grown men on the D&L Trail were barking at her. I don't know why they decided to have a barking match with Penny, but this did occur. I said nothing to them and walked Penny down the bank and got them out of sight.

A roll of duct tape. Was this someones raft repair kit? It never even crossed my mind that I would ever find a nearly full roll of duct tape on the riverbank. It is just full of trash surprises.

Most of the smaller items no one could really see from the D&L Trail or from on the water. Items like this however do make a visible difference when removed for those enjoying hiking, biking or floating. There are many of these types of things on the opposing bank. Those I will have to get when it gets warm enough to paddle on the river. 

Caddisfly Larvae. This particular species is mobile within its case and these individuals were crawling around most likely looking for food. 

So many cans taken off of the river and still so many still sitting on its sides. Old, but still fully recyclable. 

I like finding containers or cases on the river. They always have the same thing in them. Sediment.

The first tire I have found in the upper gorge. It was an easy pull out of the river. 

Left the tire and a base to a road cone on the side of the trail for the DCNR and carried out a bag and a pack. I was using a large contractors bag and it was less than half full, it was about as heavy as I could take with the over two mile hike out. I did reach my goal though and most of the trash from that area is gone. I am sure there is still more that is buried in sediment that will be exposed during the next flood or heavy rain event. 

Found this on the trailside on the way out. Who was Charlie and what caused him to loose his name tag?

This plus the tire I think was a good haul for the day. Tomorrow I will be going to a memorial service and will not be doing a clean-up. Will be back out again on Thursday. 
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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