Lehigh River and a Short Stop at a Gamelands (14-Mar-2016)

Went back to the Treichler's Bridge access to continue working up the bank. To get to a spot I had previously left off, Penny and I hiked up river on the D&L Trail. It was a nice day for hiking and to clean up trash. It wasn't too hot, wasn't too cold, the rain was light and was just enough to keep others off of the trail. The reason it is better without others on the trail is hauling the trash out on the trail when there is a lot of traffic can be difficult. I always have to stop and move everything off to the side and that can get annoying on a long walk out. 

Two-liter bottles were the most abundant trash item of the day. All of the trash right along the river bank was newer, the garbage further away from the river all seemed to be twenty or more year old. There were more of the rounded bottom two-liters here than I have found at any other site.

In this particular area, the trash is not just against the rivers edge. It is spread out through the woods.  I think there was a major flood sometime in the 90's because of the age of this trash. To clean this, I would set Penny up next to a tree and I would search the surrounding area, piling up the findings near her and the bags. Normally she is very vocal on how she does not like this method, but on this occasion she didn't seem bothered. 

Over the river there was some fog and even so there were still nice views. 

The first message in a bottle this year. It even came with a children's card for some reason. It read: "May 24, 2011 Upon opening this message you will all perish." After reading this I looked at Penny and said "You feel fine? I feel fine." She gave me a puzzled look as is usual and I went back to collecting more trash.

It felt like no time before I had the first garbage bag and pack full. Continued on to fill a second bag.

I started finding a lot of glass bottles and I wasn't too enthused about that. They very quickly make bags heavy and it was a long walk out. 

With two full bags and a pack full we were ready to head back to the car. Penny was not going to make that easy for me. On the way back she spotted two squirrels and tried going after each. I can't say that it was that bad though, with not a single hiker or biker on the trail, I know the day could have been much harder if it were nice. 

In all I had a few more recyclables this time than trash. After packing everything away into the car and trash can I decided that I was up for another hike and set off for the next destination. 

Two last things before I move on to the next stop. On the way in to the Treichler's access there was a flock of Wild Turkeys along side the road. They weren't bothered by me stopping the car and snapping some shots. The on in the photo even took the time to shake off the rain in front of me. I was a little disappointed to see the truck bed still in the parking lot and the garbage was emptied. My guess is that the vehicle that picks up the trash at this location is not big enough to remove the truck bed. Hopefully Lehigh County will find a way to remove it soon.

The second stop was at a small gamelands along the Blue Mountain. 

Not far at all down the access road I spotted this old dump pile. This is something that I don't remove trash from. The way I feel about this is that the items on the top serve as a marker as to where the dump site is. Removing them would just conceal the site. Removing everything would disturb a large area and I don't think the game commission or hunters would be too happy if I left a big hole on their property. So these sites stay until someone else can get permission and go in an do the job right. 

The newer stuff I did take out though. There wasn't much. This gamelands is tiny and I am somewhat confused as to weather it attaches to a larger area or not. There is private property on either side and no trails other than the access road which ends at a house. Penny and I went as far as we could, but were basically stopped in every direction by posted signs or thick Green Briar.

Not much, yet still something taken out. Two of the glass bottles were older, they were in the open right next to the parking area. The one was from the Hazle Club Bottling Company. I looked it up and it was a small Pennsylvania bottlers which long ago went out of business. 

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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