Beltzville State Park (1-June-2016)

It was almost 6pm by the time I got over to Beltzville. The goal was just to get in a second small clean-up before the sun went down. Since I new my time was limited the plan was to paddle across the lake from the Preacher's Camp Access and travel up the channel that leads to Wild Creek. I wasn't sure if I had time to make it all the way up to the creek and back, I was going to try though. 

My first trash stop was in a small cove. Only a couple chicken liver containers and a few smaller items.

A tire! I of course had to remove it. I pulled it out from underneath the brush and threw it up on the bow. From these photos you can't tell, but it was a white wall and it was old. This tire may have even been discarded before the lake was even there.

Paddling back a cove I noticed this bag up the bank. It wasn't in a spot I could get out of the kayak, but I was able to reach it with my paddle. I took the can out of it and put the rest in the non-recyclable bag. 

While I was stopped putting items into the bag on my bow, I heard a rustling in the woods on the other side of the cove I was in. I waited and watched as the rustling moved closer to the waters edge. It sounded large and I thought there might be a deer coming down for a drink. Instead two Canada Geese plopped into the water. They then swam in a strait line towards me. I honestly thought I was going to have some trouble. The last thing I needed with a tire on the front of the boat is an attack by a couple geese. About ten feet away from me they just stopped. I am still not sure what to think of the whole thing. I guess they just wanted a closer look at the strange human picking up trash.

A second tire find. I wanted to take it, I really did. The issue I had with it is, that a second tire would make my boat top heavy and unstable. On other lakes I would be fine with it, but Beltzville has larger boats, with larger engines and larger wakes. I would rather just take one tire off a trip than risking two ending up at the bottom of the lake. 

Of course there were flip flops, picked up a couple more than just these.

There were also lures. With the amount of kayak traffic in the channel lures weren't something that I thought I would find. Normally the better ones at least are something the fishermen will stop for and pick up. You can tell the one on the right is a good lure, it has lots of teeth marks in it.

The wing of an unlucky silkworm moth. I am not sure of the species, there are several that have similar color patterns. This was one of three wings I found along the bank, all fairly far apart and I don't think they were all from the same individual. 

This specific area really gets on my nerves. There is a rope swing and it is a popular hang out. There is always trash here. I have cleaned it up from the water at least three times and multiple times walking in from the trails as well. Today when I paddled around that big rock in the back ground there were some kids that went running off. When I went up to where the rope swing was there were beer cans strewn around. I cleaned everything up and got back on the water. As I was paddling away a new group of kids showed up at the swing. On the way back there were new beer cans to be picked up. I really wasn't pleased.

I made it to where I could see Wild Creek, but I didn't go up as far as I could. I wanted to get off the water before dark and I knew I had to start paddling back. I made a handful of stops on the way out, it was only for really obvious pieces though. 

The sun was just about gone when I got back to the main portion of the lake. I pointed my boat at the light on the far shore and paddled across.

The recyclables were packed into the car and everything else including the tire were taken up to the only trash can at this access. With the exception of having to reclean an area on the same trip, it was a nice paddle.

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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