This clean-up was a joint effort of Taking Out the Trash and 3 Moons Studio. Leigh Ann Stratakos of 3 Moons and I set out on the water to work on a portion of the Delaware Canal and River. Starting at Wi-Hit-Tuk Park we paddled our way up the canal towards Easton. This is a section I did a couple times last year and it always has trash, especially the river.
Going up the canal there was not as much as I have found before on the canal, but there was still a lot to pick up. Some items like the piece of a portable toilet were to large to remove with the kayaks, there were a few other things that were just out of reach with the boats as well. I think we did an excellent job of removing just about every other piece of trash though.
What a great day to be out on the water!
By the time we reached Easton we both had a decent amount of trash. I had a couple items on my boat that I couldn't safely paddle down the river with.
I left these in the DCNR parking lot and hopefully they will be picked up before someone throws them back in the canal. No garbage cans anywhere at this access, so I just have to hope these are picked up sometime.
Looking out over where the Lehigh joins the Delaware, we could see a lot of people out enjoying the water.
We found this deflated shark as we carried our boats down to the river. Pool toys often pop when used on the river and instead of disposing of them properly their owners just discard them on the riverbank.
Right before we shoved off on the river. We both still had a good amount of room for trash in and on our boats. Little did we know how quickly this would change with river trash.
Three stops, still within sight of the city, filled up our boats.
This was all the boats could handle for a safe paddle back. The only stops we made after this point were for larger items that could be tucked under or on top of the trash bags.
We did see a few turtles on the trip. This hatchling is a Common Map Turtle. They are often seen along the Delaware, sometimes on the Lehigh, but really are not often seen in other portions of eastern PA. Map Turtles do not do well in captivity if you see them in the wild please leave them there.
Almost back to Wi-Hit-Tuk and our boats couldn't hold anymore!
From here it was a steep portage up the riverbank and across the canal. It wasn't easy, but we got it accomplished in no time.
The majority of what we collected were non-recyclables and they were disposed of in a DCNR dumpster. The recyclables filled about two garbage bags and those I took to dispose of at a recycling center.
Thank you so much to Leigh Ann and 3 Moons Studio for the help on this trip! We got a lot accomplished, but there is much more to be done in the future on this section of the Delaware!
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