Back on the D&L Trail for a Lehigh River clean-up. I started in Bowmanstown and headed up river. Along the D&L in this section there are multiple side trails going down to the river, these often attract fishermen, swimmers and those who just want to enjoy the river. So I was expecting to find a decent amount of trash.
I hit every side trail, outlook and tried to do my best in spotting trash in the poison ivy and other undergrowth along the D&L. A portion of this section has some small rock cliffs with no walkable bank and this is the main reason I stayed along the D&L.
All of these items came from one rock ledge below the trail. The path going down was heavily worn and not the safest to traverse.
The view downriver towards Bowmanstown. The trash pile above came off of this ledge section mostly from around where I was standing for this photo. There was one can out on the ledge above.
Once I got to a place where there was walkable bank, I took a trail down to the river. Cardinal Flower was in bloom on the rivers edge. It added some color to the hike. The bank to the left heading out towards the opposing shore is actually an old dam. It is breached on the far end and as you will see further on in this post, has some old exposed timbers near the breach point.
On the other side of the dam I found an abandoned campsite and my least favorite item of the day. A tent, filled with water, that didn't have the greatest smell to it. I emptied it out, balled it up and set it aside to pick up on the way out. I find a lot of discarded tents along the riverbank. If they are still in good condition I tend to leave them in case there owner is going to come back for them. In this case, the tent had clearly been there for awhile and no one was going to use it again.
Not far from the tent was this fire pit. I left the trash here as well to be picked up on the way out.
The views always makes the clean-ups more than worth it.
This made things tricky. As I do on most hiking clean-ups, I had my dog Penny along. She did not make getting those bottles an easy thing. She wanted that deer and I didn't want her touching it. Luckily, I managed to keep her away and get the bottles. The deer was a buck and from the condition it died some time ago.
The exposed old timbers of the dam. Some of these are just impressive and definitely from old growth trees. There are several sections along the Lehigh where you can find just massive logs from old structures that were along the river.
On the way out the items in and around the fire pit filled up my bag and it was time to head home.
Another bag taken out from the Lehigh!
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
Like this project? Like it on Facebook: Taking Out the Trash in Eastern PA
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