Beltzville State Park (1-Dec-2016)

Out to cover another portion of the lakebed at Beltzville State Park. This time I parked at the first large lot past the main office and accessed the lake just above the swimming area. Being so close to the swimming area and soccer fields, which both receive a lot of use during the summer I thought there would be a lot of trash. 

As I was walking down to the lake a Northern Harrier did a fly by. This is the second time I have seen a Harrier at Beltzville, this one I just got a brief glimpse of. The last one was hunting over a field. 

Right on the waters edge was really muddy and that is where I found a good portion of the trash. 

When you do enough clean-ups you start seeing certain trends of where certain trash items end up. Walking this portion of the lake I found a line of plastic cups. There were more here than any other place along the lake I have been to so far. I think this could have to do with the shape of the items, composition and the currents within the lake. It could also have to do with the proximity to picnic areas and the beach area where these might be used.

Looking down the lake I could see where I should have been doing the clean-up. This, not because there was trash, but because it was the only place in the park where sun was shinning down.  

Footprints clearly indicate that others are walking the lakebed and cans in those footprints tell me that some are picking up items. I just don't understand why they leave them in footprints instead of taking them out. 

This I was going to drag up to a lakeside trail to take out on my way out, but my hiking partner put a stop to that. As soon as I started dragging this large item, Penny started to attack it. I quickly realized I wasn't going to make it that far with this item and Penny so I had to leave it. Hopefully I can get back here without Penny before the lake is filled up again. 

I made it as far down as the bridge. In this photo Penny's attention is on something over at the Pine Run Launch across the channel. She really has no interest in collecting trash, seems to like the hikes though. 

Beach balls only float for a certain amount of time, then they like many other plastics end up at the bottom of the waterbody they ended up in. 

Took a lakeside trail back. This trail wasn't too bad and I have worked on it before, but as always there was trash. Some of which I couldn't reach. 

Not sure how I spotted this, but I did. Another lakeside diaper. This is another thing that you should think about when swimming at public beaches. I have found a lot. I have read several articles about E. coli outbreaks at Beltzville that close the beach area. They often blame waterfowl. Although waterfowl are a likely cause, this should also be a main consideration. 

This was the haul for the day. I think my favorite find was the snorkel on the right. The dumpsters at the park had been put away for the winter, so I packed everything up and had to drop the trash items off at a receptacle in another parking lot. I thought it was a pretty good haul for the day. 
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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