I was able to get out on the water again today. The trip started at the Glen Onoco access of Lehigh Gorge State Park. Normally on weekends I try to avoid this area. The access was packed with rafters, bikers and hikers and the amount of people there really stresses me out. Once on the water things were much better. I was able to paddle away from all the commotion and got to work looking for trash.
My first stop didn't yield much, but I did get to pick up some cans that had clearly been there for some time. The main reason I made this stop was that I did not take my skirt and the first set of rapids filled my boat and I had to deal with the unwanted water.
I was only going to take recyclables today, but with the amount of footwear at my second stop I started a non-recyclable bag.
All of this was spread throughout debris piles. I was not expecting as much plastic as I found. There was a lot more than previous paddles I have done on this section.
More plastics from more debris piles. The red item is a fire extinguisher. It is another item that puzzles me as to why it ended up in the river.
This is a merganser with young. Mergansers are a fish eating duck and I often run into them while paddling or cleaning up trash on riverbanks.
There were more people tubing on the river than I have ever seen. Every single group had coolers floating along side and most individuals had a beer in their hand. It is illegal to drink on the water, I personally don't have a problem with it, I just have a problem when the empty containers end up in the river. So, please, if you ever go tubing and drinking take your trash with you.
For the most part I was alone, it was nice. Paddling alone though, is not something I would recommend. Especially in the gorge. It is always best to have at least one other person with you on the water in case something goes wrong.
If you have never paddled the Lehigh, I hope these photos might inspire you to do so. If you go through the gorge you will get wet, at least with the current conditions. It is a nice mixture of rough and calm water and there is a lot to see.
If the rafting organizations put a little effort into it, they could easily keep the sections that they paddle clean. One or two well organized clean-ups would go a long way in this area. The businesses that are making money off of our shared waterway and bringing a good amount of garbage into it should be the ones cleaning it.
This is just the non-recyclables. Filled about half a bag, but really wasn't much. With the kayak I don't have to much room for trash and this had to be balanced on the stern. The hull was almost completely filled with recyclables with only room for my legs. I am going to try to do this paddle again soon. I think I can fill at least two more bags with non-recyclables and there are trash cans at my take out point which makes it nice. Anyone have any ideas for getting rid of tires?
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