The Delaware
The original plan was to start at Wi Hit Tuk park and I was going to paddle up to the confluence of the Lehigh and Delaware and paddle back down the river. However, I received a text in the morning from a friend who said they were in the area, but didn't have a kayak. So we decided to still meet at Wi Hit Tuk and clean up the bank and an island by the park. Arriving early I headed out to the island and collected the two bags above. One recyclable and one not. The conditions were great for a clean up, the water level was low and it was overcast with a few rain showers.
On my lone trek through the island I did find a few items I could not remove, like this sediment filled trash can and this small dingy. The dingy I have seen before and has been on this island for years.
I was able to remove this duffle bag and beer bong. I am sure once cleaned up someone will purchase this beer bong at a yard sale even if it is labeled as a river find. The duffle bag had to go in the non-recyclable bag.
My friend Andrew finally arrived and I headed out to the top of the island, then took the trash I had already collected up to my car and picked up some more bags. We then headed back to the island and walked the opposite shore down. It worked out well because half way down the island the shore on the west side of the island turns into a steep bank on which trash will not collect and that we couldn't walk. This made us cut across the island and we ended up where I had left off earlier. I was really expecting to find debris piles with large amounts of recyclables, but we never did find any. Still there was more than enough junk scattered throughout to be removed.
We came across this small cart/trailer near the downstream side of the island. This is another item I have seen before. We have had higher waters recently and I couldn't believe it was almost in the exact same place I had seen it at least a year ago. This is an item if you think you could use for some reason I would be willing to get off the island for you, just send me an e-mail.
We finished our walk through of the island and waded back over to the bank. There Andrew found this nice Teddy Beddy Bear. Mr. Teddy Beddy found himself waving goodbye and going in the trash.
Andrew with the second non-recyclable bag of the day. He packed it full and I think we did a good job of getting most everything on the shoreline.
I found this item on the bank, a children's play planer. This item has already found a new home and will hopefully get a bit of use before it is finally disposed of. I like finding items like this because they can get a second life and don't just have to be thrown out.
This was the second bag of recyclables for the day. In total two bags of recyclables and two bags of trash were removed from the island and shoreline at Wi Hit Tuk. I will say that it is not safe to wade out to the island at this location. The water is low now, but still as a precautionary measure I was wearing a pfd when crossing the channel. I would recommend using a watercraft and using proper fish and boat commission accesses if you would like to check out the islands on the Delaware.
Jacobsburg Environmental Education Center
Both Andrew and I had a meeting to attend at Jacobsburg EEC and still had some time to kill. We ended up just walking the trails around the Ed Center and picked up more junk than than I expected to. I sorted out the recyclables and put the rest in the parks cans.
Bee Balm is one of my favorite flowers and this is not how I like to find it. Someone apparently picked themselves a bouquet then just let it on the trailside. In our state wildflowers are protected by law, it is unlawful to pick them and it is especially uncool to do in a state park.
Just a view of the Bushkill Creek from the bridge off of the main parking lot.
Another view of the Bushkill by the stream study area.
This cicada was another Andrew find. It seemed to have no interest in flying off even after being picked up. With the rain earlier in the day it may have been waiting for its wings to dry out a little bit.
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