Beltzville State Park (10-Oct-2015)

It has been awhile since I had hiked the Christman Trail at Beltzville State Park, so I packed Penny into the car and set out to check out the condition of the trail there. Ended up removing one bag of recyclables, one of trash and a bicycle. It was much more than I expected to find.

The hike started off slow. A piece here, a piece there, sad to say the normal for hiking trails here in PA.

Found some items in this cove. I had already paddled this over the summer, but at the time I was only able to take recyclables.

On the ridge above the cove I found a balloon. Please don't release balloons into the air. They do not just float away into the sky, they pop and end up somewhere they do not belong. I have found they are a very common occurrence even deep in the woods where there is little or no other refuse. 

I am not familiar with fungus species, yet there is something I can point out here. This group of fungus is growing out of a cavity carved into this tree by a Pileated Woodpecker. Pileated Woodpeckers are the largest Woodpecker in North America and they carve out very distinct holes. This tree had two separate cavities just like this the other higher up had even more fungus growing from it. 

Second largest item of the day, a forgotten seat cushion. 

In this area, all of the tourists flock to Jim Thorpe for the Fall Foliage Festival, but I think the turn this year at Beltzville was much better. Also, there are much fewer people. 

On the shore the trash collecting picked up. Some of the main trash sites along the lake I have already cleaned this year have stayed clear, which was nice to see.

More fungus, I just liked this shot.

I managed to remove all of the trash that you can see in this photo without drawing any of my own blood. Normally when picking trash out of Greenbriar or other thorn laden plants it goes much differently.

One of the nicest views of the day at the trashiest site of the day. All of the trash from the photo below came from just off the trail from where I was standing in the photo above.

This wasn't even everything. There were some items that I just couldn't reach safely. 

I have seen this bike before while kayaking. It was way to heavy and unevenly balanced to throw on the boat, but on foot I decided to take it out.

My car wasn't close, Penny was with me and I had to carry all of this out. The bike wheels no longer having spokes made carrying everything much more awkward. It was a challenge getting all of these items out today and Penny got on the scent of something hiking out and her pulling was not helpful in the least bit. We made it though. The bike and non-recyclables are now in a park dumpster and hopefully this section will stay clean at least until next summer.

If you like what I am doing and would like to see more trash taken out, you can help by making a contribution at: gofundme.com/takingoutthetrash