Three small hikes at Beltzville today yielded one bag of recyclables and a little more than that of junk. This photo didn't include all of the garbage. I did make a dumpster trip before I took this shot.
The first stop was by the main office. I parked behind the beach area and walked a loop that follows along the lake and takes you out at the athletic fields. Not the first time I have cleaned this spot, but it was the first I was collecting everything and not just recyclables.
Plastic bags were the hot item at this site. I am guessing they come from the athletic fields and picnic areas. The thick brush lining the fields acts as a catch all for items like plastic bags. If you notice the packing material in the photo on the left. I popped that so I could fit more in the non-recycling bag. When I did this I wasn't far from the lake and there was a kayaker passing by. He looked startled like someone was shooting at him.
Along with the kayaker I thought there were a lot of boats out on the lake for such a cold day.
I don't really like the idea of athletic fields on our state park lands. They do not promote conservation and they use up a good portion of ground. I know a lot of kids use them, but most schools have their own fields, why are these needed? Every time I come to this area there is trash that can be directly tied to those who use these athletic fields. The caps were just a small portion of what was found on the fields edge. It would be nice if this could be turned into naturalized field habitat or reforested.
The second hike at Beltzville was the Christman trail. I hiked and cleaned most of this area last week, but had to stop after pulling a bike out of the lake. Today I parked at a different access and worked my way back to where I left off last time.
Not too far from the parking area I started finding items. This is a popular site, with a waterfall on the stream that flows into the lake. Even today there were a lot of people hiking on this trail and I ran into several at the falls.
It is an extremely beautiful area. In addition to a trash problem though, there needs to be changes to how the trails are managed at this site to keep it nice for visitors. Mostly, unmarked trails that people have made need to be blocked off and in some cases new vegetation planted. There are already erosion problems here due to this, but it currently is manageable. In the future if things persist as they are this site will be ruined.
The falls.
So what is this photo of? I just wanted to point out to use caution around streams in the fall. Leaves can make it look like there is ground where there is water. Penny found this out here today when she unintentionally jumped in the stream here.
A group must have had Chinese food by the waterfall, then decided the waste was too much to carry out. I have to say if you haven't spent a cold morning crawling under a rhododendron and cleaning up someone else's Chinese dinner, well you haven't lived.
More nice views. This was close to where I pulled the bike out of the water.
Not much on the last hike, enough non-recyclables it was worth the stop.
That was about it.
Ending the post with a different vantage of the waterfall.
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 at: gofundme.com/takingoutthetrash
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