Ended up taking Penny on four short hikes this afternoon at Beltzville State Park. Four hikes and four piles of trash, the above was the first. We began the first hike below the dam. There is a great loop trail in this area and I don't think most people who go to Beltzville even realize it's there.
Along the Sawmill Trail, which the loop trail is called, there are two old dams, a couple old foundations, an old quarry and this ditch which I think was one a small canal. This is one area that I have done clean-ups at for years and there seems to always be trash in this ditch. This time wasn't too bad and along its entire length I only found about half a dozen.
On the opposing side of the ditch from the trail I found many more cans and plastic bottles in a small wetland area. It seemed like every time I picked up one can here I found another several feet away. This looked to be all stuff that was thrown in further upstream and came to settle here after a high water event.
One of the two dams along this section. A path leads right to this one and it can be crossed. Currently this is the only dry path across the stream along the loop. I added a photo of the map for this trail below. The map indicates a foot bridge in the middle of the loop, but it must have been washed out long ago.
There are a lot of old pieces of farm equipment sprinkled throughout this area. This piece could be from a farm or it may have been a piece of the dam.
This is a nice short hike. It is not for the beginner though. There are several steep and muddy sections that can be hard to traverse.
This is the second pile of the day. Drove to the top of the lake with a quick stop near the office to throw out the non-recyclables. This section I have cleaned previously this year, so I came out today with a bit more than I had hoped.
How can someone love fishing yet leave their Styrofoam containers behind? or how could they come to the lake to enjoy the scenery and leave their water bottle on a trailside?
I think this is where everything at the upper end of the lake washes up.
Second plastic saw of the year and I don't know what the other object was. It was broken, anyone have any ideas? The other side was blue with the same criminal character with money bag and gun.
It was a spectacular day today with some tremendous views.
Third trash pile of the day. Collected this walking the channel upstream.
This is a wonderful example of why not to litter. Someone threw this Mountain Dew can down. The unlucky rodents found it and smelled the contents of the can. They went in and couldn't get out, possibly drowned. It sounds like a horrible death to me. You would not believe the smell of these cans either, it is distinct and memorable.
One of my favorite views of the day.
This was the last pile of the day. Just a small bit around the main parking areas near the office.
Some really cool colors out there.
When I was taking out the trash below the dam a helicopter kept flying overhead. I thought I could see a person hanging off the side, but I thought it couldn't be. Then when traveling up the lake I saw this and was able to get a photo. If you ever wondered how an electric company maintains the larger towers, well I think this is it.
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