Setting out earlier than normal this morning I had a plan of doing two runs across the river. On the first run I had the intention of just collecting two bags and I was going to salvage a large piece of lumber that had washed up on the other side. Normally I do not take wood items off of the river, but I do know people that can repurpose them and especially treated lumber does not belong on the riverbank. With the two trips I ended up with seven bags of recyclables and the hull of my boat was completely full. I had a fun day today and I can't always say that. I don't know if it was the fact that it was such a nice day or that a string of bad luck on the water just made me laugh.
Some day I will come back to this launch just to have a leisurely paddle up and down the river. Not until it is clean though, I hope one day it will be at least somewhat reasonably clean.
This was the piece of lumber I was going for. I brought a throw bag along and I was going to tie it off to the back of the kayak and float it back up to the launch. Over all the condition looked good and then I went to flip it. In the photo on the right you can see the problem I had with it. On each end of the side that was facing down was a piece of rebar. For several reasons I decided to leave it, mostly it was the rebar.
On this first trip I only took two bags along, so I filled those and headed back to the launch to drop them off and get more.
After retrieving new bags I decided to paddle down river right and collect the trash spread throughout the aquatic plants. This is where I filled the hull of my boat and where I ran into my biggest problem today.
Wilson was not the problem. Tom Hanks just let him float away in the ocean and somehow he ended way up the Schuylkill. Wilson is still there if anyone is interested. Volleyballs do not fit inside my kayak and would get in the way on the bow or stern, I hate leaving things, but in some cases I have to to collect more other things.
This gave me such a laugh today and it really wasn't funny. I went in close to the bank for a couple bottles and got slightly stuck. When I went to push off backwards the blade of my paddle just snapped off. The paddle really is not that old and wasn't the most expensive, but wasn't the cheapest either. I really expected to get more use out of it. So, there I was. Stuck in the mud with a broken kayak paddle. After retrieving the blade I had a decision to make, call it or day or just use what I had left and continue on. My boat clearly needed more trash and I still basically had a canoe paddle, I went for more.
I had at least a nice view while I was sitting in the mud figuring out how to push off without breaking the other side of my paddle. When I got back on the water I went strait across only stopping for one floating container. It was a chicken liver tub and as soon as I pulled it out of the water I immediately dropped it back in. It had a puncture in the side and still contained chicken livers which were not at the peak of freshness. I could not keep that in my boat and I continued to smell it at least two thirds of the way across.
When I returned to the trash fields I just went back to work and didn't worry too much about the broken paddle and how I was getting all the trash back. This before and after really shows just how much work needs to be done at the site. I took a lot out and still there is so much junk that just needs to go to a landfill.
The absolute coolest find of the day! Did you know we have Walking Sticks in Pennsylvania? We do and they are a native to the state. This was not the first one I have found, but is the first with this particular color variant. Definitely the most colorful and the largest I have seen in PA.
I am getting really close to the point where I think the trash piles will end. It will definitely be my stopping point at this location this year. Still it seems like a never ending trash field.
Picked up six or seven syringes today. I can't remember weather I picked up just one or two on the first trip out. I keep thinking, why doesn't medical waste like this have serial numbers on them. The ink on the needles doesn't seem to fade and with a serial number you could at least track it back to a lot and possibly a medical facility. There are just so many along the Schuylkill I am really thinking they came from a medical facility and not just drug users. It would be nice to be able to be able to track a source.
The item on the left I found early on the second trip out. What is it from? I have never seen anything like it before. You may not be able to see it that well, but it is an angry man, on a tricycle, that looks to be swinging a briefcase. Towards the end of the day I found half of Ariel. Anyone need a mermaid for the front of their boat?
The character on the right I think is another Disney one. It got me. When I went to pick it up I didn't realize it had a hole in its mouth and with just a little pressure extremely old river water squirt in my face. It is flat, it doesn't look like it would do that and when that happened I broke out in laughter. Then there was that giraffe, there is no story with it, just a giraffe discarded in the river.
Loaded up and back at the launch. It was a long time between these two photos. Kayaks have specialized paddles because canoe paddles do not work well with them. It was rough, but I never stopped smiling today.
Currently I am collecting all of these small items. I may try to turn them into something over the winter. We will see.
If you enjoy this blog and like the fact that I am trying to clean up our waterways and natural areas, you can help by contributing at: gofundme.com/takingoutthetrash
Together we can make a visible difference!
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