Set out to clean up a little more of the riverbank in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation area. For my first stop I found an access to the McDade Trail that was right next to the small creek above. I followed the creek towards the river and it was spectacular. Crystal clear water, banks that looked untouched and very little trash.
The only items I found close to this creek were plastic pieces like this. They looked to be a liner and not just discarded garbage bags.
It wasn't long until I was to the Delaware and part of me really wishes I just went the other way up the creek just to walk it to the source. I bet going upstream would have been just as nice.
Of course the bank of the Delaware was much different. The recent high waters left trash everywhere even above my head in some cases.
With the amount of footwear I have found in the past two days I think I need to restate something from much earlier posts. If you decided to do a river trip, canoeing, kayaking or inner tubing, wear footwear that ties and secures well to your foot. Sandals, crocs and velcro shoes like the above come off easily and are often lost. Please wear the right shoes so I or someone else doesn't have to pick up your inappropriate footwear later.
Debris piles after debris piles. Like the shoes I have to point out again that these are not safe to walk on. You never know what is inside a debris pile and they are often unstable and with a wrong step you might fall through. Some of the main concerns that can be found inside are syringes, other sharp objects and in the summer it is very common for wasps to nest in the spaces inside. I do pick through them, I know the risks and the safest ways of doing so.
I noticed what I thought was a trash can from a distance. At the time I thought great! My trash bag was just about full and with a washed up trash can I could fill and carry that out too. It was a bit of a shock when I walked over to it.
As I got closer I thought it was just someones rain barrel. Could fill that up with trash too. I went to upright it and it wouldn't budge. It was full. I looked at the top to see if I could find a label and there wasn't much left of one. At the time I couldn't figure out what it was, but it was something that I needed to report and decided my next stop after this one would be the park headquarters.
Filled the pack and a bag and it was time to get back to the car. Penny was happy to get moving again. She spent the time while I was picking through the debris piles tiles to a tree. She was pretty calm today, not barking at me much, but often giving me odd stares.
This was the haul for the first trip. More non-recyclables this time. After taking it all into the car it was off to the park headquarters. There I was greeted by a nice man behind the front desk. I explained I had found a full mystery barrel and where it was. He then called another gentleman and handed me the phone. I then explained again what I found, where it was and offered to take someone right to where it was. The gentleman on the phone explained it was nearing a shift change and he was busy right after, but it is something that is important and needs to be checked out. He then asked me to ask the nice man behind the desk to call the safety officer so I could talk to her and maybe she would want to check it out. The nice man called and handed me the phone. Once again I explained what I found and approximately where it was and she too said it was important and asked that I mark it on a map and leave my contact info. I did so and pulled up the photo of the barrel on my camera and wrote down what was left on the label. America's ______ 15W40. Seeing what I wrote down the nice man behind the counter said that's oil. Wonderful I thought. There is a 55 gallon full drum of most likely oil on the bank of the Delaware in a National Recreation Area and it is not a priority to take care of. That itself annoyed me, but the amount of park employees just standing around in the office across from the main desk and outside really made me mad. I would have been satisfied if they sent anyone out with me just to mark down the location. Where it is located is hard to navigate and it could be overlooked. I was not happy. I was also told that I need to fill out a new volunteer application to do future clean-ups within the recreation area. The way I look at it, just like no one had time to begin to take care of this oil issue, I didn't have time to fill out a volunteer form. I then went back to the Eshback Access and cleaned upriver today, which was actually more trashy than the downriver portion yesterday.
Looking up river at the Eshback Access. This was one of my few views of the river. I spent most of my time looking down at the mud and debris piles on the bank.
More oil. This time it was something I could actually remove. This was half full.
The tire on the right is the first I have seen on these clean-ups in the park. I thought I would have come across more. I know that groups specifically removed tons of tires on this section of river and from what I have seen they did a really good job. You can see some of those tires now at the Pocono Environmental Education Center, they were used as siding on one of the buildings there. Minions, you can't even go down by the river to get away from them!
The plastic bottles in this photo were all taken from one debris pile. Also in this photo, my shadow is being begged by Penny's shadow for treats.
I do have to say that everyone that I talked to at the park headquarters were friendly, did take the time to listen to me and did say that the oil barrel will be taken care of. I understand that daily duties can limit what one can get done in a day. The main issue that makes me mad is that there were individuals around that could have at least got the process of its removal started today. That just by following me out there and recording the location. I do not have 100% confidence that the barrel will be found the first time someone goes out to look for it. I will be following up with e-mails to the park.
If conditions are right tomorrow, I am going to do another recycling day. Really hoping it isn't windy.
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 here: Help Fund Taking Out the Trash
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