Lehigh Gorge State Park (12-Apr-2016)

Hiked a road I had never set foot on before. It is nice going to new areas and this one was close to home. After seeing Drake's Creek from the opposing side of the river a few weeks ago, I wanted to find the access to it. From what it looked like on Google Maps the lower section of Drake's Creek was on state gamelands and the upper portion was privately owned. When I got to the site, it was a little different than the maps had shown. The lower section and the access road that goes down to the river is actually labeled and maintained by the DCNR and is part of the Lehigh Gorge State Park. I parked near the top of the access road and started walking down it. From the start I could hear Drake's Creek, but the vegetation in the valley was too thick to see it. 

In the thick vegetation on the side of the road was the average roadside items. Bottles and cans were the majority of trash along this access road.

Found several piles of cans. Some sites look like people were camping or partying. I would just like to note this is part of the State Park system, not State Forest. There is a big difference in the laws of the two. Fires (outside of camp and day use areas) and drinking are fineable offenses within our state parks.

It really gets me when you are in a place when you are surrounded by views like this and there are beer cans and bottles around. Who needs a drink when this is in front of you? It just doesn't make sense to me.

Once again Snow Fleas! Found these Springtails on trash in a couple places along the access road. If you click on the photos they will enlarge and I cropped the image so you can get a better look at these tiny critters.

Noticed something in the Rhododendron that just was not the right color. When I went to get it I found there was more trash down along the slope. 

A lot of green plastic and look, there is a whitewater bucket that didn't even make it to the river! I don't know what the green plastic was. At first I thought it was possibly a poncho, but then I kept pulling more up. I never did take the time to spread a piece of it out to figure out exactly what it was. I did see what looked to be a plastic button on one of the pieces so it could have been multiple ponchos or it could have been pieces of a tarp. 

This was gross. It was with other trash on the slope. Bread, probably a pizza crust. When I removed it from the plastic it was more like a paste.  

Drink pouches, beef jerky packaging and more were spread throughout one spot. Most of the pouches looked like animals had been chewing on them.

This fungus was probably the coolest thing I found. It was only growing on one rotted log not too far from the creek. After checking multiple sources I think this is Cyathus striatus. The common name is Fluted Bird's Nest. I am not a fungus expert and I did not use a key to figure it out, so this may be an incorrect id. If anyone reading this knows fungus and could tell me if this is right or wrong comments are always welcome.

This wooden structure is there to make it easy for rafting companies to get their rafts down to the creek. From what I could see this really is not a safe access for rafting. Also, there was a lot of trash around this. To me if the rafting companies actually cared about the river, this area would be cleaned periodically and especially after a season ends. Much of the trash I found around this had been there longer than just over this past winter. 

This is where the unsafe part comes in for the rafts. On the other side of this bridge the rafts have to be carried down a really rocky slope to the river. I really don't think the DCNR should allow access to the rafting companies at this site. As a former river guide I would not take the general public through an area like this. It just is not safe. 

This would be a more common trash item around cities. Why would a safe box be on a riverbank? Bridges are the answer. I have seen on multiple occasions items that would contain cash or change under bridges by rivers and streams. Throw the locked item from a certain height and gravity and a hard surface below might break it open for you. Could have been the case with this or this may just have broke and someone threw it in the river. So far I have seen broken newspaper machines, cash registers, lock boxes like this and parking meters.

First Dixi Cola can I have ever found. Not sure when this was from. I do not believe it has been sold in the US for a long time. 

Looking down river. Here on the slope going up to the railroad was a lot of old trash. By the river and around the creek was newer items. 

The keystone on the bridge reads, A.D. 1881. So this bridge has been standing for over 130 years and still has train traffic going over it. I find that impressive.  

This was too much to carry all the way out. I left everything except my pack at a pull-off on the access road. Hiked up and drove my car back down to do the trash sort and pack everything up. 

On the way up I spotted this Porcupine. The tree it was in was lower in the valley than the access road, so even though the Porcupine was fairly high up, it was just around eye level with me. This is the second one of the year I have seen in a pine tree. Maybe this one had climbed up to take in some sun on this nice and sunny day. 

A lot of trash for not that far of a hike. I would say this was about the same distance at the Shades of Death Trail at Hickory Run and there was about double what I picked up there. I guess people just don't see what I do in these areas and therefore they just don't care about them. As I was sorting everything out a DCNR Ranger passed. They slowed as they went by, but kept going. On their way back I had everything packed into the car and they stopped and thanked me. I thought that was really nice, but not needed. I explained I was working on other areas in the gorge and the tires pulled up along the D&L was one of the things I was working on. She told me she had just picked up a couple off of it and I felt kind of bad because the last ones had rims in them and were not the lightest. On that note, thank you again to all of the DCNR Rangers and Maintenance Personnel that help maintain the Lehigh Gorge State Park. There are more tires on the river bank and I will be removing them, so thank you in advance for picking them up. 

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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