Lehigh Gorge State Park (8-Apr-2016)

Watched a weather forecast last night. I heard nothing in it about snow this morning, but when I walked outside. There it was falling from the sky. I set out for the Glen Onoco Access of the Lehigh Gorge this morning and was going to meet a friend, Jeffery Greco, who has helped before with clean-ups. I arrived early and worked on cleaning up the areas not far from the parking lot along the Lehigh. The photo above was when the snow was coming down the hardest. One nice thing was it was just melting away as soon as it hit the ground. 

A few times after the flurries the sun broke through the clouds and it was almost like a nice spring day. 

I did not pick up that much before Mr. Greco arrived, but this is one item that deserves mention. I used a fallen branch to drag this can out of the river and to my surprise its contents were still intact. Who knows what mysterious food item may be lurking within. Before I throw it out I may pop it open just to end the mystery.

This was it for my preclean-up clean-up. Two small piles. Not much, but still a good start to the day. When Mr. Greco arrived we talked about what trail to take and decided on the D&L and the river instead of heading up the mountain. So we set out down the D&L and hit the flood plain I have been to many times now.

Of course we found more items right away. This was Mr. Greco's first mossy shoe find. 

When I saw this shoe, I thought I might have another match. I still have to check my old photos, but I don't think it is after seeing the pattern on top. It was another one labeled Made of All Man Made Materials. There are a lot of pairs of these in the river.

This was a newly washed down item and was not there on any of my previous trips through this area. It is a spray skirt and I am sure the person who lost it wasn't too happy. If you are not sure what a spray skirt is, it goes over you, then over the cockpit of your kayak. It is only a light covering to keep small amounts of water out of your boat. Spray skirts are not meant for barrel rolls or things of that nature. 

Not far from the spray skirt was this plastic bag. At first I thought it was just packing material, but when I picked it up I realized it was kayak float. These you can pack into the hull of your kayak in case you end up in the drink. The idea is that these will stay in the hull, not allow as much water in your boat and keep the boat above the waters surface until it can be retrieved. I believe that floats are mandatory if you are paddling the upper gorge. This one I guess didn't work that well. 

I can't state enough how much I appreciated the help I had on this trip. I came across two tires with rims in them a couple weeks back and I really was dreading taking them out. Where they were there is no easy access to the D&L and they had to be walked a good distance down the bank until there is a well worn trail. Mr. Greco rolled out the large one and I carried the small one out. Greco, thank you again for the help!

Left these two horribly heavy tires for the parks staff along with a piece of a kayak. 

We ended the trash collecting portion of the day with this pile. We then headed up to Mauch Chunk Lake to see if the Loons were still on the water and we checked out the bird rehab cages at the Carbon County Environmental Education Center. There were five Loons on the bottom portion of the lake, too far out for good photos. Here were my favorites at the top of the lake...

This Bald Eagle is always very vocal when I stop by at the rehab cages. It does not seem to be happy in the enclosure. I do not know its story or why it can't be released, but I don't feel birds like this should be in a cage. The reason this is one of my favorites, is just because I feel I captured this Eagle's anger in this photo. 

These were the absolute best part of the upper portion of the lake for me. I have never seen Teal on Mauch Chunk before and there were both Blue-Winged which are pictured above and Green-Winged.

In this photo there is a Blue-Winged Teal to the left and a Green-Winged Teal on the right. Both are males. 

Apparently there is supposed to be an actual accumulation of snow tomorrow. Depending on when it arrives I may or may not be out trash collecting tomorrow. 

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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