Mauch Chunk Lake (2-Apr-2016)

With the hot temperatures yesterday I thought today might be similar and it would be a good day to get out on the water. My original plan was to paddle the Lehigh from Rockport to Glen Onoco. The colder temperature this morning made me change my mind. From all of the hiking I have been doing lately my legs did feel like they needed a break, so I decided to stick with paddling, but change the location to Mauch Chunk Lake. I set out on the water this afternoon, more wind than I would have liked and the water was cold, but other than that it was an amazing day to be on the water.

My first find of the day was this lure on the opposing shore from the launch. I thought that most of the items I would find today would be small newer items like this. I thought this because last year I did paddle the lake several times, so I covered all of these areas before. I was wrong about what I would find. 

Like last year there were a lot of cans in the shallows. Most of which were old. The first couple I just thought I missed a few, but then I kept finding more and more. This leads me to believe there is a lot more movement of items on the lake bottom than I had previously thought. Some of these cans may have been covered by leaf litter or sediment the last time through or currents in the lake could have possibly pushed them from deeper areas. There was only one can that I saw today that I wasn't able to retrieve. 

In my opinion the views were worth the cold. Every time I looked up at the sky it was something new, with just as much beauty as the previous scene. This made for very enjoyable breaks between pieces of trash. 

This is how most of the plastic bottles were found today. One old round bottomed two liter I did pull off the lake floor and another of the same from in the woods a little ways, the rest were just like this tucked up against the bank. 

There are at least three pieces of trash in this photo and I found even more when I got out of the kayak. 

When I plucked this from the water I just shook my head. Why is there cat food packaging in the lake. Then I thought about it. Someone was probably using it for catfish. That's not a joke. I know some use wet dog food for catfish, why wouldn't cat food work. My guess is that is what it was used for. 

I kept finding these buckets and all but one had the bottom cut out. The one that didn't was attached to one that did. Finding that one leads me to believe that these were possibly used as Wood Duck nesting boxes. If this was the case it is a shame no one maintained them. All were on the ground and just left out there like any other plastic garbage.  

When the wind wasn't whipping across the lake it was very pleasant. Soon after taking this photo I started back across the lake. I was getting cold and I knew it would take awhile to paddle back. Of course as soon as I started to paddle across the wind did slightly pick up again. 

First smoking device I have found this year, also the first I have ever found made out of a Burger King cup. All of these items were found near a small access point to the lake. It seems to be a popular place for people to smoke, drink and litter. I have cleaned the area multiple times.

Another moment of calm before making it back to the boat launch. 

The haul for the day was a full kayak. I left the non-recyclables bagged for the photo, I did not want to chance wind blowing anything away. 

It was a good day for finding lures. Added these to my collection which is getting fairly large now. 

Ending this post the way I ended this trip, with a Red-Winged Blackbird. Red-Winged Blackbirds are my favorite local bird. They are often found around water at this time of year and will be nesting soon. If you come across a Red-Wing give them space. Some can be very territorial and will protect their nesting area. I have seen more than one human and a dog attacked by Red-Winged Blackbirds when they got too close.

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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