For this trip I went to check out the condition of Bear Rocks on the Appalachian Trail. Bear Rocks is a popular overlook and attracts many individuals for the amazing views. Less people visit this location compared to the near by Bake Oven Knob overlook, mostly because this is a longer hike. In recent years however, I have noticed much more traffic at this location and with it a good amount of trash.
Getting out to the rocks on this occasion seemed to take forever. There was more trash along the trailside here than I have ever seen. Bottle after bottle diverted me off the trail. Some items I was unable to pick up because they were thrown into thick patches of briar.
Was hoping to find a good number of caterpillars on this hike. Searching for trash diverted my focus from looking for these little critters. This was the only caterpillar I found on the entire hike. I believe it is a Virginia Tiger Moth caterpillar.
This is a new campsite that has popped up in the last year. Camping is allowed along the Appalachian Trail, but it is meant for threw hikers only, those doing extended hikes. From the access point to Bear Rocks there are many old campsites, but they are farther in than this one. It looks like someone was just lazy and didn't want to walk in to the others with all of their beer. It is sad that individuals can't respect the trail rules and diminish the hike for others by destroying parts of the trailside.
I found a lot of glass items at the above campsite and instead of lugging them in with me I left them on the trailside to be picked up on the way out.
Most of the older campsites were clean, except for this one. I always am baffled by those who leave their trash in fire rings and it is a common occurrence. Do they thing the next group to use this site will just burn their trash?
I think Coca-Cola is on the way to doing a good thing, still this kind of labeling can be deceiving to those who do not read the fine print. It states that this bottle is made up of up to 30% plant material. The rest is still plastic. Some may thing with the label plant bottle that this is compostable like some other products on the market. It is not, it is still a plastic bottle.
On the start of the trip the AT follows and access road then diverts off onto a smaller trail. Here the hike becomes a little harder and through sections like the above you really have to watch your step.
At Bear Rocks I started searching around. On the top of the rock pile most of the trash I found was out of reach and thrown down between the rocks. The next time I do this hike I will take tongs with me and will be able to remove most of what I couldn't reach. The top was cleaner than other trips up, the sides are a different story.
Here I climbed up the side and started my way to the top. When I turned the corner behind this formation I was a bit shocked when I ran into a couple, one with nothing on below the waist. I politely turned around, went back the way I came and down the side of the rock pile to pick up trash and let them continue what they were doing. It was the weekend, during the day, this is a place that many people hike to, probably not the best place to engage in private activities.
Down the side was a mess. I had Penny along and portions of this area are extremely hard to traverse. I tied her to a tree and worked on cleaning a portion of the rocky slope. I was able to scout out some of the other areas and there is a lot more than this pile that I collected still up there.
While I was working I noticed the couple I previously ran into climbing down off the top and leaving. I bagged everything I piled up and Penny and I headed back to the top. From here we took a trail that loops up the rocks and back to the AT. We passed two more groups of people before we left, one camping and the other just sitting on another outcrop. Didn't find much trash going this way, I didn't want to disturb the groups doing a clean-up where they were enjoying the views though, so we just passed by two of the areas where I normally find trash.
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
Like this project? Like it on Facebook: Taking Out the Trash in Eastern PA
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