Swatara State Park (10-Nov-2016)

I took a break from the blog for awhile. I have kept the Taking Out the Trash in Eastern PA Facebook Page up-to-date though. Earlier this month I did visit Swatara State Park for a hike and clean-up. My first stop was at a section along Swatara Creek accessed at Sand Siding Road. At the access you can either take the Swatara Rail Trail or smaller paths that lead down to and follow the creek. I chose to go right to the creek. 

This was not my first visit to this spot, but I didn't remember seeing tires on my last visit. After finding several I decided I would be taking them along with me on the way out. None were buried so I did not feel the need to contact the park before moving the out to the access. Had they been buried I would have notified the park because it would leave a disturbance behind and some parks would rather just leave the tires in that case.

There were small items here and there, but really the small trails along the creek weren't really that trashy. This is a really beautiful area that I do want to paddle sometime. 

I found two tires in the creek itself. This is the before and after of the only one I could remove. The other was in deeper water and it was too cold to retrieve it.

Some of the small items found along the creek side.

The view up the creek. The access I started at is on the other side and around the bend. 

On the way back to the car I grabbed the tires. Like what I did in the Lehigh Gorge I would take two carry them up the trail, drop them off and go back for the other two. Only four in total on this trip.

Penny is never pleased when I carry out tires. She has to go back and forth with me and doesn't seem to enjoy that at all. 

In no time I had the tires out to the access. I left them at the trailhead for the DCNR to dispose of. Hopefully they will be properly disposed of and will never make it into or along our waterways again.

This was everything else from this stop. I sorted out the recyclables from non and loaded them into the car. From here it was off to another trail and another area I have previously worked on. 

The second stop of the day. My goal here was not only to pick up trash, but to go further than I have before on these trails. The Trout Run Trail led me to the Moonshine Trail, which then led me to the Swatara Trail. Both the Moonshine and Swatara aren't really trails, but old closed roads. 

A couple of the items on the short Trout Run Trail. How did a toilet float get there?

A portion of the Moonshine Trail which for a short section parallels the main road. 

The Swatara Trail. On a previous trip I had made it to this trail, but didn't go far. This time I followed the road until I had a sack full of trash. 

This Ring-Necked Pheasant was lucky I wasn't a hunter. It came right out of the brush in front of me. Ring-Necked Pheasants are not native to Pennsylvania or even this country. They were originally imported from Asia by sportsmen. Most of the Pheasants in PA today are raised in farms and released for hunting. Generally they do not have long survival rates although there are some areas that do have breeding populations. 

Off the side in a turn in the road I found a whole pile of bottles. This must have been the place to litter when the road was open. Almost all of the items looked like they were from the 80's to the early 90's, I am not really sure when this road was closed to traffic. 

This was certainly the coolest bottle find of the day. I did some searching and this was a sarsaparilla bottle. None of the other bottles I found had any good graphics on them. This was different and the first time I have found one of these. 

All the trash from the second hike of the day. It might not seem like much, but the glass made it a heavy haul out. It was nice to see that most of the trash here was older and there wasn't too much newer trash along the trail and closed roadside. 

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