On our last trip to Minisink Park Leigh Ann Stratakos of 3 Moons Studio and I had taken a large amount of trash from a debris pile by the river, but only put a dent in what was there. This was the first chance the two of us had to get back there and we went back to try to remove the rest.
Before making our way down the Brodhead Creek to the river, we again cleaned up an area along the creek that gets heavy use. This area has been posted and even that hasn't completely stopped those who go there and leave a lot of waste behind. Restricting the area has seemed to at least reduce the amount of trash. Each time we go there does seem to be less. Above on the left is a new item we haven't found at this location before, someone's discarded hookah. On the right is a common find at this site, a used diaper. We found two others on this trip as well.
This was all we found around the heavily used portion of the Brodhead. It is a great reduction since our first clean-up of this area, still, every week there is more new trash. Leigh Ann and I left this pile at the trailhead and started our way down the Brodhead to the river.
After doing this more than a couple times now we have a specific path we follow down the creek to the river. It is the easiest way down and out and taking it we don't have to deal with any really deep water.
Before getting to the main debris pile we spotted some items in this one. It didn't take long to pick through and we removed mostly recyclables, styrofoam and some footwear. All common items for a debris pile by the river.
Some of the items pulled from the debris pile. The foot sandal was one of my favorite finds of the day.
These items were just in the channel on our way to the main pile. How does one's Christmas underwear make it into the river? Anyone have any guesses on what the piece of plexiglass was used for? Feel free to comment below.
The main debris pile. From this vantage point it doesn't look like there is much trash in it. Once you get on top of it though and look into though there is a lot. Again as I have pointed out many times. These debris piles are not safe to walk on. They are often unstable, have rotting logs, often contain sharp items like nails or syringes and there is always a chance that there are paper wasp nests in them. Please if you find a debris pile by the river, stay off of it.
We went to work right away, bagging and piling up items plucked from between the piled branches. It didn't take long for me to spot the 55 gallon drum on the right. It was something we had missed on the previous trips and was at the back end of the pile. The drum was empty, but from what we could read on the label had been full of a chloride solution at one time.
I had previously thought that this pile had been there since 2004 when the area had its last large flooding event. This box, possibly a geocache told me something different. It like the drum was in the back end of the pile and the log book tells me that at least some if not all of the items were deposited by the river sometime after September 2010.
Leigh Ann with our trash pile. Again we collected more than we could easily carry out, we worked up a plan pretty quickly though. The dock that she is standing on is also part of the debris pile. It is about ten feet off the ground and it has several sections to it. If this is your dock please take the time to retrieve it. I don't think it is something we will be able to remove.
Back up the Brodhead with a bunch of trash. From here it was up the creek to the end, well we did end up taking a short detour for more trash.
Leigh Ann making her way across and up the Brodhead. Hauling trash out of areas like this isn't easy.
The river was the lowest either of us had seen in this section before. There was dry ground all the way out to the old bridge pillar that normally marks the center of the river. We spotted some trash and headed over.
A different perspective of the pillar. We found more trash around its base and Leigh Ann collected a lot of fishing line that had been snagged on it.
As we made our way back to the trash pile and to the trek up the Brodhead it started to rain. Light at first, followed by heavy downpours. It had been a hot day so it was a nice cool down.
While walking up the bank we scared this juvenile Northern Watersnake into the creek. It stuck around for some photos then we parted ways. It is lucky that we came across it and not one of the Green Herons that we normally see in this section. This was a small snake and would have been a quick snack for a hungry heron.
So close to the end! The rain made every rock slippery, just another small challenge in taking out the trash.
We picked up the trash we left earlier at the trailhead and got everything out. The bag on the far left was completely full of recyclables and the rest was trash. Had the drum not been used for a chemical solution I probably would have taken it home and used it as a rain barrel. All of the non-recyclables were thrown out, recyclables loaded into my car and we weren't done. We did one last small clean-up around the park itself and got just about a bucket full of trash. By the end we were soaked, I think we both felt kind of gross, yet we accomplished a lot and now the majority of trash is out of the debris pile. Thank you again to Leigh Ann for another great clean-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
