Delaware River: Easton to Wi-Hit-Tuk (2-July-2016)

This clean-up was a joint effort of Taking Out the Trash and 3 Moons Studio. Leigh Ann Stratakos of 3 Moons and I set out on the water to work on a portion of the Delaware Canal and River. Starting at Wi-Hit-Tuk Park we paddled our way up the canal towards Easton. This is a section I did a couple times last year and it always has trash, especially the river.

Going up the canal there was not as much as I have found before on the canal, but there was still a lot to pick up. Some items like the piece of a portable toilet were to large to remove with the kayaks, there were a few other things that were just out of reach with the boats as well. I think we did an excellent job of removing just about every other piece of trash though. 

What a great day to be out on the water!

By the time we reached Easton we both had a decent amount of trash. I had a couple items on my boat that I couldn't safely paddle down the river with. 

I left these in the DCNR parking lot and hopefully they will be picked up before someone throws them back in the canal. No garbage cans anywhere at this access, so I just have to hope these are picked up sometime.

Looking out over where the Lehigh joins the Delaware, we could see a lot of people out enjoying the water.

We found this deflated shark as we carried our boats down to the river. Pool toys often pop when used on the river and instead of disposing of them properly their owners just discard them on the riverbank.

Right before we shoved off on the river. We both still had a good amount of room for trash in and on our boats. Little did we know how quickly this would change with river trash. 

Three stops, still within sight of the city, filled up our boats. 

There is just so much along the riverbank!

This was all the boats could handle for a safe paddle back. The only stops we made after this point were for larger items that could be tucked under or on top of the trash bags. 

We did see a few turtles on the trip. This hatchling is a Common Map Turtle. They are often seen along the Delaware, sometimes on the Lehigh, but really are not often seen in other portions of eastern PA. Map Turtles do not do well in captivity if you see them in the wild please leave them there. 

Almost back to Wi-Hit-Tuk and our boats couldn't hold anymore!

From here it was a steep portage up the riverbank and across the canal. It wasn't easy, but we got it accomplished in no time. 

The majority of what we collected were non-recyclables and they were disposed of in a DCNR dumpster. The recyclables filled about two garbage bags and those I took to dispose of at a recycling center. 

Thank you so much to Leigh Ann and 3 Moons Studio for the help on this trip! We got a lot accomplished, but there is much more to be done in the future on this section of the Delaware!

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

Delaware Canal State Park (6-May-2016)

Started the day off cleaning out my car of all of the trash from the Lehigh Gorge. I then loaded it back up with cans. I had to run an errand in Phillipsburg NJ and on the way was the recycling center, so I used the opportunity to trade in some cans and the tractor batteries I had found on gamelands. For 57 lbs of cans I received $18.24 and for the two batteries $6.50. Not all that much, but aluminum has been down for awhile. After a short trip over to Phillipsburg I made my way back across the Delaware to Easton and stopped at the Delaware Canal State Park. I knew there would be trash. I cleaned this area several times last year, there is always trash. Part of the reason is that it is where the Lehigh joins the Delaware so there are two rivers that feed trash down to this specific area. 

Before I even made it to the water I found this. Some things I just will never understand. All unused wrapped plastic utensils. Why would anyone leave handfuls of them by the river? There is just no sense to this at all. 

With all the rain in the past week the river was high so I couldn't take my normal path around. I did walk out to the point where the Lehigh meets the Delaware, but I had to walk back the way I came instead of doing a loop. 

My focus on this trip was recyclables, I found a lot of larger non-recyclable items, but I couldn't take them. There are no trash cans or dumpsters at this site which means I have nowhere to go with things like this. 

When I started heading down river on the Delaware I hit this debris pile. I knew I would be spending a lot of time on it. I started picking out bottle after bottle and making a pile.

This debris pile was from the last really high water event that occurred since my last visit to the site last year. It is just mind blowing how many plastic bottles were in this single debris pile.

When the pile I was making reached this size I decided it was time to start packing everything up. For some reason I thought this would fit in the one burlap sack and the backpack I had on me. I was wrong.

The first load back to the car. I then grabbed the other burlap sack I had in the car and went back to the pile by the river. 

The second load didn't quite get rid of the pile. This time when I returned to the car I just emptied the sack right in the back. Then it was back to finish off the pile and loop around to the back of the debris to pluck out more plastics.   

On the other side of the debris pile I found this lovely sight. This is a common thing in this area. Encampments are made and abandoned by the river. I am going to try to contact the park to see if they will dispose of all of this if I haul it up to the canal path. I may ask the park for a donation of thick trash bags for this as well. I think I could clean up the whole area in a day, I just hope the DCNR will help out with this one as well. 

The backside of the debris pile was just as bad as the front. I took all I could out and quickly filled up the bags. 

The third load taken out. This time I did not empty the burlap sack. I did return to the debris pile to fill up my pack once more.

This time I found another abandoned camp and some other oddly placed items underneath the bridge. I did take more out of the debris pile, I didn't get everything, but with all of the trips I did take most of the plastic bottles out.

Before heading back to the car I took a walk down the canal. With the rain there wasn't anyone else on the path which made it nice. 

I took one path down to the river and the riverside here was horrible. Plastics lined every foot of the bank. There is so much work to do everywhere and too few people putting time into doing it. Where are those from Easton who care about the river? How can a whole city have no one that cares enough to do anything about it? 

Back at the car with the final back pack full of trash. Would have collected more on this round had I brought more bags with me. 

This was the total haul for the day. There shouldn't be this many plastics in any of our rivers and the majority of this was just from a single debris pile. We all need to do more to clean up our rivers and natural areas. Not really looking forward to cleaning out the car tomorrow. 

Along the canal the only small bird that allowed me to get close was this Yellow-Rumped Warbler. 

This years goslings are getting large. This family was slowly swimming down the canal. 

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 blog? Like it on Facebook: Taking Out the Trash in Eastern PA

Delaware Canal and River (26-August-2015)

Headed back to Wi-hit-tuk park today to do a paddle I had planned to do earlier this month. In total I removed one completely full bag of trash, two large styrofoam blocks and two full bags of recyclables. In this photo you can't see the second styrofoam block or the second bag of recyclables, both were shoved in the hull. 

Going to the launch on the canal I immediately noticed the canal was down. This doesn't effect collecting trash at all, but it does make things muddy getting in and out and I knew it would be harder paddling up towards Easton.

Lots of duckweed. Trash was sprinkled throughout in these areas and there was a lot of paddling back and fourth picking it up.

Second inhaler of the year. Once again I hope the person who lost it didn't do so when falling in the water. I could see that turning out badly.

Cigarette holder filled with waterlogged cigarettes. I think I have found one of these before, it just seemed really familiar.

More duckweed, more trash.

I thought I was going to have to portage around this dead tree. I did find a small channel to squees through under the base of its trunk and I found this nice Common Snapping Turtle basking on one of its branches.

A full bottle of bubbles with seal still intact. Who wants it? Guessing no one.

So I found the reason the canal was lowered and why the canal path was blocked off around Wi-hit-tuk. It would have been nice if there was some warning at the boat launch. I could see things going really bad if I was paddling by and the sink hole opened up to the canal bottom. That definitely would have ruined my day. There has been a lot of money put into repairing this canal and path for historical and recreation purposes and there always seems to be more problems with it.

I could not bring myself to remove this shoe from the canal wall. For some reason when I looked at it, I just felt it belonged there. 

From the start I knew this section was going to give me trouble. The water gets extremely shallow and there is a current. I had to get out and walk the boat. The good thing is that due to the current, there are not large sediment build-ups on the bottom and it is for the most part rock.

More than a few items were taken out of this lock in Easton. No flow here so basically everything thrown in from the top stays.

Just before I got to here I filled my non-recyclable bag. Someone kindly left two trash bags one toped with a pair of flip flops. With the flex bags I was able to shove them in, but that did it for collecting just trash, well that's what I thought.

Headed back down the river. By this point my hull was full of recyclables and I had started a new bag on my bow.

Stopped for some cans underneath the rail bridge and found something that didn't make me happy at all. If you look closely at this photo there is a line going from the rock pile into the water and it is attached to a nice sized catfish. The catfish was dead and looked as though it had been there for awhile. This is just uncool. I have no problem with fishing, I have no problem with people killing and eating the fish they catch. I have a major problem with this. There is no reason this fish needed to die on the riverside tied to a rock. It is a waste and it should not happen.

Ahhh... beautiful views slightly obstructed by trash.

Just when I thought I couldn't fit anymore in my kayak I stopped on a shoreline covered in plastic bottles and other stuff. I only took the bottles and I didn't even think I could fit those. I really packed the hull and the bag on the bow.

Found that piece of foam and just had to take it. At this point I realized the kayak was starting to get top-heavy. So when I did take photos I did so very carefully.

Cormorant in flight. I do not know the exact species.

Northern Map Turtles basking. These individuals must be bothered by people a lot. I could't get within thirty feet of them before they slid into the water.

My view by the end. In this one you can see the second foam block I picked up. At the 78 bridge I decided to get out and head up to the canal path. There was an easy path there and I knew with everything I had it would be the best way out. The only problem was I had to drag everything a good distance down the path to Wi-hit-tuk. Putting in the canal and paddling down to the canal launch would have been an option if the canal was at normal height, today it just wouldn't have worked. I think doing the drag was still better than taking out at the heavily eroded path at the park.