Tuscarora State Park (24-Oct-2015)

Haven't been out much in the past several days. Since the last clean-up on the Schuylkill I have had major pain in my lower abdomen. I think it was because I spent half my time that day bent over picking things up and I never took my pfd off. On the walk I did for the last post I was in tremendous pain and now I am starting to feel much better. I decided to keep it light today and went to Tuscarora. Not much trash, but I did find some cans that have been there for awhile. 

Almost all the leafs have turned and a good number have already fallen. Absolutely beautiful colors today.

This site had the most cans in a single spot.

One lure sitting on the shoreline. Looks brand new and even the hooks are in good condition.

Plastic bottles have definitely been the number one littered item this year.

This can from the Yuengling Brewery was produced in 1982. It probably has been sitting on the side of the lake since that year.  

More fall colors. 

This tire is on my list for next year. 

Wash up against the dam. 

The view up the lake from the dam. 

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 at: gofundme.com/takingoutthetrash

Schuylkill River (15-Oct-2015)

Setting out earlier than normal this morning I had a plan of doing two runs across the river. On the first run I had the intention of just collecting two bags and I was going to salvage a large piece of lumber that had washed up on the other side. Normally I do not take wood items off of the river, but I do know people that can repurpose them and especially treated lumber does not belong on the riverbank. With the two trips I ended up with seven bags of recyclables and the hull of my boat was completely full. I had a fun day today and I can't always say that. I don't know if it was the fact that it was such a nice day or that a string of bad luck on the water just made me laugh.

Some day I will come back to this launch just to have a leisurely paddle up and down the river. Not until it is clean though, I hope one day it will be at least somewhat reasonably clean.

This was the piece of lumber I was going for. I brought a throw bag along and I was going to tie it off to the back of the kayak and float it back up to the launch. Over all the condition looked good and then I went to flip it. In the photo on the right you can see the problem I had with it. On each end of the side that was facing down was a piece of rebar. For several reasons I decided to leave it, mostly it was the rebar.

On this first trip I only took two bags along, so I filled those and headed back to the launch to drop them off and get more.

After retrieving new bags I decided to paddle down river right and collect the trash spread throughout the aquatic plants. This is where I filled the hull of my boat and where I ran into my biggest problem today.

Wilson was not the problem. Tom Hanks just let him float away in the ocean and somehow he ended way up the Schuylkill. Wilson is still there if anyone is interested. Volleyballs do not fit inside my kayak and would get in the way on the bow or stern, I hate leaving things, but in some cases I have to to collect more other things.

This gave me such a laugh today and it really wasn't funny. I went in close to the bank for a couple bottles and got slightly stuck. When I went to push off backwards the blade of my paddle just snapped off. The paddle really is not that old and wasn't the most expensive, but wasn't the cheapest either. I really expected to get more use out of it. So, there I was. Stuck in the mud with a broken kayak paddle. After retrieving the blade I had a decision to make, call it or day or just use what I had left and continue on. My boat clearly needed more trash and I still basically had a canoe paddle, I went for more.

I had at least a nice view while I was sitting in the mud figuring out how to push off without breaking the other side of my paddle. When I got back on the water I went strait across only stopping for one floating container. It was a chicken liver tub and as soon as I pulled it out of the water I immediately dropped it back in. It had a puncture in the side and still contained chicken livers which were not at the peak of freshness. I could not keep that in my boat and I continued to smell it at least two thirds of the way across. 

When I returned to the trash fields I just went back to work and didn't worry too much about the broken paddle and how I was getting all the trash back. This before and after really shows just how much work needs to be done at the site. I took a lot out and still there is so much junk that just needs to go to a landfill.

The absolute coolest find of the day! Did you know we have Walking Sticks in Pennsylvania? We do and they are a native to the state. This was not the first one I have found, but is the first with this particular color variant. Definitely the most colorful and the largest I have seen in PA.

I am getting really close to the point where I think the trash piles will end. It will definitely be my stopping point at this location this year. Still it seems like a never ending trash field.  

Picked up six or seven syringes today. I can't remember weather I picked up just one or two on the first trip out. I keep thinking, why doesn't medical waste like this have serial numbers on them. The ink on the needles doesn't seem to fade and with a serial number you could at least track it back to a lot and possibly a medical facility. There are just so many along the Schuylkill I am really thinking they came from a medical facility and not just drug users. It would be nice to be able to be able to track a source. 

The item on the left I found early on the second trip out. What is it from? I have never seen anything like it before. You may not be able to see it that well, but it is an angry man, on a tricycle, that looks to be swinging a briefcase. Towards the end of the day I found half of Ariel. Anyone need a mermaid for the front of their boat? 

The character on the right I think is another Disney one. It got me. When I went to pick it up I didn't realize it had a hole in its mouth and with just a little pressure extremely old river water squirt in my face. It is flat, it doesn't look like it would do that and when that happened I broke out in laughter. Then there was that giraffe, there is no story with it, just a giraffe discarded in the river.  

Loaded up and back at the launch. It was a long time between these two photos. Kayaks have specialized paddles because canoe paddles do not work well with them. It was rough, but I never stopped smiling today. 

Currently I am collecting all of these small items. I may try to turn them into something over the winter. We will see. 

If you enjoy this blog and like the fact that I am trying to clean up our waterways and natural areas, you can help by contributing at: gofundme.com/takingoutthetrash

Together we can make a visible difference!

Beltzville State Park (8-Oct-2015)

Ended up taking Penny on four short hikes this afternoon at Beltzville State Park. Four hikes and four piles of trash, the above was the first. We began the first hike below the dam. There is a great loop trail in this area and I don't think most people who go to Beltzville even realize it's there. 

Along the Sawmill Trail, which the loop trail is called, there are two old dams, a couple old foundations, an old quarry and this ditch which I think was one a small canal. This is one area that I have done clean-ups at for years and there seems to always be trash in this ditch. This time wasn't too bad and along its entire length I only found about half a dozen.

On the opposing side of the ditch from the trail I found many more cans and plastic bottles in a small wetland area. It seemed like every time I picked up one can here I found another several feet away. This looked to be all stuff that was thrown in further upstream and came to settle here after a high water event.

One of the two dams along this section. A path leads right to this one and it can be crossed. Currently this is the only dry path across the stream along the loop. I added a photo of the map for this trail below. The map indicates a foot bridge in the middle of the loop, but it must have been washed out long ago. 

There are a lot of old pieces of farm equipment sprinkled throughout this area. This piece could be from a farm or it may have been a piece of the dam. 

This is a nice short hike. It is not for the beginner though. There are several steep and muddy sections that can be hard to traverse. 

This is the second pile of the day. Drove to the top of the lake with a quick stop near the office to throw out the non-recyclables. This section I have cleaned previously this year, so I came out today with a bit more than I had hoped.

How can someone love fishing yet leave their Styrofoam containers behind? or how could they come to the lake to enjoy the scenery and leave their water bottle on a trailside?

I think this is where everything at the upper end of the lake washes up.

Second plastic saw of the year and I don't know what the other object was. It was broken, anyone have any ideas? The other side was blue with the same criminal character with money bag and gun.

It was a spectacular day today with some tremendous views. 

Third trash pile of the day. Collected this walking the channel upstream.

This is a wonderful example of why not to litter. Someone threw this Mountain Dew can down. The unlucky rodents found it and smelled the contents of the can. They went in and couldn't get out, possibly drowned. It sounds like a horrible death to me. You would not believe the smell of these cans either, it is distinct and memorable.

One of my favorite views of the day.

This was the last pile of the day. Just a small bit around the main parking areas near the office. 

Some really cool colors out there.

When I was taking out the trash below the dam a helicopter kept flying overhead. I thought I could see a person hanging off the side, but I thought it couldn't be. Then when traveling up the lake I saw this and was able to get a photo. If you ever wondered how an electric company maintains the larger towers, well I think this is it.

If you enjoy this blog and like what I am doing, you can help out by contributing at: gofundme.com/takingoutthetrash