Francis E. Walter Dam (28-Nov-2016)

Francis E. Walter Dam is part of the same network of reservoirs as Beltzville Lake, this network is utilized when water levels in the Delaware are low. There purpose is to keep the Delaware River with enough flow to push saltwater away from Philadelphia's drinking water intake. For some reason I was under the impression that they also kept saltwater out of power generating facilities intakes and they are not. With Beltzville so low, I thought I would go check out Francis Walter and see what I could find on the lakebed there. At Francis Walter when the water level is low a road is opened that allows you to drive through and park on the lakebed. When the water level is high the same road acts as a boat launch. After parking I headed to the right in the photo above. As you can see the left side really is not that accessible for hiking. 

I began finding items right away. This was something different. The coffee cups, placed under a rock, that contained corn cans. Was there a point to this or was it just a failed attempt to hide the trash?

There were no large piles of trash. Everything was spread out and some items were hard to see, even with this barren environment.

There was a good number of older cans. Pull tabs haven't been sold for decades and are a testament to the longevity of these items in even aquatic environments. When something man made is thrown out, it just doesn't disappear. 

Picked up a couple clumps of line. I think if I walked the high edge of the lake at the brush line I may have found more. 

For this find I could just imagine two hikers taking a break, enjoying the view across the lake, then leaving these two full bottles behind. The bottles showed the lake has been low for some time. The labels were sun bleached and the way they were set they were placed, not washed up. 

This is something I do not want to find anymore. Lakes, rivers, streams and their banks are not the proper place to dispose of diapers. These items take a long time to biodegrade and fresh ones can potentially be health hazards. 

On my way out the sun was angled right over the tower on the dam. It was an interesting sight. 

Before making it to my car I picked up this not. Procrastination, Anxiety, Jealousy, Anger, did I pick up someones thrown away bad habits. I think Procrastination at least rubbed off on me because this post is going up over a month late. 

The last view of the lake before I headed out. 

This was everything. I was hoping there would be a trash can at one of the parking lots around the dam. There was not, so I had to take and dispose of everything for this trip. 
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

Locust Lake State Park (17-Nov-2016)

Locust Lake State Park is close and I go there often. I have been trying to hit every trail and side path around the camping areas and lake. Although I haven't been finding much on walks there lately, I always find something. Nearly all the leaves are off of the trees now and soon colder weather will be here. 

The first items I found were a pair of shoes, not far from the visitor parking area. I am not sure how I missed these on previous trips, but they looked like they had been there at least a little while. 

I dropped the shoes off in the nearest trash can an took a trail below the dam to a small pond that the lakes overflow runs into before entering Locust Creek. I was hoping to see birds or other wildlife, but on this day I had no luck.

From below the dam I worked my way up and around the lake. I didn't gather much trash, but with the amount of times I have walked around this area I was surprised with the amount I did collect. 
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

Nescopeck State Park (12-Nov-2016)

On this excursion I went back to Nescopeck State Park to hike trails I haven't been on before. I parked at an access off of Honey Hole Road where the bridge above can be seen from the entrance. Before hitting the trails I took a side path up stream on the creek the bridge crosses. 

From the bridge itself I could see a beaver dam and that is what drew me to take the side path. 

Before getting to the dam I found a fishing spot that had a bit of trash around it. This would end up being the trashiest spot of the day.

The beaver dam looked like it still had beavers maintaining it. When I got to it I could see that the trail continued, but it was on the other side of a small channel that was filled by the dam. I couldn't go any further and headed back to the main trail.

Back on the main trail I met a hunter who had just arrived and walked with him for until we made it to the Wood Frog Way Loop. I always try to talk to hunters that are in the areas I am cleaning up. When I do I ask what direction they are headed in so I can respect their space and take a path away from where they plan to be. He was trying to harvest a turkey and when we got to the loop I wished him the best of luck and took the path away from him.

I found no trash along the loop and on the way out decided to take the smaller path down the stream. There I found a few items, but also found myself surrounded by small game hunters. It was then that I decided it was time to leave the woods to the hunters and head back to the car. I have no objection to hunting and I believe it is necessary without large predatory species which we have lost in Pennsylvania. When there are too many hunters in the woods though, it is not a place I want to be.

Got to take some new trails and found that the area is relatively clean. It was a good day, a little shorter than I wanted to do though. I probably won't be back to this area for at least a year for a 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

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

Locust Lake State Park (11-Nov-2016)

This was just a short walk at Locust Lake State Park. Since I have been here so many times I didn't expect much trash, but almost always there are some new items. I stuck to the trails closest to the lake and for those of you who haven't been here before there is a nicely paved path all the way around the lake. It is nice for those who may have trouble with trails.

 Only did find a few items on the walk around. These are the only bottles I found and removed.

The fishing pier. This also has paved access down to it and allows those who might not be able to get out into a boat a better cast into the lake for fishing. 

From the dam to the moon. Just days before the moon was closer to the Earth than it had been in over 60 years. I did try getting shots of the super moon, none turned out to be the greatest. 

A small pile for a short walk around the lake. Every little bit makes a difference, when you are out on a trail or at a local state park I really hope you decide to make a difference when you come across litter!

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

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