Lehigh Canal and River: Part II (23-Apr-2016)

After dropping off the trash from the previous paddle I headed back down to the riverside. For this one I was taking the river downstream and paddling back up the canal. I like the areas where the canal is still intact and holding water. They take a lot of planning out of river trips because they make it so there is always a way back to the car. 

I didn't get far down the river until I started seeing trash. Over to the side I went.

On a small island there were a number of debris piles I searched through. There was the regular items and then! A Spidey Car! Spiderman sure does loose a lot of vehicles in the river. I find way more vehicles of his than any other superhero. 

More of the same river trash. On the right, the large item is a piece of the side of a boat. There was more of the boat where I found that, the rest was pinned in a debris pile though.

The boat was filling up quick. 

After picking through a couple more areas I realized I still had to go back the canal and there would be more trash on the way back.

I found the best place I could to take out at. I then had to drag the boat up a spillway for the canal and it wasn't easy.   

On the canal I started paddling back to the car. Right near where I put on at I noticed a barrel. Didn't think much of it, I have come across a lot of old rusty barrels all along the Lehigh Canal and in the river. I went to pick up a piece of trash near it and found out that this barrel was a little different than most. 

The barrel was upside down and full of trash. Why people feel the need to throw a can full of trash into the canal or river is beyond me. In the past with a nearly full boat I probably would have just let this be. Now I just can't take seeing stuff like this so I dealt with it. I pulled, pushed and shoved this across the canal. I thought that maybe once I got it near the trail I could flip it upright on the path and leave it there for the park employees to deal with. 

It was so rusted my idea literally fell through. I had to scramble when the plastic items started floating out of the barrel. I really did not want to, yet I did sort through all of the contents and separated the recyclables from non. The only thing I left behind was the barrel. Couldn't have taken it out if I wanted to. Hopefully the parks staff will pick it up soon and not just leave it there. 

This was everything for the second trip of the day. I will be going back to this location soon. There is much more to be done and I passed by many items on the canal that I just had no more room for. 

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

Lehigh Canal and River: Part I (23-Apr-2016)

Drove down river to Walnutport today. After walking the canal path this past week and seeing the canal was filled with trash, I thought it would be a good place to work on. I parked near the river and carried my kayak up to the canal. The idea was to work my way up the canal then cross over to the river and float back down. 

Not long after I put the boat on the water I started picking up trash. In some areas had to stick to the right side of the canal to give fishermen some space.

These were on the canal path side. I wonder how many people passed these items, saw them and just kept on walking. 

Finding this Common Musk Turtle was odd. Well, where it was, was the odd part. It was just hanging out under a plastic grocery bag I picked up. Another name for the Common Musk Turtle is a Stinkpot. Care to guess why they are called that? I bet you guessed right. When disturbed a Musk Turtle will musk, producing a foul smelling odor. Snapping Turtles will do the same thing and in my experience Snappers are worse. You will not often see Musk Turtles basking, they do, but in more secretive spots. The one I am holding in the photo is an adult and they are a smaller sized turtle. I would suggest if you ever find one in the wild to not pick it up. There is a reason other than the smell.  Musk Turtles like to bite and if you give them a chance to get a finger they will. 

There were many floating plastic items on the canal. Mostly grocery bags. Some of these items blend in well with algae and I am sure there was a lot I missed. It is always disappointing to come across so much trash.

Was someone playing badminton on the canal. I don't think this was the first shuttlecock I have found, but it was the fanciest.

If you are wondering that is a metal bat sticking out of the drink carrier. I never would have thought metal bats would be a common item to find on the water, but this one makes four or five that I have found paddling. The drink carrier I have decided to keep. It fits nicely on the front of my kayak and can be easily secured with the bungees on the front of the boat. 

At the lock I had to unload everything on the deck of the boat and then carry it all up. Above this point the canal is not navigable. There is still trash, but getting to it would be a muddy mess. I wasn't feeling up for that on this trip. 

Where I accessed the river there was a large line of debris and trash. I picked through it after taking my boat down to the rivers edge. When I was searching around I found these angry eyes peering out from under the Skunk Cabbage. 

Honestly I didn't know how I was going to fit all of this and myself into the boat. I somehow made it work, but there wasn't much room for me.

It wasn't that bad paddling this way. Downriver was pretty enjoyable. I couldn't possibly take on anymore trash, so there wasn't constant stopping and I got to drift and take in the sun.

Once back to my car I got everything unloaded. There is a dumpster in the parking lot and that's where I disposed of the non-recyclables. I didn't take them out of the bag for the photo because that takes time and I wanted to get out for a second clean-up. Packed all the recyclables into the car, locked it up and headed back to the river. 
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

Gamelands (17-Apr-2016)

Back to searching for salamander study sites for Kelly. Again, I can not give out locations. The sites that we visit are sensitive and if a lot of people start going to them the habitat can very quickly be ruined. Above is an adult Spring Salamander that we came across at one of the streams. 

For some a Hellgrammite may be the stuff of nightmares, especially one this large. To me they are just and aquatic larval insect that will eventually develop into a Dobsonfly. I would suggest not trying to pick them up. They do have large mandibles and they like to use them. You would certainly feel a bite from one this size. Like many creatures, they should not be feared, just respected. They like everything else has its purpose in the environment. 

Kelly found more Collembola in one of the streams. These are clearly a different color than all I have come across so far this year. I don't know weather it is just a variant or if this is a different species. Pretty sure I would have had to collect some and use a microscope to tell. 

Some snakes are finally slithering about. This Garter Snake was moving along one of the trails. Like the Hellgrammite snakes are nothing to fear. Keep your distance and they will leave you alone.

The common name for this flower is Bloodroot. It is not a flower I come across often. I would like to point out that it is unlawful to collect flowers from the wild on state lands. Take photos not plants to help ensure they will be in our woods for years to come!

Only four small piles for the day. I didn't take out that much trash and we didn't find any sites that would work for Kelly's study.

By the end of the day I was exhausted and as you can see I didn't even take the trash out of my pack for the photo. I think this may be the last study site search for awhile.

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

Lehigh Gorge State Park (12-Apr-2016)

Hiked a road I had never set foot on before. It is nice going to new areas and this one was close to home. After seeing Drake's Creek from the opposing side of the river a few weeks ago, I wanted to find the access to it. From what it looked like on Google Maps the lower section of Drake's Creek was on state gamelands and the upper portion was privately owned. When I got to the site, it was a little different than the maps had shown. The lower section and the access road that goes down to the river is actually labeled and maintained by the DCNR and is part of the Lehigh Gorge State Park. I parked near the top of the access road and started walking down it. From the start I could hear Drake's Creek, but the vegetation in the valley was too thick to see it. 

In the thick vegetation on the side of the road was the average roadside items. Bottles and cans were the majority of trash along this access road.

Found several piles of cans. Some sites look like people were camping or partying. I would just like to note this is part of the State Park system, not State Forest. There is a big difference in the laws of the two. Fires (outside of camp and day use areas) and drinking are fineable offenses within our state parks.

It really gets me when you are in a place when you are surrounded by views like this and there are beer cans and bottles around. Who needs a drink when this is in front of you? It just doesn't make sense to me.

Once again Snow Fleas! Found these Springtails on trash in a couple places along the access road. If you click on the photos they will enlarge and I cropped the image so you can get a better look at these tiny critters.

Noticed something in the Rhododendron that just was not the right color. When I went to get it I found there was more trash down along the slope. 

A lot of green plastic and look, there is a whitewater bucket that didn't even make it to the river! I don't know what the green plastic was. At first I thought it was possibly a poncho, but then I kept pulling more up. I never did take the time to spread a piece of it out to figure out exactly what it was. I did see what looked to be a plastic button on one of the pieces so it could have been multiple ponchos or it could have been pieces of a tarp. 

This was gross. It was with other trash on the slope. Bread, probably a pizza crust. When I removed it from the plastic it was more like a paste.  

Drink pouches, beef jerky packaging and more were spread throughout one spot. Most of the pouches looked like animals had been chewing on them.

This fungus was probably the coolest thing I found. It was only growing on one rotted log not too far from the creek. After checking multiple sources I think this is Cyathus striatus. The common name is Fluted Bird's Nest. I am not a fungus expert and I did not use a key to figure it out, so this may be an incorrect id. If anyone reading this knows fungus and could tell me if this is right or wrong comments are always welcome.

This wooden structure is there to make it easy for rafting companies to get their rafts down to the creek. From what I could see this really is not a safe access for rafting. Also, there was a lot of trash around this. To me if the rafting companies actually cared about the river, this area would be cleaned periodically and especially after a season ends. Much of the trash I found around this had been there longer than just over this past winter. 

This is where the unsafe part comes in for the rafts. On the other side of this bridge the rafts have to be carried down a really rocky slope to the river. I really don't think the DCNR should allow access to the rafting companies at this site. As a former river guide I would not take the general public through an area like this. It just is not safe. 

This would be a more common trash item around cities. Why would a safe box be on a riverbank? Bridges are the answer. I have seen on multiple occasions items that would contain cash or change under bridges by rivers and streams. Throw the locked item from a certain height and gravity and a hard surface below might break it open for you. Could have been the case with this or this may just have broke and someone threw it in the river. So far I have seen broken newspaper machines, cash registers, lock boxes like this and parking meters.

First Dixi Cola can I have ever found. Not sure when this was from. I do not believe it has been sold in the US for a long time. 

Looking down river. Here on the slope going up to the railroad was a lot of old trash. By the river and around the creek was newer items. 

The keystone on the bridge reads, A.D. 1881. So this bridge has been standing for over 130 years and still has train traffic going over it. I find that impressive.  

This was too much to carry all the way out. I left everything except my pack at a pull-off on the access road. Hiked up and drove my car back down to do the trash sort and pack everything up. 

On the way up I spotted this Porcupine. The tree it was in was lower in the valley than the access road, so even though the Porcupine was fairly high up, it was just around eye level with me. This is the second one of the year I have seen in a pine tree. Maybe this one had climbed up to take in some sun on this nice and sunny day. 

A lot of trash for not that far of a hike. I would say this was about the same distance at the Shades of Death Trail at Hickory Run and there was about double what I picked up there. I guess people just don't see what I do in these areas and therefore they just don't care about them. As I was sorting everything out a DCNR Ranger passed. They slowed as they went by, but kept going. On their way back I had everything packed into the car and they stopped and thanked me. I thought that was really nice, but not needed. I explained I was working on other areas in the gorge and the tires pulled up along the D&L was one of the things I was working on. She told me she had just picked up a couple off of it and I felt kind of bad because the last ones had rims in them and were not the lightest. On that note, thank you again to all of the DCNR Rangers and Maintenance Personnel that help maintain the Lehigh Gorge State Park. There are more tires on the river bank and I will be removing them, so thank you in advance for picking them 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 blog? Like it on Facebook: Taking Out the Trash in Eastern PA