Lehigh Canal (15-June-2016)

The total trip included not only the canal, but the trip back on the river. Since there are so many photos I decided to break it up into two posts. This post is just the trip up the canal from Sand Island in Bethlehem to Canal Park in Allentown. I started off the trip with a lot of energy and was very optimistic that there wouldn't be much trash on the canal due to my awesome clean-ups last year! If you are laughing you know how things actually work out. 

As soon as I pushed off onto the water I was picking up trash. On the left a glass bottle, on the right a balloon that looked like it had been in there for awhile.

All I could think at the start was, what a nice day to be out paddling. 

While reaching in for some trash I noticed this Common Musk Turtle and decided to say hello. It was not pleased with this decision and really wanted to bite me. Really can't blame it, just imagine if some giant creature picked you up. How would you react? I haven't come across too many Musk Turtles this year and it was nice to find one on this trip. After a few photos I placed it back in the canal and got to watch it awkwardly swim away like Musk Turtles do. 

Didn't I just clean this exact spot last year with Greco? Oh yeah, I did. New stuff and old stuff that must have been hidden last year. Even glass soda bottles with the metal caps. 

Also found in the strainer above were this volleyball (left) and little blue token (right) with a dogs back end on it.

About a third of the way to Allentown there is a lock that I have to portage around. During the portage I found this overflowing trash can. I cleaned up around it, took some recyclables and left behind a heavy, thick, plastic seat/cooler top and a fishing rod. Both items did not fit well on the kayak and I was happy to get rid of them right away. I think the trash can looked much better after I left.

Back on the canal I cleaned up around the top of the lock and found some keepers. On the left was a blow horn. Anyone know what kind of figurine it is on the right? Had a microphone in its hand.

More and more bottles. 

I specifically remember cleaning up this same section of canal bank last year. The nice thing was that this year it wasn't nearly as bad. This was one of a few places that I could see a clear difference as a result of what I did last year. Still a lot of trash though. 

This angered me. I found four similar bags, all had the same type of water bottles in them and three of the four had paperwork in them. Two of them I opened and took a look at the paperwork. It seems that employees of Norfolk Southern like to bag up their trash and throw it into our canal. One of the two bags that I opened also had rotting organic items in it that really smelled like vomit. That got on the side of my boat. I am not too pleased with Norfolk Southern and had there been a PFBC officer at Canal Park I would have handed these over instead of throwing them out. I doubt the PFBC would do much about it though, at least locally they don't seem to be too good at going after people who illegally dump into out waterways.

Apparently none of this paperwork really mattered. It is sad that I am to the point I don't believe anyone would fine Norfolk Southern for this. It is clearly trash from the company and their employees.

When I went to pick up one of the bags I noticed these two Painted Turtles slide into the water. Like the Musk Turtle they did not seem pleased that I said hello. Hopefully they learned from this experience and will do more in the future not to get caught by a predator. I placed them back by there basking area one immediately disappeared into the leaf litter and other debris in the water, the other stayed near the surface. I have hope for one of them surviving at least.  

My first whole RC vehicle ever! 

Then there was this... A basket, the inside cover of which is folded over on top of its contents and floating in the water. On top of the cloth cover are flies and because who knows what someone would put in a basket and float down the canal I had to see what the contents were. I was happy and confused. Multiple whole, decapitated, unfeathered chickens. I did not remove the basket or the contents. 

By this point exiting the canal I was tired. For at least the last quarter of the paddle up the bag in the front was hanging off enough in the water to create drag and slow me down a lot. That meant more paddling. I was also happy to be done with this part because the entire inside of my kayak was full of bottles and cans to the point my legs were resting on them in the front. It was extremely uncomfortable and I was happy I was able to move things around before setting out on the river and back to my car. 

After I cleared out the kayak the bag that doesn't have much in it in this photo was completely full. The other bag was non-recyclables. 

After dropping off the non-recyclables in the can by the parking area I took my boat and recyclables down to the river. The trip down river will be posted sometime soon. 
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

Lehigh River (4-Sept-2015)

Another run up the canal and down the river between Sand Island and Canal Park. Again it was a long trip, but I got through it about an hour faster than the last couple times and was only on the water for around six hours. 

This was the haul from the canal. A difference can really be seen from the first run up it this year. It was nice not finding any large trash piles this time and the lack of trash on the canal helped me get done a good amount quicker. The bucket on the right was my least favorite item of the day. When I found it floating in the canal I paddled over to it and slowly popped open the lid to see what it contained. Immediately I could smell oil and inside was multiple oil cans. I recapped the top and went to put the bucket on the bow of my kayak. The bucket had a hole and oil came leaking out over my boat and into the canal. There was nothing I could do about it. The good thing was I was close to the end and I was able to make it back with the majority of the contents still in the bucket.

Just a view of the canal.

How I found the chair in the canal junk photo. It wasn't the easiest to pull out of there.

Back to the river once again. It was different at this point with only less than half a bag of recyclables. The other trips I had already filled one.

First time I ever pulled a wetsuit off the river. The sleeves were stuck in the mud and for a moment I didn't think I would be able to remove it. After several minutes of pulling it finally was out and mud had to be shaken out of the arms and legs. This item was also extremely heavy. 

Cormorant taking flight.

I didn't even see this on any of the other trips through this section. It was tucked behind a debris pile and I just had to take it.

This was the hardest balancing act I have ever done with the kayak. The tricycle did not want to stay on the front and if I leaned at all, both front and back would just slide into the water. I lost everything several times in shallow water and was able to recover everything. At one point not only did I loose everything, but took on a lot of water as well. It was a real pain, but I got through it and got all of it off the river.

The best find of the day for me was this L. L. Bean head lamp. Someone must have left it after camping on the one island. Looked brand new and had new batteries. Got rid of the strap and kept the light. I like finds like this.

This isn't cool at all and I am pretty sure it is illegal. There were two guys who looked like they were around their early twenties taking turns running up and down the riverside in this little dirt bike. It bothers me just as much as the trash. The bike disturbs the riverbed in the sections they run to and running the trails to get to the river is detrimental to the terrestrial habitat along the river. This happens all of the time in this area and because it is not easily accessed it seems to be ignored.

This was all just around the boat ramp at the take out. I have cleaned around the ramp every time I have taken out there so all of this was new. There is also a trash can at the top of the ramp.

This was all of the recyclables for today. Not as much as a normal run through this section, but I did get a lot more garbage this time.

Mmmm..... River tomato juice. 

Lehigh Canal and River (31-Aug-2015)

Another long trip from Sand Island to Canal Park and back. In total two bags of recyclables, two bags of trash, a broken lawn chair, a headless plastic deer, a child size sled and a purple tote were taken off of the canal and river today. Was on the water from around 12:30 this afternoon to 7:30 tonight. This paddle was not supposed to take as long as the last time I completed it.

The day started off as usual, empty boat bags ready and I was ready to get out on the water. When I put on the canal I paddled a little bit down stream to shoreline I haven't cleaned yet. Found some bottles underneath overhanging branches and went in, grabbed them and started backpaddling out....

I felt the back of the boat hit a branch behind me and I thought nothing of it. When I passed the branch, I was suddenly surrounded by a cloud of vespid/paper wasps. I kept backpaddling, now much faster and prepared to be stung. Luckily the majority of the wasps flew back to the nest when I got far enough away and I didn't receive a single sting. Remember this if you ever paddle by low branches. I have seen vespid wasp nests over water like this before, but never had such a close call.

In my mind the canal was going to be a breeze and I was just going to paddle through and get to the river. It did not work out that way. I kept finding pockets of trash that were missed on the previous two trips though. This little pile I understand, it was pretty well hidden.

For this pile I must have had my eyes closed when I passed it the last time. It was very visible from the middle of the canal and there was a lot packed in there and to the left of this photo.

This time I also pulled both recyclables and garbage off the bottom in the shallow stretches. That's where the road cone in the bag came from.

If someone told me I was going to see giraffes on the canal, I would have just given them a disproving stare. 

Did Hook finally kill Peter Pan? Who is Jake? I did think it was funny how the designer of this ball used the fill hole as an eye for the crocodile. 

This was the haul from the canal. Once again the recyclables from the canal took up more space than I wanted them to for the way back. The garbage was discarded in the proper receptacle on the way to the river.

This little critter is a turtle leech. For the most part they do not bother humans, unless the human is bothered just by the sight of them. Most wild turtles have these leeches on them and I often find these leeches on smooth trash items that I pull out of muddy areas. It could be that they think the surface resembles a turtleshell or they might just like hanging out on smooth items. This one came off of the road cone.

Back to the river yet again.

Turtles aren't seen as much on the river as they are on the canal. This is just a Painted Turtle, I have posted photos of them before. I just liked seeing this one on the river for some reason.

On who's orders should I not disturb this? I just wonder what the average person on a weekend paddling the river would think of an item like this. I could see someone finding this, then finding a musky jaw on the bank and thinking that the government released some kind of genetically altered fish monster. My guess is that there was some kind of plant in it originally. It would have been nice if it was labeled. Also, if this is biodegradable what is it made of? 

Someone lost their face heart. It is now in the garbage.

If this didn't smell I would have brought it home. Coupled with the mask I found earlier this summer it would have made and excellent halloween yard decoration and both items would have got at least one more use. However it did smell, worse than most discarded items found on the river, so it went directly into the trash.

Took a different channel than normal and stopped at a different island. It was past six by this point and I was wondering if I would make it off the river before dark. Also didn't want to get back in the kayak because sitting in it for so long gets extremely uncomfortable.

Stopped for the purple bin and wasn't going to stop again. I really wasn't, but I got to an area that years ago had a great rope swing. The tree is still there and there is a small silt beach. It was one of my favorite places on this section of river and it was trashed. Someone must have had a party there over the weekend. Beer cans everywhere, meat and buns in bags, condiments barely used all thrown throughout the area. I took my time and took nearly everything. I won't mention what I left behind, it was things that shouldn't ever be let by the river or anywhere except a garbage can. I took no pictures of the mess because I didn't want to see it again. I really loved that place and I loved the rope swing.

The only thing I don't like about this photo is that this can is really close to the river. I just imagined people taking these items and throwing them back in. Why would I imagine this? Because that's what people seem to do. The garbage can itself is chained to the telephone pole. The parks people know what happens. Not chained down, ends up in the river. I just hope they do make it to the landfill, it wasn't an easy balancing act to get them to this point and I don't want to do it again further down stream.