Lehigh River: Final Post of the Year! (28-Dec-2016)

I had to do one last river clean-up before the year ended and as a result of snow this one also ended up being my last clean-up of 2016. Earlier in the year I had worked on this access at Treichler's Bridge and I knew there were some older items further up river that I hadn't yet able to make it to. My goal was to hike up river and work on that section. I started though by heading down by the launch.   

On my way to the river from the lot, I flushed a small flock of White-throated Sparrows. This one was kind enough to stick around for some photos. White-throated Sparrows are a very common find at this time of year. I only saw one other species on this trip and it was a Downy Woodpecker that was too far off for photos. 

Just down stream of the launch I found this. A bank of small items and some very large styrofoam blocks. The blocks were lined with a thick paper backing and the backings on the bottom two were waterlogged. I couldn't leave them in the river and I have no idea what the fisherman that was just up river thought when he saw me dragging them out. I did talk to him a little later and explained what I was doing. All but one of the blocks I was able to get up to the trash cans intact. The fourth one broke and I had to carry the backing up in my burlap sack.

The first round was complete, but I was nowhere near my goal of even reaching the sections I wanted to above the bridge and dam up river. Threw away the non-recyclables, loaded the recyclables in my car and it was off for round two. 

At this point I could have hit the D&L Trail and went strait for my goal, but I had to see just what was on the small stretch of walkable bank below and above the bridge. This paid off. The trash can lid in this photo I have seen on several other clean-ups. It had been hung up in an area I couldn't reach from the bank and it bothered me every time I saw it. Now it was mine for the picking! I scooped it up and continued on up the bank for more items. 

Before I picked it up, I had hoped the antifreeze container in this photo was empty. It was not. I then did the shake test and it was not water. I have nowhere to go with the stuff, but I can't leave it on the bank. It too went with me. 

Back to the trash can for the second deposit. Again recyclables went to the car, non-recyclables in the trash. The antifreeze and can lid were left as they are. This isn't the best thing for me to do leaving it there, inside the trash can would have been worse. My hope is that the township or county worker that finds it will properly dispose of it. It is at least in a better place than the riverside. 

For round three it was on to the D&L and up to the dam and beyond. Since my last visit two new informational stations have been installed, one on a railroad telephone booth and the other for the broken dam. After reading a little bit, I headed on down to the dam.

The dam I have found can be really trashy or have nothing at all on it. That leads me to believe there are others that sometimes clean it. On this trip it was really trashy. I did my best to scan all of the cracks and even dug with my boots for items in the large crack Penny has her head in, in the above photo. I really hoped she wasn't sniffing out a living creature when I put my foot in there.

As I searched and pulled up trash, Penny watched the D&L Trail for joggers and bikers. Both of which she loves to bark at and really wants to chase when they pass by. 

Further up river I got almost to where I wanted to be and found pile after pile. Coupled with what I took off the dam I had both my sack and pack full and had no other bags with me. I wasn't going to reach my goal for the day.

Headed back to the D&L I found this pile which had a ripped garbage bag. I put what I could in the ripped bag and hoped for the best on the hike out. 

This is what I had for the hike back. On the D&L I arranged thing a little better, but I still wasn't sure if the ripped bag would hold up. 

Luckily it did. After doing a sort, throwing the trash and loading the last of the recyclables in the car the last clean-up of the year was complete! I still have one more sort to do until I know the final total of recyclables for the year. This year has felt like a long one, next year I think is going to feel longer. There is so much more work to be done and it adds on everyday. Happy New Year to all of my readers! There will be much more to come!
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 and a Short Stop at a Gamelands (14-Mar-2016)

Went back to the Treichler's Bridge access to continue working up the bank. To get to a spot I had previously left off, Penny and I hiked up river on the D&L Trail. It was a nice day for hiking and to clean up trash. It wasn't too hot, wasn't too cold, the rain was light and was just enough to keep others off of the trail. The reason it is better without others on the trail is hauling the trash out on the trail when there is a lot of traffic can be difficult. I always have to stop and move everything off to the side and that can get annoying on a long walk out. 

Two-liter bottles were the most abundant trash item of the day. All of the trash right along the river bank was newer, the garbage further away from the river all seemed to be twenty or more year old. There were more of the rounded bottom two-liters here than I have found at any other site.

In this particular area, the trash is not just against the rivers edge. It is spread out through the woods.  I think there was a major flood sometime in the 90's because of the age of this trash. To clean this, I would set Penny up next to a tree and I would search the surrounding area, piling up the findings near her and the bags. Normally she is very vocal on how she does not like this method, but on this occasion she didn't seem bothered. 

Over the river there was some fog and even so there were still nice views. 

The first message in a bottle this year. It even came with a children's card for some reason. It read: "May 24, 2011 Upon opening this message you will all perish." After reading this I looked at Penny and said "You feel fine? I feel fine." She gave me a puzzled look as is usual and I went back to collecting more trash.

It felt like no time before I had the first garbage bag and pack full. Continued on to fill a second bag.

I started finding a lot of glass bottles and I wasn't too enthused about that. They very quickly make bags heavy and it was a long walk out. 

With two full bags and a pack full we were ready to head back to the car. Penny was not going to make that easy for me. On the way back she spotted two squirrels and tried going after each. I can't say that it was that bad though, with not a single hiker or biker on the trail, I know the day could have been much harder if it were nice. 

In all I had a few more recyclables this time than trash. After packing everything away into the car and trash can I decided that I was up for another hike and set off for the next destination. 

Two last things before I move on to the next stop. On the way in to the Treichler's access there was a flock of Wild Turkeys along side the road. They weren't bothered by me stopping the car and snapping some shots. The on in the photo even took the time to shake off the rain in front of me. I was a little disappointed to see the truck bed still in the parking lot and the garbage was emptied. My guess is that the vehicle that picks up the trash at this location is not big enough to remove the truck bed. Hopefully Lehigh County will find a way to remove it soon.

The second stop was at a small gamelands along the Blue Mountain. 

Not far at all down the access road I spotted this old dump pile. This is something that I don't remove trash from. The way I feel about this is that the items on the top serve as a marker as to where the dump site is. Removing them would just conceal the site. Removing everything would disturb a large area and I don't think the game commission or hunters would be too happy if I left a big hole on their property. So these sites stay until someone else can get permission and go in an do the job right. 

The newer stuff I did take out though. There wasn't much. This gamelands is tiny and I am somewhat confused as to weather it attaches to a larger area or not. There is private property on either side and no trails other than the access road which ends at a house. Penny and I went as far as we could, but were basically stopped in every direction by posted signs or thick Green Briar.

Not much, yet still something taken out. Two of the glass bottles were older, they were in the open right next to the parking area. The one was from the Hazle Club Bottling Company. I looked it up and it was a small Pennsylvania bottlers which long ago went out of business. 

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 River (10-Mar-2016)

For the second day in a row I set out for the Treichler's Bridge access. Got a late start, but I was feeling much better than at the beginning of the week. Happy to be through with the flu. The day before I noticed while walking out the D&L Trail I noticed in a small flood plain area an item that I have passed on trips to this location for over a year. I had not previously taken it out, one because it was large and two because it was wedged into a debris pile. I didn't think I would be able to remove it, yet I decided to give it a try. 

From the trail yesterday there did not look to be much trash on this section of bank which is not easy to get down to. So I passed it by for more trashy river line. When I got down there it was a different story and I started finding the items obstructed from view from the trail. 

Plastic lawn chairs should not exist. I feel that every one towards the end of its life makes its way down to the river and as soon as it breaks its just thrown in. I know a good wooden chair is expensive, but taken care of they last a life time. If more people could just look at the long run and not just buy the cheapest thing that only lasts a year or two, we would have a much better planet. 

Special drink ice pack, a Phillies cap and baseball. These were all around the same area. The ball and cap were not found like that. I think someone might have gotten lost on the way to their baseball game.

I don't know what the original purpose was of the item on the left. I found three similar shaped pieces of varying sizes. They were all made of what looked to be fiberglass and were heavy. I would have thought they were planters, but I am left wondering. The fan cover on the right looked like it had resided in this spot for awhile. These items and a few others looked to have been tossed down from the D&L. Before the D&L Trail was put in, this was a popular site for off roading jeeps and the open dirt roads gave easy access to illegal dumpers. I have mixed feelings about these kinds of trails, in this case though, the addition of gates has helped to prevent these illegal dumping activities.

Only the top of this bottle was sticking out of the mud. I was shocked when I picked it up and it was heavy. I had to look at it for a minute to determine just what it was filled with. Silicon, someone filled this bottle with silicon and tossed it into the river. Why? Things like this baffle me. 

It might not look like there is much in these debris piles, but I was able to pick out a fair amount from them. If you look closely you can see Penny tied up to the one log. She was not particularly happy that we spent so much time picking through this area. She doesn't like just standing around. 

This is what I was able to remove from the debris piles. I had one particularly interesting find. A disposable underwater camera. It still had over twenty shots left on it. I am going to use the rest, get it developed and possibly see who lost it. 

This was the item I set out for. Like I said, I noticed it last year. It may have been here much longer than that and who knows how long it has been in the river. Today it wasn't pinned down and I was able to dislodge it with ease. 

The most difficult part of getting this back up to the trail was finding the right location to bring it up the slope. The goal in doing so is not only to get the truck bed up to the trail, but to do no damage to the saplings on the slope. I found a spot, took my time and was able to complete the goal. Then I had to make a couple trips back down to get Penny and the rest of the garbage. 

With the truck bed loaded with trash it was time to drag it back to the bridge. This was noisy and I got a lot of strange looks from bikers passing by. The looks may have been for either the truck bed with trash I was dragging or the crazy barking dog I had on a leash. I will say if you are biking on the D&L and ever come across Penny and I, I apologize for my dog. Penny will bark, she will look pure evil and it is only because she does not like things with wheels. She also barks at other dogs. 

Back at the car the sky had clouded up and it was about to start raining. I did the sort as quick as possible and almost all of it was non-recyclables. The non-recyclables were deposited in the can and the truck bed was left next to it. 

I'm glad they do have trash cans at this site. I don't think the truck bed would have fit in the back of my car. 

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