Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Polluters Make Me Sick....

It amazes me that people will go to a state park and throw trash either in the woods or in the lake.

Actually, it does more than amaze me.

It sickens, annoys, saddens, depresses, irritates, angers, and bothers me.

Why can't people take care of their trash?

Every time I go kayaking in the park, I take along a plastic grocery bag and, following the example of my friend Rozmo, I pick up trash at the water's edge.

Some of it is very old, like the Miller Lite can I found today that had the old-fashioned pop top on it. You know, the ring with the tab that came completely off? Either somebody was hoarding some very old beer, or that can has been floating in the lake at Fort Yargo for a very long time.

I didn't get pictures of everything today. But I figure if you've seen one plastic bottle or beer can, you've pretty much seen them all.

Bait containers are also frequent finds.

Sometimes I find floats, lures, and hooks, and I really can't hold that against anyone. There are lots of trees around the edge of the lake, and it's understandable that one's fishing line may occasionally get tangled. I can also understand why they didn't want to wade out there and retrieve the floats. Today I found a fake worm wrapped around a tree branch, and I didn't want to touch it even though I KNEW it was fake. But I did. Yuck.

This is the bag full of trash I collected just from one small portion of the lake today. I finally cut short my kayaking, because the trash was beginning to take up too much room in the kayak.

I don't mind, though, because if I weren't cruising around the edge of the lake picking up trash, I wouldn't be able to get shots like these.

I started shooting from a good ways away, because turtles are shy and generally jump in the water before I can get a good shot.

I was drifting, and the angle was perfect as I got closer to the tree.

He's trying to determine how much of a threat I am.

Wary but not afraid.

That's close enough, lady. Sheesh, I'm just trying to get some sun here.

And this one was right before my kayak bumped his tree. That was pretty much the end of that. I did, however, tell him thanks.

Click on the link below if you're curious to see the "route" I took in my kayaking adventure. If you click on the "Player" tab, you can see it in action. I think it's hilarious that it looks in some places like I was kayaking on dry land. Not!

2 comments:

Julie said...

Serious! I usually hike nature preserves. You would think that people who go there would never ever litter, but they still do. On my last hike I found a plastic water bottle hidden inside a hole in a tree (as if hiding it made it less despicable!)Sometimes I carry a trash bag, but it's difficult on the bike. I usually just pick it up and carry it until I can't hold any more in my hands, but it ruins my enjoyment of the hike. I start stomping along and cussing and calling the litterers a-holes! Once I found a huge pair of men's whitey tighties. I didn't pick those up. I just couldn't do it since I didn't have a bag with me.

Maggie said...

The turtle pictures are so very awesome! Wow- what a lucky catch!

And littering drives me nuts! Kudos to you for picking it up as you go along!

And on a side note (no pun intended)- the random books that popped up on your sidebar today were all ones I've read. i just thought that was cool.