Green River Clean Up Session!

The Pile! 

photo by Jakob Kafer

If you are a regular on a river you get to have a certain connection with it.  You start to feel as though you know it like the back of your hand, the changing seasons, the water levels, the locals.  It all just feels sooo familiar.  Every once in a while I paddle this river, the Green, and I get to see it in a whole new way.  This past Saturday was one of those days.  If you have ever floated down your home river closely looking for garbage it can be disconcerting how much you find.  The Green though it is very remote feeling it is also impacted heavily by people.   Its headwaters are a lake that is populated to busting with homes, and docks.  Its tributaries flow through construction sites, and appliance riddled hollows.  So there are times that it feels pristine but then you look closely and see more.  This day gave me a new perspective on just how much garbage there is but that search also had me standing and looking at the river from places I hadn't ever been before.

The Crew at the Get In

We chatted up the idea of having a full scale clean up session this weekend but I was pretty sure that we wouldn't have many folks considering the weekend also had a Tallulah release, and a Cheoah release.  It was awesome to roll into the parking lot and see the huge crowd that showed up to gather the garbage.  I don't really know how many folks but I am guessing over 30.  It was incredible.  At first many people didn't think there would be enough garbage for all the paddlers but within the first mile we all knew that was not the case.  It will take many more huge efforts like this one to really get it all done but this effort put the first big dent in it.  Hopefully we can start a tradition and continue to do spring cleanings on our home run.

The Tire was Epic!

photo by Jakob Kafer

One fire extinguisher, several tires, fishing rod, foam mattress, 37 tennis balls, a couple soccer balls, pvc pipe, part of a windsurfer, part of a port-a-john, lots and lots of styrofoam, and a great day giving back to the river that gives us soo much.   There are more photos below and a bunch more in the slide show at the bottom.

Cheer

Shane

Wheelie Through the Notch

photo by Jakob Kafer

Fully loaded

photo by Jakob Kafer

The Prize at the end of a great day!

photo by Jakob Kafer

Here are all the photos from myself and Jakob Kafer.