Trash Collected from April 16-May 22

0.5 Pounds

Collected in: Badlands National Park, Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Devils Tower National Monument, Rocky Mountain National Park

Trash Collected from April 6-16

8 Pounds

Collected in: Banff National Park (Canada), Glacier National Park, Grand Tetons National Park, Golden Spike National Historic Site, Arches National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park

Trash Collected March 29-April 6

1.5 Pounds

Collected in: Crater Lake National Park, Lewis and Clark National Historic Park, Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, Mount Rainier National Park, Olympic National Park

Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area

The Columbia River defines most of the border between Oregon and Washington. Along an 80 mile stretch of this border, it forms a gorge which at some points reveals 4,000 foot canyon walls. And scattered along these walls are several waterfalls - Multnomah Falls being the tallest (and the second tallest in the U.S.). The Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area leads travelers along a road that follows this river - the only navigable route through the Cascade Range. Learn more about this beautiful drive by visiting: http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/columbia/

Approximate trash/recyclables collected: 70 pieces

Description: ABC gum and corners of plastic wrappers

Dates visited: April 3, 2009

Lewis and Clark National Historic Park

Lewis and Clark may be the most well known American explorers - with the help of Sacagawea, they followed the Missouri River and eventually the Columbia River all the way to the Pacific Coast. Directed by President Thomas Jefferson, they became the first documented American frontiersman and led the exploration of the Louisiana Purchase. And to commemorate their opening of the west, their footprints are stamped all over our route with monuments, museums, and parks. One of their last stops was at Fort Clatsop, in Oregon, where they wintered from 1805-06, where now a quaint park keeps alive this encampment. Read more about these two great Americans and some of what they did here: http://www.nps.gov/lewi/

Approximate trash/recyclables collected: 10 pieces

Description: Plastic pieces and a straw

Dates visited: April 1, 2009

Crater Lake National Park

The soothing serenity of this place is almost ominous. We entered the park in the middle of the night during a snowfall - something very common in one of the nation's snowiest places (822 inches of snow during 1948-49). After driving through 12 foot high walls of shoveled snow, we eventually made our way to a dead end at the Crater Lake Lodge where we found the park empty and dark except for the warm oasis of the 24-hour bathrooms. From a twilight visit and the blind sense of vastness to the early morning trek through knee-deep snow, the deepest lake in the U.S. (1,949 feet deep and formed after the collapse of the volcanic Mt. Mazama) never failed to amaze. A caldera filled with only direct precipitation, Crater Lake is as blue and clear as it is deep. Except for the formations of Wizard Island and the Phantom Ship, it is a mirror. We only found a few pieces of trash, but it could have all been covered by snow. Read more about this water bowl here: http://www.nps.gov/crla/

Approximate trash/recyclables collected: 5 pieces

Description: corners of plastic candy bar wrappers

Dates visited: March 29-30, 2009

Trash Collected from March 19-29

315 Pounds

Collected in: Point Reyes National Seashore, Highways 1 and 101, Redwood National and State Parks

Details on Weigh-in #5 (in lbs):
20, 17.5, 14, 25, 21, 20.5, 25, 24, 21, 22, 18, 35, 16, and 28 (tire) - Jedidiah Smith Redwood State Park
+
1 - Redwood National Park
+
7 - Point Reyes National Seashore and Highways 1 and 101
=
315 lbs

Redwood National and State Parks

Tall trees...we could leave it at that. The coastal redwoods, kin to the giant sequoias of the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, are the tallest living species on the planet. Reaching as high as 379 feet, it is like sitting in an Imax theater. This park was established with the pen of President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968 after intense advocacy to "save the trees" (and found its first fan, coincidentally, in Lady Bird Johnson who after a tour in 1969 during the dedication ceremony became the namesake for one of its most famous groves). It was formed from land purchased to protect these giant wonders and because of this is scattered along the northern coast of California, pieced together as a semi-continuous forest. We spent two days making our way from groves in both the national park and the state parks. It was during our second day that we ran across our largest trash find yet - over 300 pounds of wet clothes, a tire, and water hose, in Jedidiah Smith Redwood State Park - a sad site of what seemed to be a garage sale dumped over the side of Howland Hill Road. After an hour or so of collecting this eye sore, we continued our journey of amazement through this eerie place (did you know that the Ewoks, of Star Wars fame, who lived on the forest moon of Endor actually just lived in the Redwood forest?; signs even suggest that the Ewoks have a neighbor - Big Foot). Read more about the trees, and not Big Foot or Ewoks, here: http://www.nps.gov/redw/

Approximate trash/recyclables collected: 440 pieces

Description: corners of plastic wrappers, cigarette butts, bags of wet used clothes, tire, and water hose

Dates visited: March 28-29, 2009

California Highway 1 and U.S. Route 101

Not many highways can surpass being mere corridors between point A and point B to become actual site-seeing destinations themselves. A few on our list are the Autobahn (because you can go whatever speed you like), Route 66 (the most famous American highway), Highway 61 (visited or revisited), and the Pig Trail (Arkansas Highway 23). And now added to that list are California's Highway 1 and the entire Pacific-coast-hugging U.S. Route 101. We ventured on and off of these two roads for almost half of our trip and when we got a chance hopped out to pick up roadside trash. From the CA1's Pacific Coast Highway and Big Sur coastline National Scenic Byway to U.S. Route 101's path from the redwoods, through the foggy Oregon coast, and all the way to Washington's Puget Sound, this thoroughfare does not lack adventure. To learn more about these kings of the roads, visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_Route_1 and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_101

Approximate trash/recyclables collected: included in numbers for adjacent parks

Description: N/A

Dates visited: March 17 to April 7, 2009

Point Reyes National Seashore

Where can you find dairy cows, oyster farms, mule deer, a whole host of birds, lighthouses, and high winds all in one place? At Point Reyes National Seashore. This peninsula, found right along the San Andreas fault line, hosts over 71,000 acres of protected grasslands, forest, and shoreline mixed with private land used for raising dairy cows and oysters. On the drive in, we passed dozens of birdwatchers standing silent over their telescoped lenses near the tide pools. Once in the park, we ventured to the most outer point and, just like the trash we found in the low-lying brush, fell victim to the high winds near the Point Reyes Lighthouse. What's best about this living museum of the Pacific coast is that it is merely an hour and half from the exciting neighborhoods of San Francisco. To learn more about one of the handful of national seashores, visit: http://www.nps.gov/pore/

Approximate trash/recyclables collected: 35 pieces

Description: corners of plastic candy bar wrappers, cigarette butts, and some unknown dead sea plant

Dates visited: March 26, 2009