A few months ago I noticed that someone had spray painted a giant pot leaf on the rocks at Sandy Beach. Now, I can appreciate graffiti on a bridge abutment or a highway overpass, but NOT in a national park -- especially when I see it almost every day. Sandy Beach is a river access point for boaters running both Great Falls and Mather Gorge, so we have a particular responsibility to keep it clean. I decided to organize a graffiti removal effort.
I spoke with Dan Filer, the volunteer coordinator for the C&O Canal NHP, and he enthusiastically supported the idea. Because the graffiti was so close to the river, we agreed not to use chemicals. I mean, we're trying to clean up the river, not pollute it some more, right? That meant we had to use wire brushes and elbow grease. Undeterred, twelve brave volunteers showed up on the morning of Saturday, March 21 to do battle with the graffiti.
For four hours we scrubbed, and scraped, and scratched, and shouted obscenities at the graffiti. We poured water and then sand on it, hoping it would act as an abrasive. It was slow going, but we made some progress. And it was actually pretty fun, thanks to the continuous banter of the volunteers! Finally we grew tired, and decided tha we had made as much progress as we were going to that day. It was time to step back and rethink our strategy.
The graffiti is still there. It's significantly duller, and worn away in places, but it's still there. We're looking into other ways to remove the graffiti besides wire brushes. So stay tuned... the graffiti removal effort is only just beginning!
* Thanks to Dan Filer, Dan LaFrance, Kyle Anderson, and everyone at the NPS who helped me organize the clean up and provided us with tools.
* Thanks to Craig Campbell and Maggie Snowel for taking photos.
* Thanks to Grayson Taff and Tom Veratti for providing refreshments.
*And most of all, thanks to all the volunteers who showed up on Saturday morning to help with the clean up: Craig Campbell, Nancy Fechnay, Bion Kim, Dan MacGuire, David Ritchie, Jen Sass, Jerry Stezer, Grayson Taff, Tom Veratti, and Bob (sorry, I didn't catch your last name), as well as Team Potomac Paddlesports members Jason Beakes and Maggie Snowel.
~Scott
There it is
Getting started
Washing off the residue... starting to look better
Showing off how green my brush is getting...clearly progress is being made
NAWFest Thursday 19- Saturday 21 (Photo- Rob Beckman)
To start the boating season with a bang, my dad and I decided to go down to the North Alabama Whitewater fest down in, well, Northern Alabama. The festival started off with a little freestyle competition over a 15-20 foot waterfall on short creek. After 20 runs (at least 14 of them landing flat, and 4 of them flat on my head) I had a very sore back, though still very satisfied. Then there was supposed to be a boater cross, though due to some land owner issues and some people parking where they weren't supposed to, we were made to walk out prematurely. -------- Saturday was the Freestyle competitions at king's bend on the Locust fork of the Warrior river. The c-1 class was made up of 3 people, me, dane jackson, and this sick open boater named dooley ( I think). Dane coming in first, second went to myself, and third going to dooley. -------- Here's a bunch of pictures, all taken by Ned P, enjoy!
Ocoee Sunday 22
After driving all night from NAWfest to Greg Garrard's sweet cabin in the northern Georgia mountains we slept in still about 11 and then headed out to the Ocoee. I managed to convince Greg to take my dads c-1 fluid flirt down the Ocoee ( my dad had a bit of a stomach ache so he didn't feel like paddling). Greg makes it all the way down the river with only one swim ( which is pretty amazing). He even managed to get a nice surf on hell hole! Give it up for this guy! This is his 5th time in a c-1!
Duke's Creek
Monday 23
After a long weekend and a super fun day on the Ocoee Greg, my dad, and myself decided to take a rest day and go check out this sick creek. Duke's creek is this beautiful little gem in the Georgia Appalachian mountains. The run is only about half a mile long though drops nearly as much as it runs. The crux section is probably about a 45 degree angle. This is also one of the few creeks that is runnable with 30 cfs. Based on what I saw 100 cfs would make this creek nearly unrunable. Maybe in a few months.
Chattooga Section 4 Tuesday 24
After a nice restful day of hiking/scouting the class 5 gnar Greg Garrard and myself decided to go hit the chattooga for some sweet southern creekin'. This was an amazing run with beautiful crystal clear water and some sick little drops. Greg was an Awesoume guide and kept me from doing anything stupid. Though probably the major adrenaline boost of the day is when a goose decided to dive bomb us and continue to either attack us or dive bomb us for about 500 yards. We also got to see some very large trout at the bottom of the run, so I guess we're bringin our fishing rods next time. After a long day of paddle who would not want a bacon cheeseburger pizza at a sweet Italian place about 15 minutes away from the river.
Last Monday I woke up thinking I would clean my place, do my taxes and do an attainment workout on the Potomac at a ho hum level. Boy was I wrong!
By chance I looked at Waterwatch and saw that rivers were rising in Southern WV. A call to Bryan Kirk confirmed this so i dropped everything, threw my gear in the van and began driving South. 5 and a half hours and 2 Red Bulls later I met Bryan Kirk and Kelsey Thompson at the Lower Meadow put in. It was almost dusk, the level was perfect and we fired it up. As soon as we dropped into that beautiful gorge and started bombing through must make moves, all thoughts of the DC area and petty responsibilities were replaced with gratitude and moment to moment awareness.
Wednesday brought fantastic levels on the New river Dries, one of the world's best playboating runs. A few hours of big water play on the New left us all tired , happy and grateful for the paddling life.
At some point, most paddlers have come across one of the greatest threats to our nation's streams: Acid Mine Drainage. Paddling on many of West Virginia's creeks and rivers the effects become quite evident. The Cheat River watershed is especially affected.Acid Mine Drainage is a mixture of sulfuric acid, ferric compounds, and other heavy metals. It degrades water quality tremendously, posing severe threats to aquatic life, surrounding ecosystems, and humans. It results from the oxidation of pyrite during the mining process. I did a research paper on AMD for one of my first Environmental Management classes. The abstract is below followed by a link to the full text of the paper for those interested in learning more about this devastating phenomenon. A synopsis of AMD in the Cheat watershed follows.
ABSTRACT: One of the most significant land management issues facing the U.S today deals with hundreds of years of abandoned mines. Prospecting for coal, gold, silver, nickel, and other precious metals has left many regions of the nation literally littered with abandoned mines. These sites that once held the riches of a thriving nation now leave behind a legacy of destruction. Thousands of miles of streams are polluted with acidic mine waters that drain from these mines, bringing with them high levels of heavy metals and acids. These substances are highly toxic to aquatic life leaving many streams entirely devoid of life. Surrounding ecosystems are thus also highly affected; acid mine waters can leave behind tree-less, lifeless moonscapes. The ecological and public health impacts of acid mine drainage and its affect on recreational activities are discussed here. An overview of historic mining practices, legislation, and remediation methods are also studied. Successful remediation projects on key river reaches are examined.
Hey everyone, for some reason with 5-8 inchs of snow on the ground me and Jason Beakes decided to go hit up the falls. This was a perfect chance to test out my idea of duct taping a waterproof camera to my helmet. I must warn you though, if you have motion sickness, this is probably not the best video to be watching. Enjoy!
There it is
Getting started
Washing off the residue...
Showing off how green my brush is getting...clearly progress is being made
David making great progress
