What was that delicious smell???
Sort of like...pancakes. I'm not sure what it was exactly, but it was coming from the Blue Diamond factory.
How horrible...I'm allergic to tree nuts but live near the worlds largest tree nut processing company. And today they smell like delicious pancakes. It didn't help that I got there early and sat there...in a cloud of deliciousness.
Thanks immune system
Where we met. Parkway was a little further up |
Now this trail didn't seem that bad at first. There were a lot of active camps but not a lot of trash. In fact, most of it seemed like it was bits and pieces that just happened to blow into the area. Many of the people living there had trash bags. The exception was two abandoned camps which I will get to in just a minute.
I would have taken more pictures but I think I accidentally picked up my first I-wish-it-was-questionable-but-I'm-almost-positive-that-is-human-poop aka THE BAG THAT SHALL BE FORGOTTEN.
and once you reach that point in the cleanup, you don't really want to touch anything else. The question becomes "is this mud or leftover poop from those gloves I just threw out?"
We found the first abandoned camp near a...uhh..pond? Hole? Large puddle? Not sure what exactly you'd call it but the poop gathering was still fresh in my mind and I just didn't want to touch my phone. There also didn't seem like a safe way to get to this area. Maybe it was somewhere else and got blown down there during the last big storm?
This part of the bike trail has a questionable fence. Why is it questionable? Glad you asked! Because it isn't really blocking anything. It is just...there! Granted, there is a train that runs close to that area but the fencing is closer to the tracks. Makes sense as you don't want a bunch of people crossing. However, this particular part of the fence wasn't near the railroad at all. It almost looked as if it were to keep people away from the river. Silly because there is a footbridge that connects this bike way to another one and underneath said bridge is an obvious way to get to the side of the river fenced off.
Ok then.
The questionable fence was clean on the side the bike way was on but absolutely filthy on the other. There was a gate but it was locked and the top had barbed wire. Good thing my will to clean was greater than my will to listen to this stupid fence. It was all a matter of finding the entrance which was a very large hole. Win for me! Ranger didn't see me enter but at that point, I didn't care (and they probably wouldn't have either.) Besides, angels don't make history. Filled up 3 of those large yard bags or whatever by myself. Take that #trashtag! Just kidding. Please continue to clean up your areas. It doesn't have to be a competition...unless you want it to be.
Where the tiny camp/extension was. |
It wasn't so bad besides a bag full of a real questionable item that soft like fat but the color of chicken. What on Earth did I touch this time!?! I'd like to think it was just weird chicken that maggots didn't get to yet. Yeah...that is what it was.
Ok not that extreme but pretty similar, kind of. |
No way it fell down there. Trees were blocking it and the tents were still upright. Someone deliberately put them up there! And honestly, the way the water was rising just a few weeks prior, it was probably an emergency. The stuff I found at the small camp was probably their stuff that they didn't move in time. The stuff we cleared together was probably stuff that fell from the camp above. And the camp was probably vacated because of the crazy rising waters. As the above pic shows, they were literally right on the water. That part floods all the time hence why the bridge is so tall. Hopefully they moved out in time!
About half just from that camp alone! |
One thing did confuse me though. I had a lot of time to think which is exactly what I wanted to do to forget the touching of THE BAG THAT SHALL BE FORGOTTEN. I don't like to dis schools especially ones that encourage various community engagement. However, a lot of these schools are also college prep. Nothing wrong with that. I technically went to a college prep too. However, one of the things my school (and my cousins' schools) all pushed was that college is the way you wanted to go so you could make money! I mean they aren't wrong. A neurosurgeon makes a hell of a lot more than a store manager. However, isn't this just pushing capitalism? Isn't the extreme amount of homelessness possibly a symptom of a capitalist society that is ruled by elites that don't care about their pawns? After all, most jobs see us as expendables. I remember working at Large Blue Store which frequently suggested that if we didn't want to work 35 hours a week without the possibility of full time, we could simply be...replaced. Are we not just teaching these kids "if you don't go to college, this is where you will end up!" and that a lot of these house-less people deserve where they are??