We were assigned to Pinnacle Gulch, a rocky area south of Doran Park with several small beaches that you access by climbing over slightly treacherous rocks, especially during high tide, which it was. Because this was a remote area, most of the trash we found had been washed ashore rather than left behind by beach-goers.
Here's the pile of garbage we picked up.
My husband found the large items, I trailed behind him picking up dozens of small styrofoam chunks. Normally I would have overlooked them but after reading about all those tiny fragments of plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, I picked up everything I saw. I also found several fishing lines tangled in seaweed. I started really getting into it. With every item, I said, "Yay, I just saved a sea creature from being harmed by this." Here's more:
The event wrapped up with a delicious barbecue lunch for the hundreds of volunteers who helped out along the Sonoma Coast. Sponsored by Whole Foods, the lunch included hot dogs, their incredible Cabbage Crunch salad (my favorite, tied with their Tailgate Coleslaw), chips (have you tried beet chips?), cookies, Honest Tea, and lots of yummy samples from other food vendors. Thank you Whole Foods!
The barbecue was held at the day use area of Bodega Dunes Campground, just north of downtown Bodega Bay. I'd forgotten how beautiful it is in there, a perfect place for a picnic and hike out to the ocean. The trail takes you through the dunes out to South Salmon Creek Beach.
The Coastal Commission's preliminary results estimated 70,000 people scoured beaches, shorelines, and inland locations up and down the California coast, picking up trash and debris, covering over 800 sites. They expect to exceed 1,000,000 pounds of trash when all the totals are in. Great work everyone!
This is awesome!! I want to go create my own beach clean up day!
ReplyDeleteThat's fantastic, Kathlene! Sorry you had to trek over those rocks at high tide to get there, but, that just makes your effort even more heroic! You DID save many sea creatures from harm. Thank you very much for doing that. Thank your husband, too! xoxo
ReplyDeleteThank you Kathryn! We really had a blast. And I think we'll be inclined to carry a garbage bag whenever we walk on the beach now, so we can pick up litter as we go.
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