Last Thursday I headed down to Pony Pasture in hopes of finding trash. After parking, I opened my door and before I stepped out of the car I spotted a few napkins and a water bottle. My first thought was, “well it will be easy to fill up these bags.” As I walked toward the river, I collected a few random pieces of trash just on the gravel parking lot. It seemed almost pathetic that people couldn’t make their way over to the numerous trashcans that surrounding the parking lot. Interestingly enough, the most trash I found was within a five feet radius around each of the trash cans. My initial thought about the visitors was that they were completely destroying the river with the amount of liter. I feared what I might see down on the banks if this is is how the parking lot looked.
This thought was completely wrong.
I walked the trails and scaled the rocks that were on the bank of the river. Trash was hard to find! Unsurprisingly, the most rubish I found down by the river were 5 beer bottles underneath a flat rock section. More than likely, these visitors thought they collected all of their trash and headed out without looking under the rock. I was thoroughly impressed with how hard it was to fill my massive trash bad, which I thought would be a breeze. After recognizing there was little to be found down by the river side, I headed back to the parking area.
I walked a lap around the entire perimeter of the parking lot and restroom building. I began to play a game of I Spy Trash edition with my fellow Earthlodger to make time pass. It was refreshing to see that our bags never actually did get full. While it seemed almost agitating to never fill the bag, there was an incredible realization. Perhaps visitors to Pony Pasture really do try to utilize the park in a healthy manner. They respect it for its beauty and recognize it will only be destroyed if they liter it.