Hickory Top WMA Clean-up 15-May-2026

The goal for this clean-up was just one bag. I was walking in about a half mile and picking up where I had left off on the rainy day clean-up on May 2nd. The trail in was shaded I could hear Cedar Waxwings, which I would see feeding on blueberries on my way out. That was the wildlife highlight and by that point I had my camera packed away. So this day and this post are pretty much going to be all trash.

Down by the lake I started searching. I walked through the area I had done on May 2nd and found a couple spots like this one that I had missed. To get everything, you really have to walk through multiple times.

The start was pretty sparse. One item here, a couple others there, but no big trash deposits. I wasn't alone this time. Someone was fishing just on the other side of the tree line. They had to have heard me and likely seen me walking along the bank. I wonder what they though?

Not everything that looks like trash at first is. This is the carapace (top portion of shell) of an Eastern Box Turtle. For now we are lucky in Clarendon County to have a pretty good population of this species. In other areas finding a shell like this is like finding a relic of the past. Box Turtles face over collection, habitat loss and habitat fragmentation. Included in the habitat fragmentation is the danger roads pose to this species. They can't get out of the way of a speeding car and are all too often hit when crossing. If you see a Box Turtle trying to cross a road and you can safely stop, please help them across. Always move them in the direction they are heading and about ten feet off of the road. They are very intelligent and are familiar with the areas they live in, moving them to a different location you feel is safer does not help them, just moving them across the road does.

Old buoy. On this one a corner was gone and there was some water in it.

First big item found and I decided to take it out with the one bag of trash since it had a handle. At first I thought it was just some kind of specialized container for fuel or fertilizer, but after looking at it, I think it is actually a portable eye wash station. Its use along the lake and how it got here baffles me. The only thing I can really think of is maybe the crews that spray herbicides along the lake are required to have one of these with them in case of an accident where the herbicide gets in their eyes. It is definitely older, all of the new models are smaller and I only found one example that really looks like it in a quick search.

Who lost this bowl and how? It seems like a decent bowl, it isn't broken. There is definitely a story behind how this and every other item gets to where it is. These stories will likely never be told and my questions never answered.

Another larger item. I have seen things like this before and I think at one time these old fuel cans were used as bait stations for deer. With all of the debris inside this hasn't been used in years and I am going to try in a later trip to paddle up this way and collect all of the larger items by canoe.

I think someone practices with clay birds out on the lake. This is the second one of these I have found in Hickory Top and it is part of the packaging clay birds come in.

Like flip flops, I would be willing to bet the marks on this ball are from large fish biting it as it floated on the surface.

I have tried using catfish dough before night fishing. Never caught anything on it. I have always had much better luck on regular old chicken livers.

Left for someone else to find. It was clearly labeled Dispose of Properly and yet it was not.

More of the same. Balloon and bottles picked up.

Some things like this propane tank I just have to leave. Being metal it will just rust away and shouldn't have an real negative impact on the surroundings.

First basketball of this clean-up, I think it is the third removed from Hickory Top. There must me a park next to the river somewhere upstream. The question is how far are these floating from? They could potentially be coming all the way from places like Columbia, down the Congaree to the Santee to the lake. The old river channel can be seen on satellite images and opens up right around Hickory Top, so that is a possibility.

I got to a point where there was a lot of trash around and I decided to be done for the moment with lugging the bag around. So I set it down and started collecting and making a pile by it.

You can see a piece of an old plastic bin, but there is more trash you can't see until you are just about on it. The photo does give a better picture of the area I am working in.

Not too many stand out trash items on this day. One Duplo piece.

Half of a car seat that will have to wait until I come back with the canoe.

I ended up piling up more than one bag full. So I had to start a second bag and decided to pack it all up and start heading back. With a bag and a little less than a half I started making my way back to the green portable wash station.

I had found another Wood Duck box on the rainy day clean-up. With the numbers on this one, they were likely monitored at one time. It is disappointing that whatever program got these put out ended and they were just left to fall and break. Both of these boxes were likely affixed to trees and over time the trees grow and push the boxes off of the screws. There is at least one Wood Duck box I know is still up in Hickory Top, but that too is not maintained in any way.