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Lizard's Mouth Cleanup
updated: Nov 15, 2011, 8:18 AM

By Robert Bernstein

Sunday we had fun exploring Lizard's Mouth and doing valuable cleanup at the same time! Lizard's Mouth is one of our local gems of natural beauty. It consists of sculpted rock formations that are not only pleasing to the eye, but also a delight for people of all ages to explore and climb on.

Unfortunately, a small but destructive minority goes to Lizard's Mouth to get drunk and trash the place.

But we had an energetic and dedicated group to make things better! Despite rainy weather leading up to the hike, we had a good group of eleven people. Several people were new to Sierra Club outings and this was their introduction!

Everyone was focused on doing the best cleanup they could, with a positive attitude and a smile! Sometimes it was hard for people to give up working on a tough challenge in one spot in order to move on to other areas!

We also stayed longer usual, until about 1PM!

Big Thanks To: Conrad Alexander Duane De Amicis Michelle Bedard Susan Shields Janice Taylor Danielle, Charles and Lia Barteet Mary Ann Kestner Martin Knight

Here are my photos!

The result: 70 pounds of nasty stuff picked up! Only last year's 88 pounds surpassed this year's haul!

More glass shards than you can imagine. This was very time consuming and I applaud the efforts that so many made to seek out and pick up every bit they could find! Cigarette butts which are highly toxic to wildlife. Fortunately, not too many this year. A few paintball pellets. These are mistaken for berries by birds and other animals and can kill them. Again, fortunately not too many this year. Some bullet shells, but fewer than in the past. I am hoping most of these are from the past and are not new. Blankets and other bedding, soaking wet. Probably not from homeless, but from drunken partiers. Lots of cans, intact glass bottles and plastic bottles. I was able to recycle these!

It seems discouraging to have to keep going back and picking up the mess that other people leave. But the consensus was that we are making a difference and there is progress. When people see less trash at Lizard's Mouth, they realize it is not cool to be the one who is leaving trash there.

Again: Thank you to all who helped! =============== Best wishes, Robert

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 232930	2011-11-15 08:40 AM
Pack it in, Pack it out, is it really that hard? (and please stop with the leaving poop bags on the trail that you will "pick up later")
AQUAHOLIC	2011-11-15 08:48 AM
Thank you so much Robert and crew for the clean-up! Sadly, this is one area I avoid because of the trash and graffiti. I wonder, is there a non-toxic process for removing graffiti from the sandstone? I would love to know, because in my many travels throughout our trail system, I would love to remove the graffiti I see, and unfortunately, there is quite a bit of work to be done...
EMI PHOTO	2011-11-15 02:17 PM
Thanks Y'all! I appreciate it :-)
COMMENT 233231	2011-11-15 08:06 PM
Thanks a lot guys, much appreciated. I partied a lot up there in High school and was probably guilty of leaving trash, cans. Ten years later it really frustrates me to see places like LM polluted, and usually will take some trash with me after visiting. I think if everyone took a simple plastic bag with them and filled it with trash when they visit some of the more popular spots we would make some headway in restoring the areas to their natural beauty, and help clean the environment.
TMO	2011-11-17 06:31 AM
Thank You !!!
COMMENT 233711	2011-11-17 10:34 AM
Thank you for the kind words! If one has to be doing dirty work, you couldn't ask for a more beautiful place to do it! One thing I want to make clear: This was a Sierra Club event. The Sierra Club mission is to both preserve nature and to enjoy it. Sometimes that means cleaning up after "enjoying it" a bit too much in the wrong way. @233231: Your perspective is most valuable. Do you think the high school people are just having a good time and being careless? Or do you think they deliberately are "trashing the place"? Any ideas of what might have made a difference for you and your friends to take more care?

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