The Great Fish Rescue of 2012, part 2

For the exciting first half of this tale, please read Part I

Morning came. I believe I set the alarm for 5:30? 6? The sun was just beginning to rise and Steve and I got dolled up in our finest fish catching gear and again headed off to the Gunnell Oval. When we arrived, those poor fish were still there. I'll admit, I was hoping they would have magically relocated back to the Kearny Marsh where they belong, so I wouldn't have to touch them.

We up with Vince and checked the path back to the drop-off point at the Marsh- conditions were the same as the day before: cold, wet, squishy.

The rescue started off rocky. The"puddle" created by the uprooted weeping willow was DEEP, much deeper than it looked, and much deeper than we were anticipating. Once again I was the only one with tall boots, so I was the one to venture into the puddle as much as possible- about 2 feet away from the edge, it dropped off into hip-deep water (as I would unfortunately find out later...) so I couldn't get very far in.

This is the handmade net from part I
(didn't work well... but worked GREAT as a lid to the laundry baskets!)

If you read Part I (does anyone actually read this? if so, thank you), you will remember my fear of live fish, specifically, touching live fish. I am proud to tell you, that fear has been CONQUERED! (for carp anyway. I am in no way willing to touch anything larger than a common carp). These carp were giant, kicking, slippery things but darn it I would lower the laundry basket in on its side with one hand, and scoop fish in with the other. It felt awesome. Steve and Vince got into the rescuing too, scooping the fish into baskets. Once we had one or fish in each basket, we'd throw the baskets into the back of the pickup, jump in and Vince would speed to the other end of the lot. Once there we would grab the baskets full of fish and walk/run as fast as possible through the field and marsh to the drop off point.

Once in, most of the fish (there were one or two iffy/sick ones I think) kicked around and did their fish thing. They seemed very pleased to be home! I can't even describe the sheer joy I received from watching those fish swimming around the Marsh, mingling with the others. I imagined them reuniting with cherished fishy family and friends, throwing little fish parties and reminiscing wistfully about the way things were before the storm.

We were on a roll, scooping fish into baskets, hauling them to the Marsh. Vince got his thumb slit open by one of the carp's sharp parts (dorsal fin? Unsure). My aunt came at around 7 am with a rake, which looked insane but was actually a very effective tool. We met up with some really compassionate highschoolers who had a giant casting net that were rescuing fish from ANOTHER giant puddle. They came over to our puddle and we had some success getting fish out. Unfortunately their net got snagged on a root and I went in to unsnag it. I lost my footing and fell completely into the puddle, soaking myself from torso to feet. It was freezing, and I was wondering how I was going to continue the rescue when....

We saw smoke. There were tiny plumes of smoke coming from something by a red fire hydrant right next to the puddle we were in. We called the police, who arrived right away. We were told to GET OUT OF THE PUDDLE because apparently what was smoking was a live wire, downed from the storm. This same wire ran through the puddle we were in, and the end that was smoking was a mere few feet away from where we were, on the wet ground. The area was roped off and the power was shut off. 

Needless to say, we were relieved of our duties for the day.

On a positive note, we relocated sixty something fish that day. We felt fantastic! There were a few other fish in the water from what we could see in the murky water, but whenever there was movement in the water, or the fish sensed danger they would all go deep underneath the surface, or under the weeping willow where we couldn't reach them.

My aunt had told me the day before that the local Kearny High School fishing team had done a rescue just days before our discovery of the fish and had relocated 76 carp. We had a few onlookers over the course of the day, some who took pictures and stared and others who told us of their own stories of fish rescue attempts. It was really, really nice to hear that others had wanted to save these fish, too. 

Vince, Steve and I went back the following weekend and rescued over 20 more fish. They were really not doing so well by that point; many were sick with fin rot, cannibalizing each other... there were a few dead ones floating around amidst the living. It was so sad, but we got as many out as we could. We also met up with one of the coolest teenagers I've ever met whose dad had dropped him off at the Oval so he could rescue some fish (on a saturday morning that could have been easily spent playing video games). He had one of those all-important net-on-the-end-of-a-pole things, and it is truly only with his help that we were able to rescue that day. All in all, we rescued somewhere from 80-90 fish (550+ lbs) over the 2 weekends. I hope the rescue efforts of everyone we met and heard about will have a lasting positive impact on the beautiful Kearny Marsh (which we kayaked a few weeks later- it's GORGEOUS).

Here are some pictures from the first weekend:

Home, Sweet Home

Happy New Year, everyone! May 2013  be filled with health, happiness and adventure outdoors!

The Great Fish Rescue of 2012, part I

The Great Fish Rescue has to be one of the most rewarding and fun thing I've done all year (and it's been a year of many wonderful and rewarding moments... I'm a doula!)

It all started sometime in early November, after Sandy had come through town and ruined lives. My father (Vince) and I took a drive to the Gunnell Oval in Kearny NJ to inspect the storm damage, which was monumental- you can see photos of the damage in my post here. The damage was so striking that later that day we took Steve to the Oval so he could see for himself. While Vince and Steve were talking to some residents who were also at the park, I wandered over to some giant weeping willows that had been ripped out of the ground. The Kearny Marsh water had flooded during Sandy and had come through the marsh, through a parking lot, and into the baseball diamonds past these downed weeping willows.

The willows' root systems had created giant holes in the earth, which had been flooded with Kearny Marsh water. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the Marsh water had brought along several of its own inhabitants: hundreds of carp. It was one of the saddest things I've ever seen, all those tiny mouths opening and closing above the water.

This is a common carp. 

I immediately called over Vince and Steve and we all stared in disbelief. There were children playing soccer in a nearby field, some adults playing catch... and here were all these poor fish, trapped away from their natural habitat, crowded together in a tiny space with no food. Steve and Vince were onboard for rescue immediately... but as the day turned to dusk, it became apparent there was a lot more to relocating carp than one would think.

Instead of creating a plan first and and acting second, we got in the car and raced home.  As we drove, we decided we would catch the fish in laundry baskets, as Steve and I seem to collect them. Once home we raced around putting on boots, gathering latex gloves, laundry baskets, buckets. I realized I was going to probably have to touch live fish which is something that's always sort of creeped me out. We brought along some old 2x4's to help make some stable ground for ourselves as ground was still soaked everywhere from Sandy... and you know, we were going to be trekking around a marsh.

We ran into my aunt and uncle (we live in a small urban town) who were very interested in helping rescue the fish- we all got into separate cars and went back to the Oval. Once there we realized we had to figure out where to move the fish. Allllll the way on the other side of the parking lot, past the old bench and past the soccer field, there was an opening in the trees. Walk through the marsh for a bit and finally we came to the water. It was quite a trek, but we figured if we caught some fish and then hopped in the back of Vince's pickup, then carried the fish by hand through the marsh, it could be done. 

Scouting part of the "drop" location

By this time, the sun was as good as down. We must have looked ridiculous with our laundry baskets, trying to catch carp in the dark by the light of a lantern. I will admit, that first night was a bust.

One- it was really dark. Two- we did not have a set strategy. Three- I was the only one with tall boots, so I was sent into the water to nudge the fish by hand into the laundry baskets. This proved to be tragic, because of:

Four- those fish, which had been hanging out rather pathetically near the water's surface, suddenly became VERY MUCH ALIVE once I nudged them. Carp KICK. There were a lot of shrieks on my part. My aunt admitted to me later she wanted to kill me because I just couldn't touch a fish to save my life. We wound up switching shoes- my boots for her sneakers- because I was such a terribly afraid wiener about the whole thing, and she has no problems with touching live fish. The night ended with 2 fish relocated.

Might I mention that these carp were huge? Easily 8-15 lbs a piece. Huge. They look one size from above the water, but once you try to handle one of them you realize they are MASSIVE. (and slippery) (and uncooperative)

behold!

After about 40 minutes of ridiculousness, my aunt and uncle called it a night. Vince, Steve and I made a game plan- we were going to shop for supplies and then the next morning at sunrise go back to the Oval and relocate some fish.

Unfortunately, we went to 3 stores that night and no one sold waders in our sizes or fish nets on the end of poles, which would have been very very useful for our endeavor.

Steve and I were up late that night, watching one of my favorite shows, Alaska: The Last Frontier and crafting a fishing net by hand, made from the outer ring of a basket, some burlap and a staple gun. We were determined to rescue those fish, and I was determined to touch them and not flip out.

What happened the next day... no one could have expected - we literally risked our lives for those carp! And we wound up relocating over 80 of them.

...But more on that later.

Christmas Eve Hike: South Mountain, Rahway Trail/ Lenape Trail

I had planned all year to see the Tree in Times Square during the holidays. I haven't seen it in person since I was young, and I don't remember how it looked, or anything about my trip to the city. This Christmas Eve morning, I woke up dreading going into the city and dealing with crowds. We decided to skip THE tree and go for a hike to see many trees! (for free!)

look at alllll those free trees

We exchanged early Christmas gifts- Steve got me the Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America (it's GREAT) and I gave Steve the New Jersey Walk Book. I had gone back and forth with what hiking/outdoors books to purchase for him; there are many cool books about specific great hikes throughout the Tri-State area. I chose the NJ Walk Book because it goes into detail about every park, every reservation, and every trail, down to the flora, fauna and geology of each site! 

Steve chose the Rahway Trail in South Mountain, one of our favorite parks. The Rahway Trail begins in the Southern part of the park, in the Locust Grove lot and meets up with the Lenape Trail (yellow blaze), lollipopping back to the parking lot. With the Rahway Trail plus the half of Lenape, we hiked about 5.5 miles.

Fact: the Lenape Trail has its very own website!

About 40 minutes into our hike I began to overheat and not feel too well. I had noticed in the beginning of our hike that I just wasn't feeling "strong." I felt sort of weak but figured it would pass... it didn't. After 40 minutes I had to stop, eat a banana and drink 1/3 bottle of water, with my coat off. I considered heading back but we were halfway up this really steep area of the Rahway Trail and I decided to rough it out. I felt better after a 10 minute rest but remained sort of iffy/queasy/dizzy for the rest of our hike (which was about three, three 1/2 hours).

Once we hit Lenape we headed .1 miles to Hemlock Falls, then made our way to the Washington Rock Lookout, where we very very surprised to find A CHRISTMAS TREE. There, right after the lookout, right as the ground goes paved, was an evergreen tree growing next to the path. It was covered in ornaments and handmade paper chains. 

It was beautiful. As I approached the tree I got teary-eyed... what a neat surprise. I didn't need the big flashy tree in Manhattan, I had this beautiful scraggly tree in the middle of nowhere, decorated by passersby. I wanted to take more pictures of the individual ornaments, but a family approached and a young girl ceremoniusly placed one of her ornaments on the tree as her family watched from a nearby bench. I could tell it was a special moment, and so Steve and I continued our hike.

I've been thinking about the tree since we went there a week ago, and of the ornaments adorning it- there were handmade ornaments by children, tribute ornaments to family and friends no longer with us, notes on paper tied with simple string. In a world with so much chaos and emotional "graffiti," here was a sweet, pure gift that really meant something to a lot of people.

Next year Steve and I will hike that same trail... I hope the tree is still there so I can place a special ornament on it and share in the memories and meanings of the ornaments of others.

Here are some shots and notes of our Christmas Eve Day Hike:

the trail begins!

action shot of my neat earflap hat

the lake beginning to ice over... Winter is here, right after the Solstice

HUGE Rhododendron groves throughout the Rahway trail

Clearing out some leaves that were holding up flow

A very interesting trail marker tree!

elf house

Right near where we saw deer only 25 feet away ~
Couldn't get the camera out fast enough for the deer, but hey, look at that storage shed!

We had to cross this

I have to make a comment about the above picture- while crossing, Steve slipped off a rock and his entire right foot fell into the creek, soaking his shoe. Like myself, Steve wears Merrell Moab Ventilators, breathable (read: not waterproof) hiking sneakers and WigWam Comfort Hiker socks when we hike. Steve's foot being soaked would not only have ended our hike but could have bordered on a dangerous situation as we were about 2 miles away from the lot and it was freezing out. Unbelievably, Steve's foot remained dry and warm. The Merino wool sock wicked away the moisture and the shoe allowed the sock to breathe and dry, all while keeping the foot warm and comfortable. 

Expect a bunch of gear reviews in the new year!

Hemlock Falls

someone left their Spiderman gloves! :(

Hemlock Falls starting to ice

Washington Rock Lookout