Waterfall Keepers of North Carolina, a non-profit, hosted their first big clean-up event in March 2021 and Kristina took her kids to help clean up litter and trash from some of our areas most beautiful spots. They haven’t announced when this year’s Waterfall Sweep is happening but usually it takes place in March.
I’ve come to appreciate the outdoors and nature more than ever since I moved to Greenville over six years ago. I have always loved being outside and have hiked, biked, and camped with my family growing up but I had moved away and ended up living in Washington, DC for several years so my outdoor spirit was hidden away for awhile. And I am so, so happy to have rediscovered this love here in Greenville.
I take my kids to the mountains every chance I get and have explored all over the Upstate, Western North Carolina, North Georgia, and into the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. There is literally no shortage of trails and outdoor adventures to have within driving distance and even though I have a few places I love, I rarely go to the same trail twice because there are so many places I want to explore. While I have loved the natural beauty here, most especially the waterfalls, the trash I’ve seen has been heart-breaking.
Trash, Everywhere
One waterfall in particular I had visited in South Carolina, a gorgeous waterfall and swimming hole, was totally trashed when I took my kids a few summers ago. It looked like people had maybe camped there and had just decided not to take all their trash out. There were full garbage bags that lined the trail in some parts. I never went back. I couldn’t even carry out those things with the help of my kids and we weren’t prepared with gloves.
Trash is a big, big problem in nature and has only gotten worse with the onset of the pandemic and the need for people to get outside and experience all the beauty and freedom that nature offers. State parks in both North and South Carolina have been completely overrun and with so many people coming out to these places we love so much and disrespecting them by leaving trash everywhere (see this story about Max Patch back in September 2020), the problem has blown up to epic proportions.
Waterfall Sweep
I wrote about Waterfall Keepers of North Carolina when they first launched in the fall and they have taken off since then, amassing an army of volunteers who want to not only help clean up the trash left by careless individuals at waterfalls and trailheads but also to educate people on proper outdoor etiquette and even the history of waterfalls.
Their first big event was the Waterfall Sweep, a statewide initiative dedicated to cleaning up waterfalls and trailheads in North Carolina. If you’re wondering why we, a Greenville, SC publication, are covering something happening in North Carolina, know that we care a lot about our northern neighbors because many, many of the places we recommend are in NC – from trails to waterfalls to the Biltmore and NC Arboretum to the WNC Nature Center to the Carl Sandburg Home.
Anyway, I wanted to participate in the Waterfall Sweep because one, I love waterfalls and I hate to see them destroyed by trash, and two, I want my kids to have a good example of taking care of our environment. So we signed up to go to a waterfall near Balsam Grove, NC on a chilly Saturday in March.
Down and Dirty
While more than 200 people had registered to clean up a waterfall during the Waterfall Sweep, Waterfall Keepers had six sites with dedicated volunteers from the organization itself and I went to one of those. There were six adults and three kids, including my own. I don’t think I have ever worked with such a strong group of women in my life. We had one awesome guy helping and the rest of us were women.
By strong, I mean rock solid, push-this-tire-up-a-steep-hill strong. We were cleaning up a fairly steep bank off the road where the waterfall was located and it was a dump. There were beer cans, beer bottles, tires, and trash everywhere. So we got on our neon vests and sturdy gloves, took our buckets and huge garbage bags and got to work.
This wasn’t a busy road by any means but I still watched the kids as they meandered along the roadside picking up trash with their pickup sticks and gloves. They had a blast honestly. It was more like a game than anything and they had fun. After awhile, I think the enormity of what they were seeing – the contrast of the beauty of the mountains and waterfall to the litter they were collecting – hit them. The kids, ages 10, 8, and 6, started to ask questions like “why would someone throw their beer bottle out here?” or “why don’t they just take the tires to the dumpster?”. Us grown-ups didn’t really have answers.
I was working on one section of the bank and a pair of women and the guy were on the other and I came up to take a short break and saw they had physically hauled a dozen tires, a huge blue barrel, and a grill up the bank. I was floored. Later on, the two ladies managed to extract an entire swing from one of the ledges and get it up the bank. I’m convinced these two were superwoman undercover agents.
As for myself and the kids, we were hauling out trash as well. We collected a couple tires, a movie projector, probably a hundred beer cans and bottles (Miller Lite is the beer choice of litterers in case you were wondering), and filled more than a dozen contractor-sized black garbage bag. We had to leave a car battery on the hill because we didn’t have the ropes and pulleys needed to scale the steepness safely.
Just at our site along, we had 14 tires, 16+ huge black garbage bags, a swing set, a large barrel, two grills, a movie projector, an electric can opener, and tons of cans and bottles. And we didn’t even get it all.
On our way home, we stopped at Twin Falls near Sunset, SC, a bucket list waterfall of mine. The trailhead was littered with trash so my kids and I donned our gloves, got a small trash bag, and picked it up. We picked up two diapers, wipes, pieces of the light cover on a car, and packages of eaten snack bags.
Even the Smallest Good Deed Helps
I’m not writing all of this as a congratulatory story. I’m writing this to say that there are ways make even the smallest positive difference in our communities and at the places we love that bring us comfort, peace, and solace. Waterfall Keepers of NC is an excellent and effective organization that has big plans for people of all ages to get involved in trash cleanup and educational opportunities. And you can make a difference on your own hikes as well – just take an extra trash bag with you on a hike with your kids (bring gloves) and pick up the litter you see and dispose of it correctly.
The example you can set for not only your own kids, but people around you on a hike or a waterfall, does make a difference.
Locally, these organizations are great to be involved in if you’re interested in helping clean up the environment: Palmetto Pride, Park Heroes, and Friends of the Reedy River.
Waterfall Sweep 2024
Want to be a part of this year’s Waterfall Sweep? They haven’t announced when this year’s Waterfall Sweep is happening but usually it takes place in March. Stay tuned to Waterfall Keepers’ Facebook page for updates.
There are tons of other ways you can volunteer near Greenville, SC!
