Black Creek River Clean Up

Trip Overview

The Mississippi Youth Challenge Academy on Camp Shelby sponsors a Pathfinder program which teaches outdoor skills to "at risk" youth. On September 22, 2017, we put in at the Ashe Nursery Landing in Brooklyn, MS. We were on the water by 2:00pm and floated to Moody's Landing. Along the way every canoe (13) picked up enough garbage to fill several 30gal bags. We camped at Moody's Landing that night and the youth were amazed at the sights and sounds of nature. I believe each will remember and cherish the nights in the "wild" providing service to the community by cleaning up the rivers. The morning of the 23rd we put in about 8:00am and journeyed to Janice Landing. This was a very good day, the weather was perfect and the youth had a better eye and understanding of our task and purpose. We spent a total of fifteen hours combining both days of collecting garbage along the river. We pulled out at Janice with much more garbage to include a large floating barge thing that took several stout young men and an hour to get free of the trees and put in a canoe. The MS YCA youth put forth an exceptional amount of effort into their duties on the water as well have enough room for fun along the way. Now a plug for the river. OMG, this is a beautiful body of water and it changes with each passing storm and flood. The scenery is absolutely breath taking at times. It is gentle enough for the novice and serene enough for any outdoor enthusiast. Thank you Mother Nature for the many lessons you teach me and my youth.