Ditch Walkin

My favorite time of the year is spring time, right after all the snow melts. I live in a small, rural town with gravel roads galore. As soon as the last of the snow is gone I head out in my car and get anything an everything out of the ditches. The most common item is cans. I can usual fill up my trunk and back seat with garbage bags of crushed cans, along with additional fence posts or old steel culverts.

This has to be done as soon as the snow melts otherwise the grass will grow and you aren't gonna be able to see anything under it. It's also good to bring a friend with so one could walk the ditch and the other can drive. Easier and quicker, burns up less gas.

This also gives you a good chance to scope out new areas for scrap. Many farmers have tons of scrap layin around under trees overgrown with grass that they probably forgot were there. Yes, this is time consuming but it's a good way to make some cash and get some excercise

I do the same thing. Every year its crazy how many cans you can find in ditches.

29 can's = one pound

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Originally Posted by WMSTR

I do the same thing. Every year its crazy how many cans you can find in ditches.

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Yep. Odd how most of them are beer cans though... It's also a good way to find other things too. Was walkin once and found a couple hundred pounds of rusted galvanized steel just laying in the ditch covered with old dirt.

Here in Iowa we have a five cent refund on cans and I do this every sprng as well. And your right it is strange that there is a lot of beer cans, lol. My friends make fun of me but I came home with a couple big trash bags full which is around 20 bucks. There is alot of random stuff in ditches as well. I live on a farm and I burn my ditches and I find alot of old iron pieces off farm machinery. I also find alot of old barbed wire in spools, most are half buried. I am glad I am not the only one. I also go to my local parks in the spring to antler hunt and I find alot of cans in the woods from hunters and campers. I make alot of money in the spring.

Walking ditches with a partner is easy. Find a good strech of road and stop. one walk strait as you were still driving and one walk back the other way, get far enough and cross the street and walk back on the other side of the road. meet back at the car and go. like said, mostly beer cans but the is always that thing like what is that doin here

I love walking ditches. I have done it with a partner and usually with my dogs. I like to go after they have mowed and its easier to find cans and lots of them are already crushed from the mower. Plus, the extra 4 paws alert me to cans I may have missed! LOL!

"Many farmers have tons of scrap layin around under trees overgrown with grass that they probably forgot were there."

As I have stated before...many farmers look at their scrap as their savings/retirement. Don't just assume that some old rusted scrap sitting on private land has long been forgotten. If the scrap is on land that is not yours and you take it, then this is theft.

Went for a nice spring scrap walk today and came home with several bags of metal goodies, and got clean air and exercise.

I found a few places with old rusty stuff in the roadside woods, and made a note to ask the homeowners if they want those.

Now to sit down and sort out the random metal blobs with my magnet.

Here in the concrete jungle of southern CAL. ditches are getting fewer, farther apart or just vanishing. Snow is something I can see on top of the mountains (17 miles to the top away). I moved here and away from LA twenty+ years ago. I came here because it was country then (South CAL. country) we had lots of ditches then, it smelled like country (you know cow stuff) my neighbors had horses. It slowly has started disappearing, all the cows are gone, the horses are almost gone. The city passed ordnance last year that all the chickens have to be gone by the end of this year, there goes my rooster (only alarm clock I own). The ditch in front of my house, was removed a long time ago and replaced with a curb/sidewalk. They wanted me to remove my old white ash tree, they would pay for it (how nice of them), but I fought city hall (three years in court). I won the battle and now have the only large shade tree in the north part of my city. To the north of my property is a section of land (640 acres) that has the last ditches around in this city. I enjoy walking my dog in the morning around this property. We pickup all the trash at least weekly, this last week the city has announced they intend to annex and build a "planned community". I would like to keep some open space and think a large park would be better. I want to keep those ditches. I called my attorney yesterday and sent a retainer check today. I like a good fight! Your ditches make me home sick.

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Originally Posted by Jillyenator

Went for a nice spring scrap walk today and came home with several bags of metal goodies, and got clean air and exercise.

I found a few places with old rusty stuff in the roadside woods, and made a note to ask the homeowners if they want those.

Now to sit down and sort out the random metal blobs with my magnet.

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Something you might want to think about is getting a pair of pants with cargo pockets. When I go walking with the purpose of exercise and picking up roadside scrap, that is what I wear. Most of what I pick up is smaller stuff, and goes right in the pockets. I also take a couple of bags along for any larger stuff. Just a word of caution, make sure you wear a belt, several pounds of scrap can drag your britches down.

Also be aware of what your picking up or rummaging thru in the ditches as an exfriend aka methdealer once stated that is how he got rid of all the old spent ingredient boxes/cans/bottles. He would drive down the deserted looking roads and throw his crap out the windows. Some scrap you take home "might" be meth infected.

Wayne, I like the cargo pants idea. I'm sure one will turn up at Goodwill for me. LOL on pulling my britches down.

Mech, ick. 8-l

So that's how the baggy pant trend started...not rappers, but scrappers!

Ah ha!

An I echo the ick Mech. lol.

My ditches are canals, an the beach. Really bugs me when people leave the trash on my nice clean sandbar. v:)

When I go fishing it's for the cans, an other odd things that end up in the canals.

Sirscrapalot - Takes his facemunchers on his 'fishing' trips.

Here in Ozarkansas, first prerequisite for spring ditch trolling is Tick spray, lots and lots of DEET.

When I was a kid in Arkansas, If my mom knew we were in the woods, hay field, working the wood pile basically any outdoor activity. We would have to pass her inspection, she was quite serious about no d**n bugs in the house. When I first brought my young California wife home for a vacation, she had never even heard of a tick. When I told her where they can go, lets just say it was a short stay!

argh, ticks. forgot about those. they don't have them in az. gonna have to make tick checking a new habit.

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Originally Posted by Jillyenator

argh, ticks. forgot about those. they don't have them in az. gonna have to make tick checking a new habit.

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So didn't I until we moved here, Arkansas. And then I learned about a new pest....CHIGGERS!!

WHAT? What is a chigger? Are those the things that crawl under your skin?....

I'm heading back West, to critters i understand, like rattlers and scorpions.