Jim Plant has found some unusual things while cleaning up Lake Michigan beaches, and wondered how on earth they got there.
On rare occasions, though, trash comes with contact information.
Plant found two pieces of paper that apparently came from Chicago while picking up trash on his daily walks through Muskegon State Park in late December. He called The Chronicle because of the strangeness of the find, and to call attention to the efforts of other people he sees cleaning up the park.
One of the papers was a number given to a runner in the “Pumpkins in the Park 5K,” which was run in a Chicago park on Lake Michigan on Oct. 15, according to a registration website. The paper has the numeral one printed on it, as well as a whimsical picture of a “Spooky Sprints” ghost.
Plant said he didn't think the items had been dropped by tourists from Illinois because he found them in a less-accessible trail area, north of where beachgoers typically congregate. He attributed the trash's arrival to southwest winds earlier in December and the sturdy paper they were printed on.
“It looked like it had some toughness to it,” he said.