Now that school’s back in session and the weather has shifted, the visitors who streamed into Devil’s Pool all summer have trailed off. Unfortunately, they also left behind a bit more than memories.
For example, on Sunday, Aug. 24, dozens of visitors brought coolers and hammocks to the natural pool in Wissahickon Valley Park to escape the bustle of the city. At around 1 p.m., sunlight shone directly on the 15-foot-deep well while people lounged in the shade, feet in the water, and music blasting from portable speakers.
Chuck Reisse had been at the pool since 8 a.m. But he wasn’t there to kick up his feet.
The Wyndmoor native has cleaned up visitors’ trash at Devil’s Pool and the surrounding area for over a decade. For most of those years, he stopped by up to three times a week from late spring through mid-fall, collecting over 5,000 pounds of trash every summer.
Urban oasis
Known on social media as the “Unofficial Custodian of Devil’s Pool,” Reisse has his work cut out for him every year. Wissahickon Valley Park draws in more than two million visitors annually, and Devil’s Pool is its most popular summer spot.
“If I let [the littering] go for two weeks, all of a sudden you have this one central trash pile that starts expanding and expanding, because people think, ‘Oh, that’s where you put the trash.’ And then all of a sudden, I’ve got a four-day job to pull everything out,” the father of two said.
When Reisse met the Local for an interview that Sunday afternoon, his forehead glistened with sweat and he politely asked to sit down.
Then he went back to work. In the wooded area above the water and hammocks, Reisse scoured the grounds with his trash picker, putting anything from glass bottles to food wrappers into plastic grocery bags. He then stuffed the smaller bags into 13-gallon kitchen trash bags and hung them on his 5-foot-tall walking stick, which he threw over his back. It’s about a half-mile walk to Valley Green Road. Reisse repeats this process multiple times during every cleanup.
“I found that rather than doing six (bags) in one trip, it’s a lot easier on my legs if I do the trip twice. Doing it when you’ve got a lot of weight on, every step drains you,” he said.
Many people pass Reisse and his trash picker. Some thank him. Others strike up a conversation. In the past, people have given him food, drinks, and other items, as well as offered some assistance.
The people are his motivation, Reisse said. The warehouse employee wants them to enjoy the space as much as he does. The Wissahickon Valley offers the fresh air haven he needs to clear his head during emotionally stressful times, and he feels he owes the space a lot, he said.
“There are fewer and fewer oases … places people can go that are free, fun, and are kind of just away from the world. This one I can get to and this one I can look after,” he said.
Before 2013, Reisse would bring one bag for the pool’s trash. Then, he started bringing several. By the end of the summer, he was routinely collecting waste “because it needed to be done.”
Someone should do something
“I got kind of tired of saying somebody should do something about this,” he said.
He created the Facebook page, “The Unofficial Custodian of Devil’s Pool,” in 2014 to keep himself motivated and held accountable (he recently moved the account to BlueSky).
The physical work has also helped with his anxiety.
“If you want to help yourself with a big emotional problem, one of the best ways to do it is to help somebody else, because it puts everything in perspective,” he said.
As much as he prefers people clean up after themselves, Reisse doesn’t see his work as a form of advocacy. He believes only a small percentage of people intentionally litter. Rather than try to change people’s minds, he focuses on what he can control, which is preserving the recreational space.
“Nobody comes out here to make a mess. People are messy when they have fun,” he said.
“There’s a lot that I can’t do. There’s a lot of problems in the world that I can’t do anything about. (But) I can get garbage out of here. I can make sure that everybody who comes in sees the place pretty,” he added.
Shawn Green, director of field stewardship for Friends of the Wissahickon (FOW), said FOW is grateful for Reisse’s work, and described him as a “one-man team who is just going out and singlehandedly making this space so much more beautiful for people.”
“The fact that there is somebody who really just takes it on himself to go and clean this on the regular is just impressive and kinda beautiful and special,” Green said.
Green believes Reisse is raising awareness among visitors (whether he intends to or not). Reisse isn’t affiliated with FOW; he prefers the flexibility of working on his own.
Keeping to the path
Neither Reisse nor FOW know exactly how much trash he’s collected. In 2024, when Reisse took a hiatus from cleanups, FOW collected 11,770 pounds of trash from Devil’s Pool through its organized weekly cleanups and Wissahero volunteer program. In 2023, FOW and Reisse recorded 6,400 pounds. It’s unclear whether Reisse’s absence played a role in the 5,000-pound difference.
Now, due to family health concerns, Reisse can only come 2-3 times a month.
Friends of the Wissahickon recently put up signs in English and Spanish this summer reminding people to clean up their trash.
Apart from keeping the recreational space clean for other visitors, park visitors would be protecting the health and safety of hundreds of wildlife species that reside in the Wissahickon, Green said. The watershed also feeds into the Schuylkill River, the main source of drinking water for many Philadelphians.
“We’re so lucky to have public spaces and that really requires park users to be responsible. It stays beautiful because people keep it that way,” Green said. “It’s important any time that you’re going into a natural space, that you’re aware of your potential impacts on that environment.”
Devil’s Pool saw an influx of trash during the COVID-19 lockdown. But overall, Reisse said the amount has declined a bit over the past decade. There are spikes during the holidays, but those big weekend dumps from the first years aren’t as severe as they used to be, he said.
Reisse said he plans to continue his work “as long as my body can handle it,” and signs his Bluesky posts, “Keep to the Path,” a hiking phrase.
“Everybody’s got something they can do to help. Everybody’s got their little path. I’m just hoping people can stick to it, because we don’t need one person. We don’t need leaders. We need a bunch of people just quietly doing the dirty s*** in the background, fixing things as we go,” he said.
Abby Weiss is an environmental reporter for the Local and a Report for America corps member. She can be reached at Abby@chestnuthilllocal.com.
