Thanks in large part to some nice weather, more than 1,100 volunteers turned out Saturday for the annual Washington Coast Cleanup.

Working at beach locations along the state's entire Pacific coast, volunteers hauled away an estimated 22 tons of plastic water bottles, household trash, lost fishing gear, and other types of marine debris, said David Lindau, program coordinator for Washington CoastSavers.

A few weeks before the event, Lindau was concerned because the number of people signing up was down from previous years. Some publicity and a good forecast helped draw plenty of help.

My family and I worked along a stretch of beach at Ocean City and didn't take long to fill two trash bags. The main culprit in our area was plastic bottles and small pieces of nylon rope. Last year, we picked up a lot of long lengths of rope. This year, it was piece after piece after piece between 6 and 12 inches long.

My son was proud to discover a man's belt buried in the sand. My best find, a very faded $5 bill. Gotta like that!

Click here to learn more about the cleanup, Coast Savers and see photos volunteers have posted.

Most of the trails at Mount Rainier National Park are still deep under snow, but park officials already have an idea of the damage.

Carl Fabiani, the park’s trail foreman, said “there is a little more trail damage than normal.” During a recent helicopter flight park officials found several washed out bridges around the park.

Fall flooding washed out a bridge in Stevens Canyon and another over Devil’s Dream Creek near Indian Henry’s Hunting Ground.

Compounding the damage is the fact the park is still trying to repair the damage from the epic 2006 flood.

=> Read more!