Previous :: Next Topic |
Author |
Message |
pula58 Member
Joined: 13 Aug 2009 Posts: 587 | TRs | Pics
|
|
pula58
Member
|
Mon Jun 15, 2015 2:36 pm
|
|
|
For the last few years my Wife and I have been going to the enchantments the last one or two weekends before permit season starts. Usually just a handful of people are there. This year, this Sat morning the parking lot was full, and the parking overflowed all the way past the lake Caroline trailhead.
I have never seen it like this in 20 years of backpacking in that area.
The place is being loved to death. People building camp fires at Colchuck lake, trash all over the place at the lake , people hiking and camping in areas clearly designated as "Stay off, trail restoration," broken bottles hidden in tree stumps. Toilet paper and fecal messes. Yuck!
So,I think the fact that it was the last weekend before the permit season starts AND because of the low snowfall this winter, the people were out in swarms, which included a fair percentage of the thoughtless.
The place was also dustier than I have ever seen it. What would normally be a winter of fallen pine needles on the trail surface was pulverized into dust by all the boot traffic.
I can only hope that we get a ton of snow this coming winter.
It continually shocks me to find garbage stashed under trees, in hollowed-out tree stumps, and people building fires.
I was taught "carry in-carry-out and pickup up any garbage you see along the way" To me it's like a prayer, a mantra of goodness.
I must give credit to some of angry hiker's posts to inspire me to come-up with the title of this post.
|
Back to top |
|
|
Stefan Member
Joined: 17 Dec 2001 Posts: 5085 | TRs | Pics
|
|
Stefan
Member
|
Mon Jun 15, 2015 2:45 pm
|
|
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
crazyhiker Member
Joined: 02 Sep 2011 Posts: 245 | TRs | Pics
|
That is pretty sad. People are the worst.
|
Back to top |
|
|
Jack's Mom Member
Joined: 26 Nov 2007 Posts: 178 | TRs | Pics
|
People can be such pigs -- we just were hiking in the backcountry of the Grand Canyon; used to be there were containers for campers to stash their food but they've been removed -- a ranger told us hikers filled them with their garbage! Back country hikers should know better!!!
|
Back to top |
|
|
mbravenboer Member
Joined: 20 Oct 2013 Posts: 1422 | TRs | Pics Location: Seattle |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Malachai Constant Member
Joined: 13 Jan 2002 Posts: 16088 | TRs | Pics Location: Back Again Like A Bad Penny |
Believe it or not, it was way worse in the 80's before permits and banning dogs. All the papers had glowing articles with glossy pictures of the area and the guidebooks prominently feathered them on the cover. On a summer weekend it was near impossible to find a campsite let alone one not have TP scattered around. The dogs ran off all the goats and it is only relatively recent that they returned. There were massive group sites there and at Nada Snow lakes and no privy.
"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
|
Back to top |
|
|
pimaCanyon Member
Joined: 13 Jul 2007 Posts: 1304 | TRs | Pics Location: at the bottom of the map |
really sad to hear. I ran into poop and TP around Tuck Lake a couple of years ago. I was pretty appalled.
Seems like there are folks out there who don't have a clue about how and where to poop. And what to do with the toilet paper (pack it out, burn it, or just don't use any, use local vegetation instead).
I'd suggest a sticky topic "How to Poop in the backcountry" in every category, but I suspect those who need to read it wouldn't. But maybe it would be worth a shot--if only a few hikers who don't have a clue about bathroom etiquette in the backcountry actually read it and then did what it suggested, it would be worth it.
Fires are another story. Seems that some folks think that camping without a campfire is not camping. Would a sticky help those folks? Again, I doubt it, they'll never read it.
It's never too late to have a happy childhood
It's never too late to have a happy childhood
|
Back to top |
|
|
pula58 Member
Joined: 13 Aug 2009 Posts: 587 | TRs | Pics
|
|
pula58
Member
|
Mon Jun 15, 2015 7:00 pm
|
|
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
fourteen410 Member
Joined: 23 May 2008 Posts: 2622 | TRs | Pics
|
|
Back to top |
|
|
jimmylegs "BRB...JK."
Joined: 11 Oct 2007 Posts: 200 | TRs | Pics Location: Boring, Ore |
|
jimmylegs
"BRB...JK."
|
Mon Jun 15, 2015 8:17 pm
|
|
|
Whoa, Harvey Manning rises from the grave. I hate to see anyplace trampled but what MC said is the truth, it used to be much worse. I remember wandering around for hours looking for a place to throw my tent, and then ending up with some sh!tty rocky spot right next to the trail. but do you think all the dust is really because there was a lot of hikers...or because it hasn't rained in weeks after a dry winter? maybe next time wait until permit season.
guns don't kill people, blood loss and organ damage do.
guns don't kill people, blood loss and organ damage do.
|
Back to top |
|
|
Backpacker Joe Blind Hiker
Joined: 16 Dec 2001 Posts: 23956 | TRs | Pics Location: Cle Elum |
Call the ranger station in LW and TELL THEM ABOUT THIS! They may or may not know. Give it a try.
"If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide."
— Abraham Lincoln
"If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time or die by suicide."
— Abraham Lincoln
|
Back to top |
|
|
coldrain108 Thundering Herd
Joined: 05 Aug 2010 Posts: 1858 | TRs | Pics Location: somewhere over the rainbow |
jimmylegs wrote: | Whoa, Harvey Manning rises from the grave. I hate to see anyplace trampled but what MC said is the truth, it used to be much worse. |
The High Divide/7 Lakes basin was the same before the quota system started. I was first there in 1990 and the place was trampled to death. I didn't return until 2008 or so and it was so much better by then. Cascade Pass is another example where unencumbered selfish ignorance destroys the landscape.
Since I have no expectations of forgiveness, I don't do it in the first place. That loop hole needs to be closed to everyone.
Since I have no expectations of forgiveness, I don't do it in the first place. That loop hole needs to be closed to everyone.
|
Back to top |
|
|
RichardJ Member
Joined: 23 Oct 2012 Posts: 275 | TRs | Pics Location: Maple Valley |
|
RichardJ
Member
|
Tue Jun 16, 2015 10:42 am
|
|
|
I also have the books How To sh## In The Woods and Up sh## Creek. Very very entertaining and informative books. Everyone should have them.
|
Back to top |
|
|
Randito Snarky Member
Joined: 27 Jul 2008 Posts: 9495 | TRs | Pics Location: Bellevue at the moment. |
|
Randito
Snarky Member
|
Tue Jun 16, 2015 10:53 am
|
|
|
Douglas Adams wrote: | For years, the fabulously beautiful planet of Bethselamin increased its booming tourist industry without any worries at all. Alas, as is often the case, this was an act of utter stupidity, as it led to a colossal cumulative erosion problem. Of course, what else could one expect with ten billion tourists per annum? Thus today the net balance between the amount you eat and the amount you excrete while on the planet is surgically removed from your body weight when you leave; so every time you got to the lavatory there, it is vitally important to get a receipt. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Studebaker Hoch Member
Joined: 04 Jul 2013 Posts: 463 | TRs | Pics Location: eastside |
No sh## last time I was in the enchantments I saw a guy taking a dump right beside the trail; yelled at him and he ran off trying to cover is gleaming white ass
|
Back to top |
|
|
|