Remember Hikers The Responsibility Is Yours

This has been a blog in the making for quite of while.  I have done one like this on Leave No Trace it happened to be a year ago this month. However, this will be an expanded opinion of the lack of respect for the wilderness I have seen from not just weekend hikers, but also thru-hikers.

Let me start by calling out what I will call the weekend hikers. If you have ever been out you have seen them flimsy tennis shoes (or flip-flops), one of those nylon packs and maybe, but not always, a small single bottle of water. They look more like they are out for a day at amusement park than a wilderness area. On my most recent visit to Blood Mountain I saw plenty of people who looked like they seen the Reese Witherspoon movie Wild and thought going to the mountains would be cool. I just want to say that I am not opposed to anyone coming out and hitting the trail. Just being in the wilderness is part of why I go. However, a lot of people must still think there is the theater because they act like there will be someone coming behind them to pick up after them. Don’t get me wrong I think it is great that people get out to the outdoors, but people need to realize that there are consequences to actions. On the summit spotted people dropping orange peels and had a guy tell me he had to admonish some people for tossing banana peels. I know people think that these are “bio-degradable,” but remember that these will attract bears and there is already a bear problem on Blood Mountain, so much so that bear canisters are required from March to June. I wrote more in detail about bears here.

People left things like banana peels...

...& oranges...

Doing my part (that is a old hand warmer).

Oh, the guy also said that the people throwing the banana peels were also dropping there cigarette buds. First, Blood Mountain is not an ashy tray and second all it takes is one not put out totally and suddenly we have a forest fire. While I am not a Leave No Trace fanatic, this is the reason why I think its tenants are a good guide to follow for those who come to the wilderness. The outdoors is not an amusement park and like I said there are not people to pick up after you, so pack your trash out!

Speaking of Leave No Trace a group that should know better is thru-hikers. Let me say I have the up most respect for those who embark on the six-month or more) odyssey of hiking the Appalachian Trail it is something I hope to do (but if I do it will be a section at a time).

Thru-hikers hanging at Mountain Crossing.

However, as someone who is on the AT quite a bit I have noticed over the last three hiking season that the amount of trash at gaps has increased. I have even heard (and I know this anecdotal) of the trash I have spoken of and also examples of people doing their “business” right off the trail or in some cases on it. I know some of the trash I found is more of the backpacker variety.

Trash off the AT @ Cooper Gap last year...

...& this year on the AT Approach Trail.

Leaving trash has consequences, Watauga Lake Shelter...

...was closed because of bear problem last summer.

I know with the increasing numbers of people means that there is high probability that the amount of trash will go up. It not going to get any better when the movie adaption of Bill Bryson's book about his time on the AT "A Walk in the Woods" comes out. It was his book after all that caused a spike in thru-hikers since it came out. There are also a large number of these thru-hikers who really haven’t ever had a lot of connection with the outdoors. Maybe they see the AT as a hiking amusement park and in society they have always have had people picking up after them and they think that the AT will be no different, but it is.

Thru-hikers numbers are going up.

I did get this for picking up trash on the trail.

I do carry plastic bags to collect some of the trash I find. Hell, I got enough that I got one of those free water filters that Mountain Crossing was giving away for people who bring in 10 pieces of trash from the trail. I do this because I hate seeing trash on the mountain trails I hike. I guess I am like Iron Eyes Cody for those Keep America Beautiful 70's PSA. 

Like I said this isn’t Disney World there is nobody payed to pick up after you, I don't like doing it and leaving trash or food items laying anywhere on the trail will condition animals, including bears, to rely  on human food sources which is not good for the animals or hikers. People going out whether for the day or six-months must have a respect for the outdoors or they not only harm those who love nature, but the environment itself. So remember Leave No Trace (here is a link to the seven principles) and a Fed Bear Is a Dead Bear, oh one more thing pack your shit out!