Trash on the Trails--what did you haul out?

[fotogirl53]

Here is a list of the trash I found, and hauled out of Horton Creek on 6/29:
1 old green Nalgene bottle
1 pair of reading glasses (generic0
1 disposable poncho package
2 cigarette butts
1 foam soda cup and lid
1 piece of foam--maybe from a visor?
multiple pieces of wrappers from granola bars and other food sources

Here is what I saw and did not haul out (shame on me):
1 pair of jeans
1 swimming suit top
1 plastic grocery bag filled with trash
too many pieces of used toilet paper to count

Has anyone else kept track of their "loot"?

[big_load]

So, did they walk out barefoot, or did they send someone home for another pair of shoes? Inquiring minds really want to know!

I always wonder. Some of them probably have camp shoes or water shoes, but it still must be tough with a pack on. Descending Mt. Audubon requires crossing a good stretch of talus. I barefooted part of the Gila where I found the boots (because of all the water crossings), but half a dozen cactus spines in my feet modified my behavior. I figure barefooting out from Reavis in either direction would be at least mildly unpleasant.

[joebartels]

I hope some kids learned something that day!

They did, they learned someone will pick up after you

[azbackpackr]

Yes, well, I thought of that, but apparently there wasn't time to do that, along half a mile of creek, and they had to be back at the school at a certain time.

[Sredfield]

We found a pack and sleeping bag at the top of the last steep drop into Nankoweep once. We seriously looked around over the edge for the body, but didn't see or smell anything. Figured someone just crashed and left it and hiked out. Neither were of any quality or maybe I'd have tried harder to haul it out, but as it was, we had full loads on ourselves

[Jeffshadows]

We found a pack and sleeping bag at the top of the last steep drop into Nankoweep once. We seriously looked around over the edge for the body, but didn't see or smell anything. Figured someone just crashed and left it and hiked out. Neither were of any quality or maybe I'd have tried harder to haul it out, but as it was, we had full loads on ourselves

I was told, years back, by some old-timers that this kind of thing was once pretty common. Someone would buy a cheap-o sleeping kit and dump it to lighten his or her load on the way back out. Dill weeds...

[azbackpackr]

Hadn't heard that one before, but it doesn't surprise me. How long had that gear been there, do you think?

[nonot]

I find piles of this type of crap on every backpack into the Supes. Lazy bastards are numerous and still around.

[Alston_Neal]

We found an old Chevy pickup truck with a camper shell near Sedona. In back (which I was afraid to look into) was everything needed for camping, sans body.
It had been there for awhile, so I looked it as free. My wife on the other hand didn't see it the same way. We went to the police and reported it, never heard anything more.
We also have a thing about mylar balloons.. ...Then one day the wife and I passed a funeral home with a whole bunch of young folks of high school age releasing balloons. We looked at each other and didn't say anything, cuz we both knew what we were thinking.

[joebartels]

We also have a thing about mylar balloons.. ...Then one day the wife and I passed a funeral home with a whole bunch of young folks of high school age releasing balloons. We looked at each other and didn't say anything, cuz we both knew what we were thinking.

it was probably Earth Day too

[azbackpackr]

We found an old Chevy pickup truck with a camper shell near Sedona. In back (which I was afraid to look into) was everything needed for camping, sans body.
It had been there for awhile, so I looked it as free.

A person who is living in a vehicle, which then stops running and there are no funds to fix it, will likely take what he can carry and walk away from it.

This brings up the thought that with so many unemployed people in the US, there are bound to be a lot of them living in their cars right now.

[dround]

It seems every time I go out I am bringing something down off the trail.
Mostly plastic bottles, and cigarette buts.
Last time in South Mt about 100 feet of fishing line tangled up in bushes and cacti.

[azbackpackr]

Out in the rangelands, anywhere there is cattle grazing, which is almost everywhere I hike, sometimes you will find barbed wire or just loose wire on the ground. I always think the cattle, elk, deer, or other animals could be injured by it. Sometimes if it is too big to stick in my pack I just coil it up neatly and then hang it over a fencepost.

[John9L]

I've been hiking Camelback (Cholla Side) and recently pulled out 5 water bottles in the course of two hikes. There's plenty more but its too dangerous to try to retrieve. People make me so mad sometimes! Tons of dog crap as well!

[Alston_Neal]

Last time in South Mt about 100 feet of fishing line tangled up in bushes and cacti.

I can understand finding clam shells in the boulders by Pinnacle Peak. But fishing line on South Mtn?
The Hohokam were more advanced than I thought.

[dround]

The fishing line was a crazy thing to see there as I was going along I saw and almost got tripped up because it was going across trail about ankle high. I was hoping there was no detinator in the bush on either side of the trail. I wonder how many fish came out of South Mt none of the petroglyphs seem to show them around.

[oneka]

Saturday afternoon was a lovely day for a hike. So i did North Mountain. The plastic bottles were shiny and clean after the rain.
I picked up 5 plastic bottles, 1 soda can, a paper box, and a fruit snack tub. But there is many more were i can't reach. There is a line of bottles paralleling the trail 10-20 feet lower.
I learned long time ago to be carefull when picking up plastic bags, because you can get a smelly suprise.

So instead of charging for parking in the 5 Phoenix parks, why don't we just charge $5 for people who are hiking with dogs and people hiking with disposable bottles.
If they bring down a bag full of dodo or an empty bottle they could get there $5 deposit back.

[azbackpackr]

If they bring down a bag full of dodo or an empty bottle they could get their $5 deposit back.

That is such a sensible idea that it probably will never happen.

It probably would work only for a short time anyway, since once most of the trash was picked up, then people would BRING TRASH WITH THEM in order to get their money back. HOWEVER, it might be something that could be done several weekends a year, be advertised, and draw crowds of people climbing all over the place to get the trash!

[BrettVet]

http://hikearizona.com/photo.php?ZIP=148134

A few years ago my son did an Eagle Boy Scout project in the Saguaro National Park where they hiked in and collected 800 lbs of trash. He loaded it on our mules and we hauled it 6 miles to the trailhead. Most of it was fencing and rusted pipe with a mound of trash thrown in for good measure. We pack into places like Reavis Ranch and always devote one pack mule to carrying out bags of trash left by hikers. It seems that it is much easier to carry full bottles of beer 10 miles in than to pack out the empties. , May be it is the hangover.

[nonot]

Great work Brett (and your son as well)!!

[azbackpackr]

I think it's great, too. Just please don't call them hikers. Real hikers don't do that! Call them losers, yahoos, a-holes, idiots--just please don't call them hikers.