Trash

[Grandpa Don]

This is what give us campers a bad name. I found this boondocking camp site near Lake Isabella, California last March. It looked like a nice secluded site. I was planning on camping here as soon as the weather got a little cooler. But I went by it again today while looking for other camping sites, and this is what I found.

 

[Grandpa Don]

Cant see the vid. But then again i might not want to! Its a shame how people leave stuff.

I think I found the problem. I had it set for "Private". I just made it "Public". Try again.

 

[PopUpSteve]

Can view now. Almost wish I couldn't. People are pigs. Most likely a bunch of young people, you know, the ones who give you the stink-eye if you use plastic instead having your own cloth bag at the checkout.

 

[tzmartin]

That sucks. People can be disappointing. We camped at a site where dog poop was everywhere. After my rant, the kids and I picked it up and made it a lesson on leaving a place better than you found it.

 

[OldMedicDoc]

So sad people have to be so trashy. I have been fortunate not to have to see a camp site with that much trash. Unfortunately those who trash any outdoor space will continue to do it.

 

[Goforit]

To me camping is about respect for nature. In return we are gifted with nature's beauty and majesty. Why defile such a gift?

 

[nineoaks2004]

Thanks for sharing: Sad to say that this is normal for some people and they could care less about the environment or the next campers that are looking for a nice clean campsite so they can enjoy a little R&R. Anything these people do is forgivable in their eyes and the idea is to let someone else clean up the mess they are responsible for but if they arrive expecting a clean site and find it in the shape THEY left it in, they will scream bloody murder. Personally and I was raised with the idea that I must always try to leave a site in better shape than I found it.

 

[HappyTraveler]

This is just so sad. I "Liked" your op, but not b/c I liked what you were showing.
And this is why I don't like people. I like individuals ok, but as a group the behavior of the group think is not good.
We also were taught and raised our sons the same way to leave a place better than you find it. Hell, we're still finding pull-tabs in camp sites when we do our initial clean sweep before setting up. How long has it been since pull-tabs were used????

 

[firepit]

That kind of stuff burns my _ _ s!!.
Not to sound like a selfish camping snob but thats what happens when people who never been raised camping or been camping in their life before covid.
They never learned respect and want to get outdoors with no regards to anyone else.

 

[Grandpa Don]

Can view now. Almost wish I couldn't. People are pigs. Most likely a bunch of young people, you know, the ones who give you the stink-eye if you use plastic instead having your own cloth bag at the checkout.

That area is a lake bottom for lake Isabella. In winter, that area is under about 4 feet of water. The video is not the best quality because I didn't have my good camera with me. When I was there months ago there wasn't any trash anywhere. At that time I saw a few pieces of toilet paper on the ground, but very little. There are lots of great secluded camping areas in those tree. I was considering going back up there with my camper and cleaning this spot up a bit. There was another great camping site farther back in those trees that had much more trash scattered around than this one. I'm afraid me cleaning it up would have little effect. There is so much, and it would take me so long by myself. It is really a nice place though. The green grass along the road going in and on the flat plain was 4 foot high.

Here is another video I shot months ago. This is the same area only a little close to the main road.

 

[McFlyfi]

I hate to say it, but the whole Kern River Valley is notorious for the crap (figuratively and literally) left behind by the "visitors". The locals are finally getting a bit fed up by it. They've "banned" glass containers along the river, enacted restrictions on dispersed camping, they even have a radio campaign in the summer regarding the restrictions. Of course, all of this is generally ignored. This is a beautiful region, and it is being destroyed by people who live less than an hour and a half away.

 

[Strawhouse]

Can view now. Almost wish I couldn't. People are pigs. Most likely a bunch of young people, you know, the ones who give you the stink-eye if you use plastic instead having your own cloth bag at the checkout.

In my experience, ignorance and disrespect of others and our environment is found across all age groups.

 

[D_Gibb]

That's really sad. The disrespect of nature and the other people (even if boondocking) is really upsetting. We just took a quick weekend getaway at a nearby KOA and had a similar experience. There are banks of cabins a few rows from where we were staying, and while we have a small outdoor speaker for early evening around the fire, we shut it down at quiet hours and keep the levels lower since we know what it's like traveling with kids. The cabin folk had their music booming until 3am in spite of having the KOA security people telling them to turn it down multiple times. Add this to the fact that every time a car pulled up (and parked at the empty site next to mine), they dumped trash from their cars on to the grass. While walking my dog, she kept trying to go pick up the chicken bones that were tossed on the ground.

The campground was nice overall (in spite of their lax enforcement of the quiet hours), and their trash pickup people were overwhelmed coming by these cabins multiple times a day.

Those people can really ruin an experience for everybody, and it makes me mad since we have instilled a very strong sense of how to conduct yourself camping in our kids. We keep a clean site, respect the people around us, and make sure that we don't damage the local surroundings, otherwise it won't be there when we want to come back again.

 

[Leslie Chasse]

Every time I go out, I wind up doing some clean up of the area. I mean every single time, no matter how remote.

 

[jmkay1]

Sadly I see this often where I live too. Lack of respect for nature and others. I call this group the “me” people. They only seem to care what they do, what they like and do not think about anyone else. It’s very sad. Our waterways, beaches, and forests are covered in trash. Trash that ends up hurting everyone in the long run. I practice the keep your site cleaner than you find it. I always try and pick up one piece of trash, more if I have room in my bag, on a hike. My kayak often has bottles and plastic of some kind in it. Occasionally I will participate in the keep our waterways clean and the amount of trash we pull out can be downright scary. It’s depressing.

 

[Fred Hierholz]

I dislike people that trash the outdoors. Trash your kitchen,your yard, if you want, but not the outdoors.
Many years ago, down near Gunnison, CO., I ran across a campsite overflowing with trash. These clowns just threw stuff into the fire pit, and left. I spent over an hour picking it up, partially burnt plates, beer cans, etc.. I found a partially burned box, with a name and address on it. So, when I got home, I called information to get this guys phone number (this was in 1983), and the OP asks if I want his office (he is a lawyer), or his home, so I got both. I called his home and his wife answered. I told her I was with the Colorado Division of Wildlife, and asked if her husband was hunting in the area I found the trash, and she confirmed he was.
I then boxed up some of his burned trash and mailed one to his home and the other to his office, and included a scathing letter about his group being pigs, etc.

I have to say, that felt good!

Some years later, I told the story to a Division of Wildlife (DOW) officer, and he mentioned I could have called the DOW and they would have mailed him a ticket for the littering.

 

[PaThacker]

The trash problem is out of control in the North East of this country during the pandemic. Every weekend 300,000 invade PA public sites at state and local parks from NY and NJ residents. Trash including full party gear left on banks of Delaware River. Halfway across PA all parks with wAter features at capacity.

 

[Orchid]

That's just downright nasty!

 

[Toedtoes]

It's not just new campers. It's not just young people. It's not just city folk.

It's society as a whole. It's our neighbors, our friends, our families, our co-workers.

Trying to put blame on "those others" in an attempt to distance ourselves is useless, we need to realize it's closer than that. Talk about the trash issue to those around you IRL. Not in an accusatory manner, but in a way that brings it into their home. Personalize it. If your neighbor has dogs, say something like "I just can't imagine how dangerous that trash could be to a dog". If your co-worker has kids, say something like "it's not safe for kids to play". And so on.

Perhaps one of those conversations will stop someone from trashing the next time they go camping.

 

[Grandpa Don]

There was another occasion when I saw something that nearly pushed me over the edge. I was following another vehicle on a secondary road out here on the Mojave desert. I was behind the car for about 5 miles, so he knew I was there. The thing that got me was when we pulled up to a stop sign with me right behind him. This person, (I could tell if it was a male or female, old or young) open the passenger side window and tossed out several empty bags of take-out food leftovers that they had been eating. I could not believe it. I considered picking it up and following them to return the trash to them with a "Sorry, I found this stuff on the road. I think you lost it by accident." But if I had, it would have been my luck that they would have had a gun and shot me or attacked me in some other way.