Hungry Jack
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Living and dying in 3/4 time...
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Post by Hungry Jack on Sept 14, 2016 12:58:33 GMT -8
Compass-Great topic! Sounds like you and I have both spent considerable time in the Shawnee in Southern Il. Great place.
My stories don't hold serve with the best ones here. Two years ago while backpacking Commanche Wilderness and having crossed over into RMNP near Mirror Lake I came across a pretty nice camping knife--as I was about to pee on it. A few yards away I found a sole hiking boot (left foot).
Luckily, at a camp deep in Aravaipa canyon I found my companion's car key in the dirt when he had no idea it had fallen from his pack.
And two decades ago my gf were hiking on Bear Mtn outside West Point and came across tons trash strewn on the hillside. We gathered most of it up in garbage bags in the area and hauled it down a good 500 ft or so and over to a parking lot dumpster.
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Post by CompassRds on Sept 14, 2016 13:06:07 GMT -8
<-Saluki. So at least 4 years. ;-)
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reuben
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Gonna need more Camels at the next refugio...
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Post by reuben on Sept 14, 2016 13:15:45 GMT -8
And two decades ago my gf were hiking on Bear Mtn outside West Point and came across tons trash strewn on the hillside. We gathered most of it up in garbage bags in the area and hauled it down a good 500 ft or so and over to a parking lot dumpster. This is why I don't like people. Who would do that? I mean, I can conceive of circumstances where it would be prudent, but those circumstances are rare, as in "medical emergency" rare. I hope they were just young and stupid (been there, done that), and have grown up to be better people.
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balzaccom
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Waiting for spring...
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Post by balzaccom on Sept 14, 2016 13:47:17 GMT -8
OK--Not to hijack this thread, but you've got me thinking. What about things we've found in the back country that have become part of our gear, at last for a while?
At Fremont Lake years ago, we found a nice 2qt aluminum pot that is perfect for our stove. Somebody had cooked over a fire in it, the bottom was black with soot, and they'd left it there. We still use it, seven or eight years later. We also found a very nice mesh bag that is now my toothbrush/toothpaste bag for the bear can, and another one that holds our sponge and small vial of Dawn. And a Wilderness Anniversary sticker that now adorns our bear can. I also found an official BSA pocket knife---with the troop number etched on it. I was able to track down the troop and return it to the leader--although I suspect the scout had long since left for college.
A couple of fleeces have been turned into the local thrift store....and a tent rain fly was turned into the Tuolumne Meadows Ranger Station's lost and found. How do you walk away from that? It was left draped over a rock right by the trail.
What have WE left behind? As near as we can tell, only a blue closed-cell foam pad that we use as a trail seat. Left at Lukens Lake in Yosemite about six years ago. If you found it, keep it, as we have others.
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Hungry Jack
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Living and dying in 3/4 time...
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Post by Hungry Jack on Sept 14, 2016 13:52:18 GMT -8
I hear you Rueben. We were both pretty shocked and appalled by the amount of garbage strewn up there. It was a long time ago and the details are vague, but I think we hauled down 5 or 6 hefty bags of it.
I have paddled Missouri's great Ozark waterways numerous times--Big, Current, Courtois, Huzzah, etc.--and I cannot count how many cans of Bud Light, Busch, Nat Light, etc. I picked up along the river. I started bringing a big mesh bag on my trips.
I am just one of those cranks who hates garbage. Here in Chicago in the Sovereign State of East Lakeview, I always pick up the garbage within 50 ft or so of the house. And there is always a trail of empty cans running along Oakdale St from Broadway past Halsted every Sunday morning. Never fails. One of these nights I will stay up just to see exactly who is leaving the popcorn trail as they return from cavorting on Broadway's bar strip.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 14, 2016 14:51:25 GMT -8
Some of the garbage ends up here: and some of it ends up in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch:
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Post by CompassRds on Sept 15, 2016 11:59:12 GMT -8
I have paddled Missouri's great Ozark waterways numerous times--Big, Current, Courtois, Huzzah, etc.--and I cannot count how many cans of Bud Light, Busch, Nat Light, etc. I picked up along the river. You mean the noble and ubiquitous Beercanum budlightus isn't Missouri's state fish?
BTW in New East Side, but often Poco the toddler for practice and stop at the little playground at the end of Barry, have a non-backpacking friend who just moved out from south of Diversey and Hampden Ct who I would meet with his 3 kiddos there.
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Post by CompassRds on Sept 15, 2016 12:14:56 GMT -8
So I guess my Chicago contribution is that I am kind of a roving playground trashpicker.
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reuben
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Post by reuben on Sept 15, 2016 12:37:53 GMT -8
So I guess my Chicago contribution is that I am kind of a roving playground trashpicker. I'm willing to bet that Chicago needs that. And a lot of other cities as well.
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Sept 15, 2016 14:22:22 GMT -8
So I guess my Chicago contribution is that I am kind of a roving playground trashpicker. I'm willing to bet that Chicago needs that. And a lot of other cities as well. Pretty nearly every playground I've ever seen. And that's a fair number of them.
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Post by CompassRds on Sept 15, 2016 16:06:18 GMT -8
Yep. Lets see me Chicago playground FOD walk is mainly for broken glass, cigarette butts (the little one still likes to try to eat them), water bottle tops (another choking-hazard that everyone seems to like to drop as they go), and then there is always just general litter including parental-asshat-left-diapers.
Meh. Never-ending.
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Hungry Jack
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Living and dying in 3/4 time...
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Post by Hungry Jack on Sept 15, 2016 19:33:56 GMT -8
I have paddled Missouri's great Ozark waterways numerous times--Big, Current, Courtois, Huzzah, etc.--and I cannot count how many cans of Bud Light, Busch, Nat Light, etc. I picked up along the river. You mean the noble and ubiquitous Beercanum budlightus isn't Missouri's state fish?
BTW in New East Side, but often Poco the toddler for practice and stop at the little playground at the end of Barry, have a non-backpacking friend who just moved out from south of Diversey and Hampden Ct who I would meet with his 3 kiddos there.
Small world! We live at Burling and Oakdale, next to the little green space called Burling Park that I developed and manage.
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Hungry Jack
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Living and dying in 3/4 time...
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Post by Hungry Jack on Sept 15, 2016 19:40:39 GMT -8
On a Big Bend trip about ten years ago, my brothers older hippie friend Sutton left his Coleman stove at the Basin campground. Five of us packed up into the Chisos, staying at Laguna Meadows. About ten minutes into setup, Sutton turned to us and asked "which one y'all brought my tent?"
About five years later, in Aravaipa Canyon outside Horse Camp Canyon, Sutton took the two liter bottle of red wine (Rancho Zabaco, I think) I had lugged in and stuck in a rocky crevice, and placed it instead in Aravaipa Creek. So much for the wine.
This guy would lose his head if it wasn't stuck up his ass.
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Ed
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Post by Ed on Sept 16, 2016 8:28:03 GMT -8
Hungry Jack Smaller world - in a previous life (many years ago - before moving to WV) I lived on Burling and then on the corner of Burling and Oakdale... I'm sure the neighborhood has changed quite a bit since then.
added later -
Dammm the neighborhood has sure cleaned up (just looked at Google streetview).
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davesenesac
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Post by davesenesac on Sept 16, 2016 9:09:47 GMT -8
I admit to being rather quite irritated and vocal against those who trash and litter in all places. A bit off the focused subject but worth adding as posting wanes. Trashing and littering in the backcountry and in our parks is closely tied to similar behaviors elsewhere. Thus people that litter in our urban places are also most likely to have the same behaviors in the backcountry.
I grew up in the 50s thru 60s and most young people in that era in places I grew up at in California developed behaviors of not littering. On radio and tv of that era was the considerable national Don't Be A Litterbug campaign and the Keep America Beautiful organization came into being. And accordingly except for cigarette butts, there was far less littering everywhere until the rise of the Counterculture Revolution at the end of the 60s and especially with the rise of the Punk Generation mid 70s. A few behavioral tidbits.
Studies shows the majority of cigarette smokers toss their butts and those same people tend to also litter more in other ways as it is an already developed habit. Fortunately the percentage of physically active outdoor enthusiasts who smoke is much less than with the general population.
In a study men were 4 times more likely to litter than women that reflects how women are also less messy at home or at workplaces. Young people are far more likely to litter today than older people and men in the 18 to 34 age group are the worst offenders. As people get older they litter less. In part that is because there used to be more public campaigns against litter and police actually often used to bother to enforce anti-littering. Thus behavioral campaigns and enforcement is important to influence some personalities. But as adults grow older they also become more considerate in part due to peer influences and thoughtfulness with age.
Those who frequently eat at fast food places litter more. My own experience is a certain place to see most littering is at freeway on-ramps where fast food establishments are nearby. That shows litterbugs feeling guilty wait until they reach a spot they expect others will not see them toss. Likewise in our parks and backcountry, tossers tend to throw stuff where it cannot be seen trail side as in bushes and when others are not looking. At a local mountain park in our SF Bay Area urban area with bike trails, I found a ridiculous pile of plastic water bottles trail side just beyond some dense bushes that blocked a view of the ground. Instead of carrying all the bottles back in a trash bag, I tossed several dozen bottles onto the narrow bike pack so bike riders would get to enjoy seeing their deeds and think about just what they have been doing.
www.greenecoservices.com/littering-facts-and-statistics/
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