jsn_stockard

I fell in love with wheeling before I could drive. My father would take my brother and I on the trail to show us the wildlife and the fun. The trails were a long way from the farm, and we loved the trip. I spent my 16th birthday on trails on the Red River, living it up with my friends. Now I have a son, and the trails my father took me down are getting fewer and fewer, closed down from all of the trash left behind from all of the irresponsible ones. The small group I run with are a great bunch, if we see anything on the trail we pick it up. I hate to sound like a downer, but it is up to us to take care of the land, so our kids can show their kids. I am not dogging hunters, I come from a long line of them, but shotgun shells are trash, plastic that does not go away. I find all kinds of things in campfires, and find campfires left to burn when the weekend is over, please help save the trails. Get a group and do a cleanup even once is a big help. Carry trashbags and grab something if it catches your eye, our kids will thank you!

Corey

iTrader: (1)

I hear you.
There is far to much trash left behind on trails by those who do not know any better or have the attitude that they do not care if they trash the place.

Back when my kid's were small, we use to camp a lot at Greenwater with our tent trailer.
That is also home to all of the wheeling I have done over the past years.

A lot of the campsites are now gone, thanks to trash.
The forest service trenches the entrance to the site, and the only way in is to carry your gear and tent camp, as you can no longer back in a trailer or an RV.

Some individuals have ruined it for others.
Most of the prime spots I use to camp in are now that way.

Not all of them, but a good portion.

I always have trash bags in my rig.

muddpigg

iTrader: (1)

Your words couldn't be truer. We try to carry more out than we take in but it gets to be unreasonable. I think some of it is the "I'm so tough I don't care" attitude, but then again it may simply be ignorance.

crackerjack

I was on one of my trails here in tenn. the other day I had put barrels at key intersections so hopefully people would put their cans in them. Would you believe there were cans like 20 yards from the can!? Some idiot spray painted 4 trees with the A. S. loves B.D. thing too. I want to take a chainsaw and grind the letters off but I don't want to hurt the trees,....any ideas?

flyfishexpert

My father-in-law and I spent the morning bird hunting and ended up filling our bird vests with bud light cans and corona bottles. I think it really boils down to disrespect. Disrespect for others and the land we all utilize. I believe the same people throwing their trash all over, today I spotted a couch, are the same ones that drive around gates, tare down fences, and move the boulders that governing agencies use to keep the public off of trails. Yesterday I was I took a drive to the top of one of the local peaks and discovered that somebody had spent a great deal of time digging through a mound of dirt the BLM had placed at the beginning of one of these "short-cut" trails between a switchback. They must have been up there for hours to dig through this 6' tall mound. I just don't understand.

That is why I proudly display my 'Tread Lightly' sticker on the back of my Runner and I try to cleanup the areas I travel through.

Good luck to you guys!

dport

AMEN, brothers. I just got back from a one nighter yesterday with some friends. I was at the same spot 2 weeks ago and planned to bring a rake back this trip. Well, I forgot the rake and it was so bad that we had one of the guys who lives close, leave and bring back a rake. I really don't like to rake the area, as it leaves it less natural looking, but it was a mess. I raked up old 9V batteries and all sorts of stuff. Sad, it's one the best places I've ever been.

muddpigg

iTrader: (1)

Well if the was an open season for litterbugs, we'd end the problem quick. But I know its not the answer but we have yet to figure out why some people will drive up into the mountains to dump a big screen tv. Hell they passed ton's of dumpsters on the way up.

TOYOTA 1

good posting.. i hate litter bugs, they should all be squashed!

zkalsent

I always carry extra trash bags, whether hiking, camping, or taking a walk around the neighborhood. I HATE litter, but I always feel better after picking up an area knowing that it looks 100% better after I have passed through.

Junkers88

Just saw this thread and wanted to chime in.

Back when I started hunting birds I was told that under no conditions was I to leave shotgun shells or anything else on the ground. We had several cousins that would blast away and not pick up the empties, they were NOT invited back ever.

The same mind set carried over to off road activities. The last time I went out with a large group we stopped several times to pick up beer bottles, shotgun shells, diapers (yuck), piles of stuff left at makeshift campsites etc... By the time I was done with that weekend I had three 55 gallon bags of stuff in the back of the truck, everyone else had bags also. We filled a public umpster with what we picked up in two days.

I HATE trash on the trail. Hell if everyone that went out would not only not throw thigns out but pick up one extra piece of something then our trails would look 100% better and stay open for years and years.

RMA

Yea I learned way way back when in Boy Scouts to leave the campsite cleaner than we found it. I just wish there was alot more peolpe that thought about thier trash before leaving the area.

Junkers88

Very true. It just kills me when I see things like "Such-and-such trail is being closed due to trash.". It makes all of us look like litter bugs. It only takes a few minutes to stop and pick something up and most of the folks out there don't give a damn about the outdoors.

a4runnerfreak

That was 1 of the things my dad instilled in since before I started carring a shotgun or rifle when I lil. Always carry OUT more than you carry IN. What really pisses me off, is the beer cans/bottles, and dirty diapers. I can't it, it just really irks the hell outta me.

toyospearo

It is interesting to me most of the trash I see on the trail around here is from logging operations. Not only trash but huge chunks logging parts in addition to cable and other various logging stuff.
I am not down on logging at all. Most of the friends I have here log and I even worked for a season way back.
I think they should haul it off.

Fae_Tal

not a lot of people have the self-awareness to realize what they're doing is not only wrong, but will come back to bite them... Karma's a real witch.

I grew up with parents who worked for the Corps of Engineers... Mom owned a business that was contracted to take care of a 20some acre park and rec. area.
What a lot of off-road enthusiasts don't realize, is that garbage isn't the only danger to the trails.
even in the mountains you should pick up after your pets and hose off after each outting (even if your truck looks better muddy... sorry boys)
Noxious and invasive weed species can be spread if you're not careful.
here in SE WA the predominate nasties are Star Thistle, Canadian Bull Thistle, and Puncture Vine.

I could rattle on about the dangers these species of weed forever... but I won't
and the pet thing is pretty self explanitory... dog crap is gross no matter where you step in it /scowl.

VSU_4runnin

yet one more reason why we are loosing gems like tellico...
Remember to TREAD LIGHTLY!

firemaniac

One more thing to add to the wheeling list, trash bags, I make it a practice to pack out more than I pack in, helps everyone in the long run.

Another way to help with access is to use the capacities of our trucks to everyone's advantage, rather than just cleaning up the trails we use, we can show a good faith gesture to other public land users, IE hikers, by at least grabbing some of the trash around the trail heads that they use.

dport

Trail trash DOES include dead fish. I camped in a spot last night I found a few months ago along a popular river in AL. The first thing I noticed when we pulled in was the stench of rottening fish. Someone cleaned their fish and left the remains smack in the center of the small campsite. Now my dogs smell like it, too. Really spoiled the trip since we were supposed to stay till tomorrow.

smartboyalex

I have just really started getting into offroading, but I volunteer at the Oregon Country Fair every year on the Recycling Crew and it is amazing to see how careless and clueless some people are. The fair is held in the woods west of Eugene and is supposed to be a "Green" event where everyone is supposed to recyle,compost and dispose of there trash but every year we go through the fair after it is over and find bags of mixed trash that people stuff in bushes or trees when there are trash kiosk 100 ft away. It makes you wonder what these people are thinking. I wish it was differnet.

islandboyjt20

people down hear spray paint trees like three stories up and it looks nasty and that was one of the resons the trail closed...the other reson was because they found over 200 stolen cars striped and burnt...