Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Leave no Trace?

This weekend I enjoyed wonderful weather and a great hike to the summit. But, what a shame that others do not do their part in protecting our environment. Once at trail camp I was shocked to see so much trash and human waste. I took it upon myself to do some housekeeping. It was very disturbing that I packed out more weight than I started with. The following is a list of what was packed out.

- 2 large Ziploc bags of human waste
- 5 Wag bags (including my own…and yes I made sure they didn’t belong to a fellow hiker)
- 3 large Ziploc bags of miscellaneous trash

In total about 5 lbs of waste and trash. Most would not consider me an extreme environmentalist. I am just an average guy who enjoys the outdoors. I would like to hear from others on what we can do to make sure we preserve the natural beauty of Mt. Whitney.

And for those of you who are using this board to get informed about your hike to Mt Whitney....take some time to prepare to do your part in packing out your trash and waste.

Justhike~

My two cents worth:

Good for you!! To many people -don't- care enough these days to do the right thing and "leave a place cleaner then when you found it".

Pack out what you take in is something we've always practiced as a family... my Scouts are very big into the Leave no Trace program... and when I take my kids hiking we're always picking up other peoples trash. (I took my kids hiking once and my son insisted on trying to remove a full sized truck tire from a creekbed we were walking along).

I still haven't figured out how to make others respect the enviornment and our outdoors resources, but sometimes shaming others makes them behave better. When witnessing someone leaving their stuff scattered about announcing to my children in a very loud voice how important it is to pick up your trash has, on more then one occassion, resulting in the offending parties dropping their heads and picking up their own trash.

~Chris

You deserve something for doing that! Thank you for caring.
That I am sure must have not been a fun thing to do!
Something I do not understand is the people that are doing this..why are they even using a wag bag or zip lock if they have no intentions on packing it out and plan on leaving it up there?

Thank you again

Good job...... and thanks for caring. It's not easy hiking out someone's waste.

paul

That is really disgusting. I can't understand people who leave their trash behind - anywhere. Good for you to pack it out, you really do deserve a merit badge :-)

Justhike,

Hopefully here we can all give such a thankless task a giant THANK YOU! That's a tremendous effort on your part.

I agree with SoCalGirl, too many people are either 1. clueless (read: small cranial capacity or inability to use it) or 2. somehow warped enough to feel that it is beneath them to clean up after themselves. I call that the mama's boy syndrome. Still can't cook, clean, laundry for themselves. Someone else will do it. It's the same people that let their dog let one loose on your lawn and move on without picking up. I also agree (pardon the Dylan moment) the answer is blowin' in the wind. Who knows how to convince such folks to do such a simple thing? Everytime the wag bag issue comes up on this board I get tense. Just freakin' do it! But now we have this other problem; it's done, but now they leave it. When I retire, perhaps my wife and I will buy a place in Lone Pine and I can become the first wag bag checker for the USFS. Someone's got to do it. As long as I can get a Whitney permit anytime I want. A decent trade-off, eh?

1 bag = pat on the back and a hearty congratulations, "You're an up-standing citizen. Thank you."
No bag = $100 fine (More? What do you all think?)
2 or more bags = $10 dollar REBATE per bag after the first!

Maybe a pre-permit test: Demonstrate, IN PERSON at time of permit pick up, wag bag use in front of both, a male and female ranger. Tough on the rangers but drastic times call for drastic measures. No product, no permit. Refund the $15. Sorry, try again next year after practicing. Successful test, demonstrate you can actually walk with it to a trash can and deposit it. Here's your permit. Check in with toddc "the checker" when you exit.

Alright, enough. Going to Shepherd Pass this Thurs. Thanks Justhike I very much appreciate your concern.

Toddc~
Chula Vista? We're neighbors...

I love your idea of the first USFS wag bag checker.. I think the fine should be higher for returning without though. How about a fine and a temporary ban on permit issuing? Get your name put on a "no entry" list USFS wide?

And for returning with more then one wag bag? How about a free entry permit!!

~Chris

I guess I did it for the karma, and it paid off. Doug hooked me up with a double cheeseburger for the price of a single...thanks Doug

Also the amount of trash I packed out was crazy. They where all candy, energy bar, gu wrappers mixed in with snot rags, baby wipes etc..

thank you for taking the time to remove what doesn't belong.

i was up and down the main trail on the 18th and was surprised how many little folded-up wads of tissue were neatly tucked into rocks along the trail.

as there was no sign of human waste under the tissues, and no obvious discoloration marks on the tissues, i can only surmise these were discarded by women.

i have nothing against women - i am actually married to one - and do not mean to accuse all women for the actions of a few, but if someone can tell me another explanation for these, i'm all ears.

neither of the women who hiked with me that day had an explanation.

isn't this what zip-lock bags are for?

and the grossest was a large wad of tissue i saw where the water was flowing out of the rocks in the switchbacks. from its location it had to have been placed - no way this was blown in. no excuse for the total lack of consideration, irresponsibility and pure boneheadedness of this action.

rant mode off.

i had a great time!

Um.. many many people with severe sinus issues? 'Cause ya know.. guys can have sinus issues too.... Of course... this in no way means that I accept that kind of behaviour... but you asked for other ideas...

Justhike, thank you!!! It is a shame that others can't clean up after themselves. After my failed attempt to summit in 2006 my party ran into a guy carrying a large blue barrel on his back, he was on his way to Trail Camp. We questioned him about the barrel, and he told us it was for all the trash left at Trail Camp, not only did he have the barrel we could see but another barrel was inside. He told us of some of the things that people leave, not only paper trash, but discarded clothes. Wonder if those who left the trash would like to have the job of hauling trash barrels up to the camp. I must confess that I unintentionally littered when I summited this year in June. Somewhere between the summit and the switchbacks I dropped a bandana, I was in no way upset about loosing a $.99 bandana, I was more mad at myself for not keeping a tighter rein on my property and littering the trail. It is too bad that others don't think twice about tossing something on the ground.

Just to clarify, the Ziploc bags of waste were not found. I used a small shovel to pick up what I found around trail camp. To think most people aren’t even considerate to bury their waste. I like the idea of a Wag Bag checker at the portal.

heres an idea,,,just give a hair sample when you pick up your permit and they can match the D.N.A.

All of us are bothered by trash laying around up in the wilderness, since we personally practice Leave no Trace.

It should be no surprise, however, that not everyone is willing to pack out their human waste. Thinking everyone would abide by that forest service rule is just wishful thinking.

JustHike,

Thanks so much for your efforts over the past weekend, and for posting it here. Although it might seem like preaching to the choir in terms of how many people respond to the post, there are many, many more that view it and don't post a response. Even if you reach just one person that's something.

I agree that being that sloppy has no place on the mountain, or anywhere, for that matter. While I didn't find much during our trek this past weekend, I did bring out a few water bottles and a tie from a bread bag. At this point, I think it is everyone's responsibility to pack out something they find. Otherwise, the backcountry may become just another trail of trash.

I've carried out everything from wagbags to plain old garbage and food left behind. I've had no qualms about talking to someone who is leaving something behind, and more often than not, they are simply unaware. As for the Kleenex stuffed in the rocks/trees, I don't know about the female connection. But no matter what, they all deserve a sound beating about the head and shoulders.

I brought a nice and huge food 'cache' a few months ago:


And to ANYONE, ANYWHERE, leaving a wagbag, the CA Moose has this to say:



-L

Hey Moose,

I am on board with you guys. In fact, while huffing and puffing up the mountain, I picked up someone's Under Armor shirt, as well as a number of goo packs and cliff bar wrappers, crazy!
I know this is a serious issue, but might I digress a tad and ask you if you're sure that the water bottle you took out was actually real or was it just just a hallucination?? (Not sure how to add the smiley face icon, but picture it here)

Kurt

Anyone find a pair of Maui Jim Sport sunglasses?

Thanks for the post; it's unfortunate that we have to remind clueless individuals of the importance of picking up after themselves.

Wow, I am overwhelmed with the response. It’s a shame that a small percentage can have such a negative impact on our trails and back country. I was at the beach yesterday walking my dog and thought ……”why don’t they offer wag bag dispensers at trail camp like they have doggy wag bags at the beach.” I think the main problem is that most don’t want to reopen a used wag bag so they sneak away and do the deed. My goal was not to debate the wag bag issue but to bring attention to our ethical responsibilities when enjoying the outdoors.

It’s not like placing trash cans along the trail would do any good. Just go to your local park or beach they have trash cans spread all over the place and people refuse to use them.

I don’t know what the answer is. A good start could be learning more Leave No Trace

Way to go Moose! I’m loving those pictures!

See... the "don't want to reopen an old wag bag" thing gets shot out of the water when you point out to the offenders that for a few dollars each you can go into the back country with as many wag bags as you want. Granted... it adds that much extra weight to whatever you're already packing... but I'm thinking that the extra weight is a minimal inconvenience when compared to the impact that not carrying extra wag bags will make.

Mom ordered our wag bags online and they were delivered within a couple of days to our front door!

Just my two cents worth.
~Chris

Justhike,

Right-on! Thanks for going above and beyond to clean-up! And you cashed in on some good karma already at the Portal Store.

I have a friend who picks up trash on the trail whenever he is feeling low energy or off his game. He says that cleaning up helps him get his "mojo".

We should all pick up a little trash when we see it. Thanks for the inspiration.