Who's been naughty?

[balzaccom]

This from our blog:

The Top Ten LNT Naughty kids in the backcountry
Santa keeps a list, and so do I. And the people who do these things in the back country aren’t going to find any presents under the tree from me this year!

10. Micro-trash on the trails. Yeah, I know it means you would have to bend over and pick up that tiny piece of foil. But if you don’t, it will be there for years, telling everyone else on the trail that you were too lazy. Not a good message to send. We collect a pocketful of this stuff on every trip.

9. Horses. If you are going to leave no trace, a horse is a very bad piece of equipment. They damage trails and trample campsites into hard-packed pavement.

8. Fire rings. OK fine, if one is there, go ahead and use it. But please don’t create another one thinking that the person behind you is going to appreciate it. We don’t. If you absolutely NEED a fire, pick a campsite that already has a ring.

7. Denuded campsites…from those same people who need a fire every single night, and will strip the bark off trees, hack off branches, and police the ground until there is nothing left but packed dirt. Sorry, but if you want to camp that way, go to a car campground and have the time of your life. In the wilderness, we’d like you to leave no trace.

6. Cutting switchbacks on the trail…because you are cooler than everyone else, and you get to damage the trails all by yourself? Those trails will now erode into ruin, and somebody will have to fix them, instead of doing something more helpful.

5. Carving your initials (or anything else) anywhere in the backcountry. Please. Write your name in yellow snow…but not on anything more permanent than that. We don’t want to know that you’ve been here. That’s the whole point.

4. Leaving stuff behind. I don’t care if your tent leaks, pack it out. If your fleece has a hole in it, pack it out. There is no fun in getting to someplace beautiful and finding that some jerk decided to abandon his or her garbage in it.

3. Fishermen who think that they are special and can leave monofilament, powerbait containers, or other crap along streams and lakeshores. The fish remember this stuff, and so do we.

2. Toilet paper. There is nothing worse than arriving at a beautiful spot and finding the ground and bushes littered with toilet paper the rodents have dug up. Nothing. Pack it out.

1. Habituated wildlife—there is no question about it. The worst thing that can happen to a wild animal is for it to become habituated to humans. A pox on everyone who feeds (intentionally or not---there’s no excuse) or otherwise accustoms a wild animal to humans.


What's on your list?

[Wickett]

On my last trip this young woman brought a department store special sleeping bag. After seeing what we had, she decided that she was going to get a better bag. She also decided that since she didn't need the current sleeping bag anymore that she would burn it. It took all of us to talk her out of that one, then she was going to leave it, we intervened once again. It turned out that the old sleeping bag probably saved her life. It started snowing 15 hours early, (weatherman wrong, never!) and all she had was cotton with no wind breakers. I made her cut a hole in the sleeping bag and wear it poncho style. As is was she still got severe hypothermia and rescue had to be called. That is a story in of itself.

Needless to say, I am pretty sure that she would have had severe frost bite if she made it out at all without that bag.

[orion]

the best time to pick up after fishermen is after a rain. the drops make the line and lures sparkle

[oakroscoe]

I agree with the majority of your list balzac, with the exceptions of the fire every night and horses.

Many nights I cook by fire instead of bring a stove. As for horses, once a year we take a horse trip into the backcountry instead of hiking. It is a nice break, and personally I consider their damage minimal. I know that puts me in the minority here though...