View Full Version : garbage; or pack it in, pack it out
daveinmuncy
12-16-2003, 18:53
I've camped and hiked a fair amount, and I've always burned my garbage (when practical) or carried out the refuse. This is easy on a weekend hike. What do you do with garbage on a thruhike?
Rain Man
12-16-2003, 19:05
I've camped and hiked a fair amount, and I've always burned my garbage (when practical) or carried out the refuse. This is easy on a weekend hike. What do you do with garbage on a thruhike?
You haul it out ... and if you're good, you haul out any litter you see along the way too.
I've heard thru-hiking described as a bunch of weekend hikes strung together. That might be a poor description, or not, but the idea is the same so far as garbage is concerned, I think. You only have to haul it for a day or two, just like on your weekend hikes.
I have never, ever seen burning work. Indeed, I have hauled out lots of garbage that others had burned and abandoned in fire pits, even cans and aluminum foil (which obviously don't really burn at all).
Rain Man
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Footslogger
12-16-2003, 19:11
No ifs, ands or buts about it ...pack it out with you. Nothing more disgusting than to hike into a shelter area and find left over food, food wrappers and plastic bags laying around. Saw quite a bit of that this year on the trail and it really ticked me off.
I'm not much for making a big deal about things but in my opinion a hiker who leaves their garbage behind is just plain lazy and inconsiderate.
i AGREE with Footsloger. I pick up trash all along trails (&firepits) My dog carries most of it out.
No ifs, ands or buts about it ...pack it out with you. Nothing more disgusting than to hike into a shelter area and find left over food, food wrappers and plastic bags laying around... but in my opinion a hiker who leaves their garbage behind is just plain lazy and inconsiderate.
I think of many more disgusting things than trash at a shelter. For example, the smell that comes out of my shoes when I take them off. Lots of stuff gets left at a shelter (or at campsites) and I was continually amused at what junk people haul into the backcountry and then don't haul out. I do try to take a little extra with me if I'm going to be crossing a road that day (with a trash can) or on my last day out. If you are going to burn your garbage, make sure it will actually burn. Foil does not burn. Cans do not burn. My shoes won't burn without a really big fire.
smokymtnsteve
12-17-2003, 10:52
and most packaging WON"T burn...at leat not completely...even if it looks like paper a lot of packaging is plastic or foil lined that doesn't burn...
best just to pack it all out...
chris have you tried hanging your shoes like a bear bag????
I like the roof of the shelter, in the full sun.
smokymtnsteve
12-17-2003, 11:07
those hot tin roofs are a good place to dry your socks and shirt too...
solar powered clothes dryers they are...
daveinmuncy
12-21-2003, 21:38
Hey guys, I don't leave garbage in the woods either. Not ever. I've camped for a week in the Wind River range and in the Bighorn Mountains (in Wyoming) on two different occasions, and in Canada (La Verendrye Provincial Wildlife Reserve) for a week as well; in the Adirondacks, and on the Loyalsock Trail in Pennsylvania. Also in the Chattahooche National Forest in Georgia/ South Carolina, and the Shining Rock and the Middle Prong Wildernesses in North Carolina. I've NEVER left anything in the woods. (Sorry, that was NOT intended to be a resume!) But that was easier to manage, because you can repackage food in your house or basecamp/hotel before you go.
What I meant was, what is the easiest way to get garbage out? Smell/sanitary concerns? Should I bring extra ziploc bags to hold the refuse? Do you put empty food bags/garbage in your bear bag? Or is it better to hang 2 bear bags, one with your food and another with your garbage?
rainmaker
12-21-2003, 23:01
My wife and I are long distance section hikers . Our method for waste management is to bag each days meals ( minus lunch and snacks ) in individual gallon ziplocks. Once a bag is emptied , it becomes a trash bag or is put to some other temporary use . Eventually it will also become trash . We hang our trash along with our food and have never had a problem. Lucky I guess.
What I meant was, what is the easiest way to get garbage out? Smell/sanitary concerns? Should I bring extra ziploc bags to hold the refuse? Do you put empty food bags/garbage in your bear bag? Or is it better to hang 2 bear bags, one with your food and another with your garbage?
First, reduce packaging before you go.
Second, eat it up.
Third, I usually carry an extra plastic bag for trash and refuse. And yes, I put the trash up with the rest of my food. I don't want critters making a mess out of it anymore than I want them making a mess out of my food. But I don't carry a second bear bag. After reducing packaging, I usually don't have much trash to pack out.
RagingHampster
12-22-2003, 09:55
I use a doubled ziplock to haul out my junk, and try to minimize what junk I can create before getting on the trail. I also pick up wrappers and such that I find along the way. Lazy Bastards.
Poop on the other hand, does not go into my bag. It stays in a 6" cathole with my used TP.
hungryhowie
12-22-2003, 10:55
I've camped and hiked a fair amount, and I've always burned my garbage (when practical) or carried out the refuse. This is easy on a weekend hike. What do you do with garbage on a thruhike?
- Reduce packaging before leaving. I pack any freeze-dried meals in a simple quart-sized freezer ziplock. Then I put several of these into a gallon ziplock. I stuff my days trash into one of the smaller ones, and as the build up, simply stuff them into a larger one.
-don't burn your trash - this only releases toxins into the soil and air. And trash isn't any larger or heavier than the food that was there to begin with. What's the need to burn?
- pick up all trash that you can while in the backcountry.
- take only pictures, leave only footprints
-Howie
Rain Man
12-22-2003, 11:25
- don't burn your trash - this only releases toxins into the soil and air. And trash isn't any larger or heavier than the food that was there to begin with. What's the need to burn?
- pick up all trash that you can while in the backcountry.
Howie,
Thank you, thank you, thank you, for saying these things!
Not only have I seen garbage along the trail, but I've also seen hikers walk right by it rather than pick it up. Seems to me both contribute to that litter being along the trail for the next guy.
Rain Man
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hungryhowie
12-22-2003, 13:39
Howie,
Thank you, thank you, thank you, for saying these things!
Not only have I seen garbage along the trail, but I've also seen hikers walk right by it rather than pick it up. Seems to me both contribute to that litter being along the trail for the next guy.
Rain Man
.
I did a short AT section hike this summer and picked up about 2-3 pounds of trash (not heavy stuff either!) per every 4-5 days. I had ziplocks and pockets full of wrappers, bite valves, beer cans (burned and unburned), trekking pole tips, cotton socks, etc... everytime I came out of the woods. Man, some people are pigs. It really makes me feel ashamed.
I remember one day when I did the LT in 2001 hiking and picking up a bite-sized Snicker's wrapper every quarter mile or so for a couple of hours (where are all of these things coming from!). Eventually, I caught up to a troop of boyscouts, and saw the troop leader in the back throwing them on the ground as he went - aparently, if no one's looking, it's all right to litter...
I'm sure I've dropped a few wrappers in the woods in my time, but I try my best to unbalance the scale as far to the other side as possible.
LNT
-Howie