WhiteBlaze Pages 2024
A Complete Appalachian Trail Guidebook.
AVAILABLE NOW. $4 for interactive PDF(smartphone version)
Read more here WhiteBlaze Pages Store

Page 3 of 7 FirstFirst 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 LastLast
Results 41 to 60 of 133
  1. #41
    Registered User Hikes in Rain's Avatar
    Join Date
    10-14-2005
    Location
    Georgia Mountains
    Age
    69
    Posts
    2,196
    Images
    23

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Old Grouse View Post
    Our local chapter of Trout Unlimited collects old Christmas trees and puts them in local rivers to improve the riverine environment for fish.
    Wow, I wish we had such a thing down here. I'd give up my annual torch for such a cause! The best we have is the county turning the trees into free mulch, which isn't such a bad thing.

  2. #42

    Default

    Thanx for the tree ideas. HD and Lowes has old tree drop offs that go to compost and chipped mulch in some counties. Counties and municipalities then provide these materials free to residents. The compost soil can be "black gold" as good or better as store bought compost. After needles have drooped some counties will weight the discarded trees and sink them in reservoirs for fish habitat for bass, crappies, fish forage, etc. As Gator suggested doing on one's own property Wilderness Area and Game Lands sometimes use old Christmas tree piles for small animal habitat.

    Umm, on the AT are growing apple trees and banana 'trees' - Appalachian banana.

  3. #43

    Default

    About 53 years ago my father decided it would be a good thing for me to pick up trash between our house and the neighbor down the road.Every kid should have a chance to do that because there would be no litter anywhere,period.I have never littered anywhere and I do make a point to pack out my tp in a special sanitary bag which gets hung at night with everything else.However,I will cut a briar out of my way when pitching my tarp,hope that's not too extreme.(I figure it will grow back anyway)

  4. #44
    Registered User The Old Chief's Avatar
    Join Date
    09-11-2007
    Location
    Garner, N.C.
    Age
    75
    Posts
    260

    Default

    I have walked on a trail and tossed my orange peel on the ground right off the trail. I was on the Florida Trail standing beside an orange tree with about 50 oranges rotting on the ground around me. They appear to decompose easily in Florida. I've watched deer eating apples, in Grayson Highlands Park not far from the AT, under apple trees. I didn't eat an apple and toss the core but it wouldn't have made a difference to the deer. We used to have a mountain home on an old abandoned farm. There were apple trees everywhere and we were never overrun by wild animals. They ate apples while they were there and then moved on. We live just outside a very big city and deer frequent our home and eat just about every plant we put out, especially hostas. Maybe we shouldn't expose them to such a diet (they seem to like it) but maybe they will hang around our area and not be killed during hunting season in the woods. But I don't leave orange peels on the AT or the MST because they don't belong there. There are sections of the Florida Trail where orange peels don't belong but don't tell the growers!

  5. #45

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by imscotty View Post
    Apple Cores: I toss them where no one is going to see them. Honestly, after a day on the trail I get hungry enough that I can gnaw those things down to a sliver anyway.
    When I passed through Grayson Highlands I was shocked to discover that another hiker, whom I heard complain about hunger, had yogi-ed an apple and was packing out the core. I was so hungry I couldn't fathom throwing away a perfectly good core.

    Dropping stem and seeds don't seem to create the same issues. Just don't try to eat too many of the seeds and never toast them as they can be fatal.

  6. #46

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by The Old Chief View Post
    I have walked on a trail and tossed my orange peel on the ground right off the trail. I was on the Florida Trail standing beside an orange tree with about 50 oranges rotting on the ground around me. They appear to decompose easily in Florida
    Growing up in Miami we had orange trees in our yard. An entire orange will rot, peel and all, but a peel thrown on the ground by itself will just dry out.

  7. #47
    imscotty's Avatar
    Join Date
    11-13-2011
    Location
    North Reading, MA
    Age
    64
    Posts
    1,271
    Images
    7

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by The Old Chief View Post
    I have walked on a trail and tossed my orange peel on the ground right off the trail. I was on the Florida Trail standing beside an orange tree with about 50 oranges rotting on the ground around me. They appear to decompose easily in Florida. I've watched deer eating apples, in Grayson Highlands Park not far from the AT, under apple trees. I didn't eat an apple and toss the core but it wouldn't have made a difference to the deer. We used to have a mountain home on an old abandoned farm. There were apple trees everywhere and we were never overrun by wild animals. They ate apples while they were there and then moved on. We live just outside a very big city and deer frequent our home and eat just about every plant we put out, especially hostas. Maybe we shouldn't expose them to such a diet (they seem to like it) but maybe they will hang around our area and not be killed during hunting season in the woods. But I don't leave orange peels on the AT or the MST because they don't belong there. There are sections of the Florida Trail where orange peels don't belong but don't tell the growers!
    I believe that oranges came from Asia, so they actually do not belong in Florida, even in the orange groves
    “For of all sad words of tongue or pen,
    the saddest are these, 'It might have been.”


    John Greenleaf Whittier

  8. #48

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by imscotty View Post
    I believe that oranges came from Asia, so they actually do not belong in Florida, even in the orange groves
    Think about that. How far should that be taken?

  9. #49
    ME => GA 19AT3 rickb's Avatar
    Join Date
    12-12-2002
    Location
    Marlboro, MA
    Posts
    7,145
    Journal Entries
    1
    Images
    1

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Dogwood View Post
    Think about that. How far should that be taken?
    Is that a rhetorical question?

    Oranges are non-native but are NOT invasive, right?

    And don’t even get me started on apples, and how a lucky seed that manages to take root will almost never bear quality fruit.

  10. #50
    Registered User
    Join Date
    09-08-2006
    Location
    Wilton CT
    Age
    77
    Posts
    1,097

    Default

    John McPhee wrote an interesting book called "Oranges," published in 1967. Not too long and worth reading.
    "It goes to show you never can tell." - Charles Edward Anderson Berry

  11. #51
    Registered User The Old Chief's Avatar
    Join Date
    09-11-2007
    Location
    Garner, N.C.
    Age
    75
    Posts
    260

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by imscotty View Post
    I believe that oranges came from Asia, so they actually do not belong in Florida, even in the orange groves
    But they are actually in Florida and that's an actual fact. Deal with it, cause the orange industry in Florida ain't shutting down any time soon.

  12. #52

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by rickb View Post
    Oranges are non-native but are NOT invasive, right?
    Plant life has been migrating for all of time. But no one is suggesting that it would be ok to start growing new plants along the trail. An orange or banana peel buried near the AT won't grow an orange or banana, but it will provide nutrients to the plants that are already there.

    No environmental damage is done, so this argument really comes down to aesthetics. Just make sure I don't have to see your fruit peelings. Simple as that.

  13. #53

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by FreeGoldRush View Post
    Plant life has been migrating for all of time. But no one is suggesting that it would be ok to start growing new plants along the trail. An orange or banana peel buried near the AT won't grow an orange or banana, but it will provide nutrients to the plants that are already there.

    No environmental damage is done, so this argument really comes down to aesthetics. Just make sure I don't have to see your fruit peelings. Simple as that.
    Backpackers make catholes all the time to deposit their Stools (hopefully they do)---so just dig a cathole to deposit your peels and cores and pits and rinds and egg shells and all else.

  14. #54
    Registered User
    Join Date
    12-28-2015
    Location
    Bad Ischl, Austria
    Age
    66
    Posts
    1,588

    Default

    We usually are very sensitive about dropping anything, even the tiniest piece, around heavily used areas, like along the trail, on summits, lookout points etc.
    Other people do or don't care depending if there is already litter around or not.

    Out in nature (away from trails) I won't hesistate to drop or maybe bury everything thats biodegradeable.

  15. #55
    Registered User
    Join Date
    09-14-2015
    Location
    Fort Wayne, Indiana
    Age
    62
    Posts
    184

    Default

    What about coffee grounds?

    At the home campfire I will make a single cup of cowboy coffee and near the end give it a swish and toss the grounds into my bushes. Would this be okay on the AT or totally inappropriate? Rather than tossing off into the bushes what about burying in my cathole with the other brown stuff?

  16. #56
    Registered User
    Join Date
    12-01-2014
    Location
    bronx
    Age
    61
    Posts
    512

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Kittyslayer View Post
    What about coffee grounds?

    At the home campfire I will make a single cup of cowboy coffee and near the end give it a swish and toss the grounds into my bushes. Would this be okay on the AT or totally inappropriate? Rather than tossing off into the bushes what about burying in my cathole with the other brown stuff?
    I think you opened here a Pandora's box...

  17. #57

    Default

    If a Sasquatch slips on a banana peel on the trail, it's going to come looking for you.

  18. #58

    Default

    I bury my banana peels 50 feet under the ground.

  19. #59

    Default

    I throw them as far off the trail as I can.

  20. #60

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by gpburdelljr View Post
    If a Sasquatch slips on a banana peel on the trail, it's going to come looking for you.
    It was the plan all along, bait him with Jack Links jerky and point and laugh when he slips and falls.

Page 3 of 7 FirstFirst 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 LastLast
++ New Posts ++

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •