Do you discard food on the trail?

[Pencil Pusher]

Do you chuck those banana or orange peels while on the trail? How about watermelon rinds or sunflower seed shells? Or just food in general? Do you figure the insects, animals and weather will make short work of it?

[Jaybird]

PencilPusher:

I've done both...discarded the peels & rinds & shells...but, lately..have packed it out.


If you're gonna live by the LNT rules...pack it out!

[Mr. Clean]

I have thrown rinds, peels, etc way off trail out of sight, but I agree with Jaybird and now pack most everything out.

[SGT Rock]

I bury them under the duff.

[Alligator]

Interesting question, does anyone even pack bananas or watermelon? Bananas-too squishy. Watermelon, well you would be trail angel of the month if you hauled that out to a shelter. I have always wanted to dehydrate one though. But to your question, the only thing I don't pack out are pistachio shells. These are thrown into the fire. No fire and I pack them out too. I don't typically pack any fresh fruit, except maybe an orange or avocado (Hass, not those big smooth Fl ones). Sometimes a tomato. Oranges are sturdy, and the others i put inside my sierra cup for protection. Otherwise dried fruit keeps better, such as apricots or pineapple.

[Kerosene]

If I carry it in, I carry it out (although I might burn paper if I'm confident that there is not aluminum in there and a fire is handy). Now that I think about, I don't carry out my bodily "outputs", even though you could say I packed some of that in.

[Connie]

I am considering taking dog-poop containers, for my poop !

I think orange peels, and such, are not what I want to see in nature.

I carry a trash compacter bag, for packing out my own trash and the trash other people leave behind. There are places my trash bag just isn't big enough.

[Tim Rich]

I haul out everything except the sunflower shells, although I'm quite accurate with them and only spit them in leki holes...

In fact, I founded S.H.E.L.L.S. - Sunflower Husks Enhancing Leki-Loosened Soil. Yep, founded it just now...

[smokymtnsteve]

I haul out everything except the sunflower shells, although I'm quite accurate with them and only spit them in leki holes...

In fact, I founded S.H.E.L.L.S. - Sunflower Husks Enhancing Leki-Loosened Soil. Yep, founded it just now...

You are my HERO!

[steve hiker]

I rarely throw away any food while hiking, but not because of LNT or environmental concerns. At least not in the East, where the moisture and animals (large and microscopic) will make short work of it.

As a practical matter, I do not throw away any food while hiking -- I eat it! However last winter someone left a large sausage at a shelter, and I carried it a half mile away then threw it as far as I could from the trail, into the snow. Didn't want to encourage varmints to come around the shelter looking for food.

[SalParadise]

Cleaning your cookpot and chucking the wash-water is tossing food. But fruit rinds I'll definitely chuck. I'll throw it far from a shelter or wouldn't just drop it on the Trail of course, but since when is compost bad for the environment?

[NotYet]

Basic outdoor skills...If I pack it in, I pack it out.

I have come across an apple tree along the trail, plucked an apple and tossed its core (if I didn't feel like eating that, too). But, I have yet to come across any orange trees in these parts! Therefore, I believe that their peels are not a positive addition to these woods and should definitely be carried out.

P.S. I can't imagine that peanut and sunflower shells weigh so much that people can't carry them out...they weighed more when they were full!

[Pencil Pusher]

P.S. I can't imagine that... sunflower shells weigh so much that people can't carry them out...they weighed more when they were full!

It just makes life simpler to stick a bunch in your mouth and spit each shell out as you walk along.

[NotYet]

I take "de-shelled" nuts & seeds in the woods with me because it's less hassle...but I do remember that I used to just eat the shells as a kid. It added that thrilling crunch I always loved so much!

[saimyoji]

An interesting idea has been raised here. The seeds from the various fruit/foods we carry on the trail have the potential to take root and grow and cause problems. I'm not suggesting that banana or orange trees will become a problem high up on the ridge, or that tomato plants will begin sprouting all around, but the point remains valid. Anything we bring in has potential to screw with the ecosystem. That includes seeds in feces.

[RITBlake]

I once humped a whole cantelope 7 miles from salisbury CT up to the next shelter. But, I admit.... I threw the scrap off in to the woods.

Now I know better.

The cantelope was great!

[Youngblood]

I once humped a whole cantelope 7 miles from salisbury CT up to the next shelter. But, I admit.... I threw the scrap off in to the woods.

Now I know better.

The cantelope was great!

Say what? There are some things I'd rather not know about.

[PKH]

You humped a cantelope? Until there were only scraps left? Oh God, that is too sick for me.

Cheers,

PKH

[HikeLite]

New movie coming out called American Cantelope.

[peter_pan]

Banannas work... ...but carry the peels out....I was proud of KIWI GA-ME 03 for his LNT dedication to fresh fruit and the environment.

Talking pot rinse water....Leave the detergent out....rinse, reduce residue to floatsam and drink it..... you need the calories.... the shelter habitat does not need any one anyone feeding the critters!!!!

If this thought bothers you...put in water, heat it some (makes it a more effective rinse anyway) and drink the "thin warm soup".