Tags
Angeles National Forest, camping, Heaton Flats, hiking, leave no trace, LNT, mountains, nature, outdoor ethics, outdoors, trash, waste
First there was graffiti that flooded the area now this: last weekend I was absolutely appalled at the trash around Heaton Flats campground in Angeles National Forest in the San Gabriel mountains. Trash was everywhere! Below are some pictures I took of the waste left behind…Hasn’t anyone ever heard of LNT- Leave No Trace?! Leave No Trace is an organization that teaches people of all ages outdoor ethics. You should respect mother nature and leave it the way it was before you got there! If everyone can do me, you, and planet Earth a favor and pick up at least one piece of trash that ISN”T yours the next time your out, that would be a huge help! Visit www.LNT.org for the latest news and recent results in outdoor ethics and let’s keep planet Earth clean! Please feel free to share your thoughts on this issue!
Happy Camping… and CLEANING!
Girly Camping® 
Absolutely true – clean up after yourself! We have come across a campsite that was littered with used toilet paper, despite drop toilets being provided about 100metres away. And of course the bad habit of throwing into firepits, things that won’t burn, like bottles and metal caps….so little respect for the environment and fellow campers.
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The inlet right by my house is the same, it makes me so upset.
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That’s LA for you. We don’t have it nearly as bad here in Colorado. People amazingly do pick up after themselves. Not 100% at all but it’s much cleaner here.
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One of my pet peeves is the trash so many people leave behind, thank you for trying to do something about it!
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It is the same the world over. I tweeted recently about how bad littering has become and received a comment from Spain saying it was as bad there. I walk my local villgae picking up litter and it never ceases to amaze me what people throw away. Thank you for posting this but I think that all of your followers are like minded when it comes to trash. We do not leave it behind.
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We always leave our campsites cleaner than we found them, and we practice low impact camping as much as possible. We’ve got to make sure the woods and forests, rivers and creaks, peaks and valleys stay pristine and beautiful for our children to enjoy as we have gotten to.
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When we find trash on a trail we first always curse whomever was so selfish then we take it out with us. Great post, it’s a good reminder we all make a difference.
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That makes me sick! When we go camping we are always vigilant about picking up our trash – and the trash others left behind, too. It’s just the responsible thing to do!
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It amazes me that people can be like this. We are at our home property now – still living in the camper – but at our last park – as beautiful as it was there was trash and it was appalling! Every time I took the dog for a walk, I was picking things up that someone else had left behind. I don’t mind doing it, but that it was there was upsetting!
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Girl Scouts always leave their campsite “cleaner than we found it”.
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I regularly pack other peoples’ trash out. But Washingtonians generally tend to be more mindful of this stuff than LA people. 😉
Honestly, it annoys the hell out of me to hike ten miles in to a camp in a beautiful alpine meadow, or at the snout of a glacier, and find plastic forks, or whatever else it is.
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Reblogged this on nerdysheep and commented:
ALWAYS PRACTICE LNT!
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Great message. It seems these days, no matter how far afield you wander, someone has left a mark. “Pack out what you pack in” or LNT isn’t that hard to apply. Thanks for the post.
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Most campgrounds and trails are pretty clean in Idaho, but one thing I don’t understand that brings the flies and stench (and maybe someone will explain it and hint at my stupidity) that makes me ask: WHY DON’T HORSE OWNERS CLEAN UP THEIR HORSE SHIT or USE HORSE DIAPERS? There’s always signs and even bag drop-offs for dog owners, but for some reason, horses almost seem allowed to ruin trails.
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Sad…we have plenty of trash leaving their trash around here too…
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Great reminder – hope the ones that litter get the message. Campsite or village or urban downtown – nothing is improved by your trash being left on the ground.
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I was hiking in a state park last week and saw a boy in a youth group vandalizing the viewing platform for a waterfall, and his youth pastor was right there watching him not saying a word! It was appalling. He did stop when he saw the look of death I was giving him but most of the damage had already been done. I just can’t believe some people.
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Absolutely well said!
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There is absolutely no excuse for littering out in the country side. I think that such behaviour says a lot about a person.
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Some time ago I was a wilderness fishing guide in Yellowstone NP. I had afirm and fast rule that everything carried in was carried out, PLUS one additional piece of trash. By the end of my fourth summer, it was difficult to find any trash in my favorite area. If everyone would use the Plus 1 idea, It would be a clean outdoors. Keep on Bloggin, you’re great.
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Pants?! Grossssssss! I’m embarassed to be human…
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I pick up trash (‘litter’ or ‘rubbish’ to us Brits) whilst out walking and running. Trash in wild areas in the UK is upsetting, although there isn’t usually much, thank God. I agree with ‘Leave No Trace +’.
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Don’t know why people leave trash in beautiful, remote places! Thanks for raising awareness.
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I’ve found a few atrocities in our less maintained Forest Service campgrounds in Nevada. One particular remote campsite had garbage in almost every fire ring, complete with buzzing flies. Made site selection tough! We try to leave our campsite cleaner than we found it, picking up little bits of plastic and bottle caps, burning things like cigarette butts.
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My husband and I were both in the Army. When we camped regularly, I always made our kids do police call before we left – that meant picking up everything – cigarette butts, pop tops, bits of plastic, whatever. Now my kids are grown and my husband and I do a lot of hiking with our dogs. We always carry a plastic sack in our backpack so we can pick up trash we find. Where we are in Michigan, there are a lot of ATVers and they seem to have little respect for the land. They can manage to haul their oil containers and such into the trails, but then leave the empties behind in the woods when they leave! Grrrrrr
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Like novelwriter2013, we also take a plastic bag with us when we hike and usually when we return it is at least half full. We try to leave our campsite cleaner than we found it. It never ceases to amaze us that people will go out in nature and think nothing of cluttering it up with “unnatural” things.
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Reblogged this on the akoonah bus and commented:
It’s similar here in the UK, people need to take their rubbish with them.
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There’s a phrase here in the UIK which goes, ‘Take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints’. Campsites are usually pretty clean, its the unmanaged areas where people leave far too much trace.
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We’ve just been camping in Yosemite and Lake Tahoe. Both places beautifully clean. Spectacular Yosemite – We left just before the fires began. Hope it’s all under control now.
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