Posted on 02/07/2012 5:54:01 AM PST by SJackson
Maybe they should just cut attendance by 20%? /sarc.
This is a good move in my opinion.
If people weren’t generally ‘trashy’ and took out what they brought in, this wouldn’t be necessary.
Having walked a lot of miles in National Forests I can tell you the “Leave no trace behind” concept is hard for some to grasp.
Some will carry a plastic water bottle a few miles into the woods - drink it - and then just drop it beside the trail.
And don’t get me started on steel cans and glass bottles in fire pits.
I’m no libby tree hugger but damn folks carry out your trash.
Maybe they will sell Nalgene bottles. And people will use them once for their visit and then toss them.
PC run utterly amok.
I agree.
I was there in 2010 and while it was pretty clean, I still saw the occasional water battle or other trash laying around. I don't understand who does this. I suspect this really won't have much affect on the trash left behind as people will just pack it in and leave it anyway.
This will save on trash volume but kill tourists, as inadequately prepared hikers who can't buy last minute water bottles hit the trail with insufficient water and an assumption that they will be fine since it's a cool day. I imagine the Obama Administration considers that a net win.
That’s just brilliant. I guess they don’t care that visitors will be dropping from dehydration on the trails in the summertime because they couldn’t buy a stinkin’ bottle of water for their hike.
“Free water stations are available throughout the park to allow visitors to fill reusable water bottles.”
Stupidity is a person’s right I guess should they choose to head out without water.
It’s kind of interesting when you long-distance hike. You’ll find an inner circle that’s about as far in as lazy folks will go, and the trash extends from there to the road. You hardly need a map to know that you’re coming close to a trailhead. Fortunately, these folks generally don’t get too far into the back country, as their laziness to carry trash out generally extends to their laziness to walk too far.
That kind of mentality has pretty much destroyed the Appalachian Trail. As most of it is within the reaches of roads and towns, it’s become one long trash line from Georgia to Maine.
I ended my volunteerism with the NPS when the idiots made me register my Civil War single shot black powder pistol just so I could perform living history at a park.
This pushes one of my buttons.
Many of us are of an environmental-preservation mindset - but we are not "Environmentalists" as defined by society at large. Reduce pollution? carry out your trash? preserve wilderness? minimal impact? green power? heck yeah! To the detriment of humanity? in accordance with Leftist principles? no way!
We need a term which captures the essence of "right-wing environmentalism" without invoking watermelons.
I agree. I use a Camelback waterpack and haul in my own. Folks should probably bring a Katadyn or MSR filter if they need more and just process it from streams and lakes on the trail if necessary.
I prefer the term “Conservation”.
You can bring refillable bottles. There are water stations to fill the bottles. We were just at the Grand Canyon last summer and this is what we did.
My boys and I did a 14 mile overnight hike in the smoky mountains. The first 3 was fairly well traveled and clean. I don’t recall seeing any trash.
At about mile 3 a few pieces started to appear. I picked up some on the way back out but was pretty beat so the single tennis show laying in the middle of the trail is probably still there.
So they’re not gonna sell water, but are they going to sell Coca Cola and Gatorade????????????????
But the trails in Grand Canyon are not low-impact areas. You're gonna see litter.
And this does nothing to alleviate those who bring in the bottled water in their cars, which I imagine are a lot of the visitors.
I just see this as PC run amok while ignoring the issue of folks getting dehydrated while hiking. Put a deposit and stamp on the water bottles sold in the park and folks will bring them to you if they are left by the trail. If a bottle by the trail wasn't sold by the park, this regulation wouldn't have had any effect anyway.
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