With the new day breaking, I walked the bank of the Pere Marquette, looking for my first honey hole of the morning. It was beautiful – the sun’s rays bouncing off the banks, bringing new life to the early spring forage – but, as I walked along, something on the trail ahead caught my eye.
WTF?
A beer can. And another beer can. I hate trash!
It amazes me as to how little respect some people have for their natural resources. Apparently, since they don’t take their mom with them everywhere they go, they don’t know enough to pick up after themselves. And with their lack of respect for such a pristine stretch of river, I can only imagine what their home or vehicle looks like. It has gotten to the point that I have started to carry a plastic bag in my backpack, just for such an occasion. But, honestly, some of the things I’ve seen wouldn’t even fit in my backpack; there was that much trash.
It sickens me.
I truly do not understand not picking up after yourself, whether it be on a pristine waterway such as the Pere Marquette, your favorite local fishing lake, or your favorite hunting spot. Just pick up after yourself!
I always have trash in my backpack, whether it’s picked up while walking the trail or it’s my own from the day’s packed lunch and/or snack. And my tackle box was a mess for quite some time, because of some leftover fishing line that I had put inside it; I didn’t want it to get caught up on some unsuspecting waterfowl, or person for that matter (If you don’t think it can happen, check this out).
So, please, if you’re one of them, try picking up after yourself.
And, even if you don’t leave your trash lying around, do your favorite outdoor place a favor and pick up what you can while you’re there.
Sometimes we just have to be other people’s parents.
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Drives me nuts too. When I go kayaking on the local lake, I will spend easily half of my time picking up floating trash.
And you know how their cars look? Clean, because they left all their trash out in Mother Nature. Jerks. Just like the people who empty their car ashtrays in parking lots.
You just hit on my biggest pet peeve… EVER.
It infuriates me that people can’t take a moment to pick up their crap and take it out with them. I mean really, if you were able to pack in a full six-pack, you should be more than able to pack out the empty cans or bottles.
And cigarette butts… there’s a special place in hell for people who think the rest of us live in their personal ash tray.
Like you, I often clean up… especially when I’m at a trailhead and the truck (and my supply of garbage bags) is handy. I’ve gotten a little less consistent about it in the backcountry, because it gets so overwhelming and it’s hard to sneak up on a deer or hog with a pack full of cellophane, crushed beer cans, and a couple of empty bottles.
I meant I often clean up behind other folks… I do my best to ALWAYS clean up behind myself.
I think its actually better here than it was in the 70′s and 80′S in the wilderness. Where I notice the mess is on my morning walks along the road. It amazes me how much trash gets thrown out of windows. It just is unconcieveable why people do it, they can’t enjoy the result, can they?
It is an offense to the land, wildlife, and others when we disrespect our natural living spaces. We do need to continue the campaign to keep man-made junk from cluttering up the whole ecosystem.
Thank you for doing your part in removing others trash.
Another display of lack of respect is bullet holes in signs. I often see that at local public hunting land parking lots. It makes all hunter’s look bad.