Trail Etiquette

Your camping site is really nice, and the "5 Rules" are fine. It's a shame some folks (unfortunately) are clueless about keeping the wilderness pristine.

I happen to recall many years ago to be camping with my wife (somewhere about 100 miles south of St. Louis) and being startled by the next group over playing Jimi Hendrix at an ear splitting psychedelic volume. I'm not sure if the local wildlife ever recovered, perhaps they just joined the band. I do know it didn't make a good impression on my wife!

Gary M

Olathe, Kansas

That's priceless. I would have been very upset. Hopefully it didn't last late into the night.

Thanks for the feedback on my site also.

1. Plan ahead and prepare: Poorly prepared people, when presented with unexpected situations, often resort to high-impact solutions that degrade the outdoors or put themselves at risk. Proper planning leads to less impact.

Amen. Ran into this big time last year at a small pristine lake my wife and I like to visit every year. We ran into 4 of what I assume were high school boys on their apparently first "big trip" about a mile and a half below the lake. By the time we got to the lake, the weather was closing in quickly and barely got the fly on the tent before copious amounts of precip, both liquid and solid forms, began to fall. Those snot nosed kids showed up on the other side of the lake and proceeded to build a large fire ring and fire. But apparently that wasn't enough for them so they cut down a dozen trees and built another fire. After they departed the next morning, without bothering to put out either fire, we went over, extinguished the fires, dismantled the fire rings, and cleaned up the trash, including a hand written note apparently from one of their mothers on how to re-hydrate a meal. Unfortunately, the trees are a bit more difficult to replace. They didn't have a clue as to what wilderness is all about.

This fire was on duff and burned about a foot deep

We dug it up and then back filled it

We also cleaned up around a couple more small fire rings and dismantled them but those were orders of magnitude less of a mess than the work of those 4 boys. While I encourage people to experience wilderness for no other reason than it brings more support, there are definitely some people that shouldn't be allowed there.

There was only one aspect of the leave no trace mission version I saw several years ago that I did not agree with. I do not believe in camping on pristine ground if a nearby open [legal] site that will never recover without being placed off limits is available. I believe a concentration of impact and avoiding further impacts serves many areas very well.

All in all the concept is wonderful. Although I sometimes have fires in infrequently traveled expanse just leaving footprints and taking photos is more than enough reward. Gypsies really know how to have a fire and then leave virtually no trace of it. Thinking of the next visitor is the right thing to do. Around here if you leave bear food of any kind you just might kill a future visitor.

In more than 40 years I've found almost everyone on the trail is good natured. I pursue solitude but love the abundance of decency when I do come across others.

grizzled....................

I'll say what many other TG readers are thinking. That is, a great big thank you to you and your wife for your concern and service to the wilderness.

Again, the vast majority of outdoors enthusiast are great people, who just naturally follow the Leave No Trace principles. For the most part, it's just good common sense and manners. Unfortunately, we've all also been a witness to those few who recklessly (intentionally or otherwise) damage the wilderness experience for everyone else. This type of behavior saddens and frustrates me.

Thank you again for your service!

Gary M

Olathe, Kansas

grizzled....................

I'll say what many other TG readers are thinking. That is, a great big thank you to you and your wife for your concern and service to the wilderness.

Again, the vast majority of outdoors enthusiast are great people, who just naturally follow the Leave No Trace principles. For the most part, it's just good common sense and manners. Unfortunately, we've all also been a witness to those few who recklessly (intentionally or otherwise) damage the wilderness experience for everyone else. This type of behavior saddens and frustrates me.

Thank you again for your service!

Gary M

Olathe, Kansas

By the way......................

I hope you may please forgive me if I temporarily step into a subject area perhaps outside the standard TrailGroove concept. So............

What can we learn from incidents such as the one described by grizzled? What are the factors you have noticed when you witnessed environmental abuse on the trail? I would suggest the following three points:

1. The abuse was done by young(er) people. For the most part, I have not seen more experienced people on the trail who did not respect the wilderness.

2. It was done by a group of people, and not a lone hiker or two person hiking/backpacking team. People sometimes do things while in a group setting that they would not do on their own.

3. Often, use of alcohol is involved. I do not drink so perhaps I am biased. But again, obviously people act differently while under the influence of alcohol than they normally would.

Perhaps I am just guilty of making over-generalizations..........but this is what I have seen in my experience.

Gary M

Olathe, Kansas

All those things are annoying, I agree. Aside from causing permanent or long term damage, my biggest pet peeve is this: I hate when people are on their cellphones on speakerphone on a trail.

It is especially annoying when I'm leading a guided hike and it's a person on the hike.

By the way......................

I hope you may please forgive me if I temporarily step into a subject area perhaps outside the standard TrailGroove concept. So............

What can we learn from incidents such as the one described by grizzled? What are the factors you have noticed when you witnessed environmental abuse on the trail? I would suggest the following three points:

1. The abuse was done by young(er) people. For the most part, I have not seen more experienced people on the trail who did not respect the wilderness.

2. It was done by a group of people, and not a lone hiker or two person hiking/backpacking team. People sometimes do things while in a group setting that they would not do on their own.

3. Often, use of alcohol is involved. I do not drink so perhaps I am biased. But again, obviously people act differently while under the influence of alcohol than they normally would.

Perhaps I am just guilty of making over-generalizations..........but this is what I have seen in my experience.

Gary M

Olathe, Kansas

I find item 3 is usually only a problem where motorized use is allowed. Not to many of those folks are willing to pack a case/keg of beer anywhere they can't drive to. Frankly, my wife and I enjoy a glass of red wine with dinner, be it with Mountain House dinners and the MSR stove or on the dinning room table. We usually take some along on shorter trips where weight and space aren't critical factors.

I think my number one backcountry bitch is people that can not be bothered properly dealing with that very personal waste-but at least most of that usually degrades over a year or two. Fire rings are pretty much forever unless time is taken to dismantle them.

My other bitch is what some commercial packers get away with. Nothing compares to a couple dozen horses to lay waste to wilderness camp site, figuratively or otherwise.

Going along with the leave no trace... another big one would be make sure to stay on the trail as much as possible. I can't remember the exact numbers but if you walk through short grass it takes something like 5-10 years before it goes back to exactly to the way it was before someone tromped through it. When you get into tall grass above the knee I think the number becomes something like 20-30 years before it fully recovers. Just from walking through it ONCE. If 10 people do that even in one season it can really damage the area. So just make sure to try and avoid going off of the trail if it is unnecessary.