[pct-l] Empty Water Caches All Over So Cal. & trash

[Dcsmith36 at aol.com]

I had to laugh reading about the weight savings of ejecting  your trash along 
the trail. Very funny!!
 
This summer ( July 14) my youngest son and I were  hiking the PCT through the 
Goat Rocks.
At the McCall Basin cut-off there was a HUGE black bag full of  garbage left 
by a group of (Boo Hiss!!) horse campers.  At least that's who  I believe left 
it, because the bag was stuffed with glass bottles, paper plates,  Styrofoam 
cups, watermelon rinds etc...
 
It was very disgusting, right beside the trail & we noted  it sadly as we 
passed by.
 
I told the Forest Service about the bag of garbage when I  returned home, 
expecting them to send someone with a horse or something to pick  it up.
 
The next time my kids and I went back (July  26) the bag was still there, 
same place beside the  trail. We walked by, shaking our heads in wonder at how 
the worlds natural  beauty  can be diminished by just one group of slobs.  We 
wondered in  shame at how many hundreds of people would walk by this bag of 
garbage out in  the middle of no where, and how embarrassing this was.
 
On our way back out several days later, we again passed by the  bag and I 
couldn't take it any more!!  I picked it up and carried it at  arms length, 
drippy smelly stuff spattering down the sides. Yuck. I alternated  arms until I 
couldn't carry it any further.
 
I stashed the sorry mess by Lutz Lake (swamp/pond) in the camp  spot there, 
kind of out of site from the trail, but easy to find when and if the  Forest 
Service ever sent anyone out to get it. 
 
I felt that semi-hiding it was better than just letting it sit  by the trail, 
and I didn't have the strength or stomach to carry it and my pack  the five 
and a half miles to the trail head (1118).
At least this way, the majority of the people hiking by  wouldn't have to be 
offended by it.
 
I again contacted the USFS and they promised they would send  someone out to 
get it.
 
Fast forward to last weekend, Saturday. A full month and a  half after I 
first ran across the bag, I took a day hike back to the area with  an empty pack, 
some rope and an extra-heavy duty garbage bag.
 
I had a hunch.
 
Sure enough, the bag was still there, tucked away in the  corner of the 
campsite.  I smiled to myself and looked inside (morbid  curiosity, ok?). I had to 
laugh, because now, in addition the paper plates etc  from the horse campers ( 
Boo Hiss!!) , the was an extensive collection of  empty freeze dried food 
packages!!
 
What a hoot!!
 
My assumption is that the people who camped there thought that  there must be 
"garbage service" at the camp spot, because there was a bag  there!! Either 
that, or they were just being opportunists and guilt-free  shedding a couple 
ounces of trash.
 
Needles to say, I double bagged the whole sloppy mess, tied it  to my pack 
and headed on down the trail.  The few people I met coming up  the trail were 
very cool about the whole thing, or maybe didn't even  notice.  I thought I 
looked like a back woods weed grower at harvest time,  but who knows what they 
thought of me?
 
Hint: FREEK!!
 
Peace Out
 
Daniel



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