Do you always pack out the trash you find on hikes/climbs?

I always pack out what I pack in, but these days, I almost never pack out other people's trash.  I just got sick of it, and it's not always convenient or easy to carry other people's garbage.  Does this add to the already-long list of reasons why I should commit suicide...uh...I mean reasons why I'm a bad person?

And what is it with those stupid little bags of dog poop on the side of the trail?  Does anyone ever collect those?

I'm hoping we get some neck-meat comments from Aleks our climbing friend on this one.

Thought to ask after seeing this: https://www.mountainproject.com/v/106159444

I usually do, but I'm not 100%. Packed out all the trash I saw when I took the family hiking on Tue. People drive me nuts. 

I take with me whatever I'm willing to take.  Typically that means i'll take bottles and caps that fit in my bag, but not messy stuff or broken glass.  The best plan is one you're willing to do.

Not taking other people's trash definitely does not make you a bad person.  It's not your fault it's there and not your duty to pick up.  But it does make you good if you do pick it up.

Always? No, I would lie if I said always.

Sometimes I just don't have anything to carry the trash out, because my bag is full, or the stuff looks too gross to pack out without gloves. But I do have a trash bag, and if I see something at the crag or on the hike, I would bag it, if it fits into my trash bag.

And I admit I walked past the dog poop bags an the trail (charitably thinking that this is the case where the dog pooped on the hike in, the bag was left there because the dog owner didn't want to carry the bag with them all the way up to the crag, but bagged it to protect people from stepping in the shit, and will collect the bag on the hike out).

Amongst other less graphic descriptive names i am called, i am known as 'the garbage man'. I pack out everything i see other than TP, bandages (including tape) and women's hygiene products (you would be amazed). I believe we owe it to ourselves and our environment to school those who don't know better, set an example to those who should, and do what little we can to mitigate our impact on the places we love to visit.

Here ends the sermon.

And i won't clean up after your dog.

Lena chita wrote:

And I admit I walked past the dog poop bags an the trail (charitably thinking that this is the case where the dog pooped on the hike in, the bag was left there because the dog owner didn't want to carry the bag with them all the way up to the crag, but bagged it to protect people from stepping in the shit, and will collect the bag on the hike out).

I went bouldering recently at Mt. Sanitas in Boulder and there were dozens of little dog poop bags lying along the trail. 

No way I was going to carry them out. But I do often carry out other people's trash if it's not anything too nasty

Jim Fox wrote:

I went bouldering recently at Mt. Sanitas in Boulder and there were dozens of little dog poop bags lying along the trail. 

Who does this?................ 

Fortunately most climbing areas that I visit are kept in pretty good shape, so I'll only find occasional wrappers or bottles that are easy to pack out.  But I don't touch the dog poop bags. Nothing annoys me more than seeing a bag of poop left right in the middle of the trail, even if the perpetrator is planning to pick it up on the way out. People should either carry it with them, or put it somewhere less obvious than right on the trail if the plan is to carry it out later. Temporary litter is still litter. 

Unfortunately there are certain areas where I don't even try to pick up garbage .....for example the parking area/shooting range/dump where you park at the Valley of Zion in Utah's West Desert. An army of people could pick up trash for days and probably still only put a dent in what is on the ground out there.

John Barritt wrote:

Who does this?................ 

Generally....assholes.   Or iaf's, I'll let you decifer.

John Barritt wrote:

Who does this?................ 

There are lots of dog walkers and casual hikers on this trail. I don't think the boulderers are leaving them

Jim Fox wrote:

There are lots of dog walkers and casual hikers on this trail. I don't think the boulderers are leaving them

I've called people on it and they always insist they are going to get it on the way back. Clearly lots of people forget.

John Barritt wrote:

Who does this?................ 

I've wondered that as well, and recently I got a partial answer. A climbing partner of mine has a dog, and if the dog craps near the start of the approach hike, she sometimes leaves the bag and makes a mental note to get it on the way back, which she always has, at least with me.

I would guess most of the people leaving the bags are just assholes, but maybe a few are from people with good intentions who forgot.

The more remote the location or the farther I am from the trailhead, the more likely I am to carry trash out. Closer to the car and on popular trails, it just seems to be pretty hopeless now.

most of the time if its lying around close to where I am at,  and not messy I will stuff it in my bag.. I don't go searching around the crag for it. 

Little known fact - if you pick up 6 pieces of (other peoples') trash, you will be rewarded with a piece of climbig gear booty.  I've proven this time and time again.

I pack out trash all the time. Clean up campsites and do my part to be a good steward. You should too.

but maybe a few are from people with good intentions who forgot.

How does that adage go... oh yea.  The road to hell is paved with good intentions? not that it particularly applies but it is this reason that I started giving people a hard time whenever I see them leave bags of dog excrement.  Pick up the damn bag and carry it with you, tie it to the dog, or  carry it in the woods and  bury it (preferably 100 yards from a water source).  

 I like dogs, but with annoying, loud, aggressive, even just curious and over rambunctious dogs on trails in the BC, at crags etc.  I really feel like 90% of dog owners give the rest a bad name....

oh yea.  I try to clean up what i can if it is reasonable.  Usually the first decent sized bottle (or gatorade) will get filled with all the stuff I can cram inside it.  I have hauled out larger bags of other peoples stuff plenty of occasions, and on others walked by when it just didnt seem worth it....

Julius Grisette wrote:

I pack out trash all the time. Clean up campsites and do my part to be a good steward. You should too.

Nice.  on this same note, I also topple useless cairns that serve no purpose other than being a monument to man.  If it is not giving direction of a trail or passage that is otherwise difficult to find, In my mind its just an eyesore.  Especially if is is on a well marked trail.

I also, will routinely destroy unnecessary fire-pits.  I seem to find redundant and exuberantly sized  fire-pits every time I camp.  I always redistribute the rocks from the unnecessary ones, and collapse the size of gratuitously large ones.  

Seems leave no trace isnt really a thing anymore - or maybe it never really was

Now back to the trash thing...

I found if you throw your garbage in to a body of water it won't be there the next day, very convenient way to get rid of trash!

You can't get it all... But if you always leave the place better than you found it then your karma stash grows.

amockalypsenow wrote:

I pick up trash here and there. Recently at Tahquitz I was picking up trash and picked up a piece of plastic, with my bare hands, and then realized it was a tampon applicator. I've seen several at climbing crags recently and it's got me wondering WTF ladies!?

Ready for a ranting thread tangent? Well, ready or not, here goes, climber ladies:

1. use a friggin menstrual cup, 
2. why the f would you need a onetime-use piece of plastic so you don't have to touch your genitals ya darn puritanical babies, 
3. pack it out buttheads.

 WTF. 

1. Menstrual cups (awesome, IMO, they were just becoming available at the end of my need for them) need to be emptied now and then, and kept clean. You got running water for that?

2. Menstrual periods are not always predictable when they show up. Many women, no matter what they use otherwise, might choose to carry tampons along with them, just in case. The ones that have no applicator unwrap themselves, suck up moisture from the air, and just sorta destroy themselves rather quickly. The plastic packs better. Applicator style is also most likely the only choice you may have at a public restroom or gas stop if you are caught by surprise.

3. Complete and total agreement.

To answer the OP, it depends. Sometimes I pick stuff up, sometimes not. The more back country we are, the more likely I will try to take it. 

Stuff does just get away from even good people now and then, and wind takes plastic astonishing distances. 

Personally, even though they don't seem like much, cigarette butts really bug me. Probably because I live where fires of a quarter million acres are not unheard of.