A few months ago California burned. Among the thousands of acres that went up in smoke was Big Basin State Park — my childhood favorite. Though later reports indicated most of the towering redwoods will survive, the campsite, buildings and infrastructure were just about all reduced to ash. Since the pandemic has finally begun to ease this spring other parks have seen record crowds. Still looking at the nation’s most populous state, I read about a sure way to tell people have been to California’s parks. An article on npr.org (March 8, 2021) tells of 20-year-old Edgar McGregor who picked up litter for 589 consecutive days in a park in Angeles National Forest. The young man said that is how long it took him to rid the popular hiking area near L.A. of municipal waste. He plans to return several times a week to keep Eaton Canyon as litter free as possible.
My family and I recently spent two weeks visiting four national parks (along with friends and other area sites) in the Moab area of southeastern Utah and southern Colorado, as well as national forests, BLM and state lands. Nowhere did I consider it necessary to consider staying on as an anti-litter crusader. An empty water bottle on the main road at Sand Flats Recreation Area near Moab and a beer can glinting in the afternoon sun on the route to Zapata Falls in Colorado proved the most egregious examples of “non-packed out” trash. Are people recreating in Southern California really that much more careless than where I happened to drive and hike?
Off hand I would say no. Visitors to the nation’s public lands run the gamut of, well, pigs who could care less what they leave for others to clean up to practitioners of leave no trace who come and go like a mountain breeze.
Canyonlands National Park was my family’s first destination. While exploring the southern portion, The Needles, we stopped at the visitors center where a pair of park rangers stood outside answering questions. After my daughter asked about the desert’s biological soil crust, I was curious as to the cleanliness of the park. In reply to my question, the next ranger at that post explained that while he and others on staff clear litter on regular “roves,” there is much less to begin with than when he worked at Yosemite and Zion National Parks. The ranger said they hike both front- and backcountry trails and even bring rakes to erase evidence of visitors who stray. Regarding Canyonlands in particular, he noted people “travel farther and work harder” to get there than many other national parks. That extra effort means greater regard (including keeping a cleaner area) for what they came to experience, in his opinion.
Arches is closer to Moab and hosts greater crowds, with spring peak time to visit. However, more people did not mean a direct correlation in litter. In town, the bright yellow recycling receptacles stood in every block along the main drag alongside full trash cans — cooperating to keep streets pretty clean. It was easy to locate electric car charging stations. The shops also reflected the community’s overall “green” attitude. One store tied into the mountain biking culture with artsy gifts crafted from recycled inner tube rubber and bicycle chains.
All four parks we visited, in addition to being clean, offered recycling. Having visited Mesa Verde and Great Sand Dunes three years ago I had a baseline to compare. The latter was amazing the last time we stopped, boasting bins taking nearly everything the Keep Alliance Beautiful Recycling Center does now. It was limited this time to plastic and aluminum cans. Oh well.
Not everyone will leave no trace if they are fortunate enough to visit a national park this season, however every traveler can have fun while striving to make their destination better than they found it.