As any good camper or hiker will tell you, it is never a fun experience when you go out into the wild trying to reconnect with nature, and you find it trashed. When camping or hiking what you bring in with you to a trail or campsite, you need to bring back out. All trash should be cleaned up, all fires put out, if you moved rocks to make a fire ring, you should put them back. You should scatter the coals and ash to ensure the fire poses no threat of reigniting. Well I have found that more often than not, people who love camping still don’t understand their impact on the environment they love to enjoy.
I am camping in Michigan at a free site right before the bridge to the Upper Peninsula. Labor Day weekend was an experience to say the least. I have been living in my RV for more than a month now and Labor Day was the first holiday I have seen from the perspective of someone who lives on the road full time, someone who lives in the forests and mountains all the time. There were people constantly driving in and out of the campground. Campers not in designated campsites. Those campers often making fires on the trail that ran beside the road, or in the road. Many blaring music until 3 AM. Trash, trash, trash everywhere. Others, like my idiot neighbors, decided they would LEAVE for home, WITHOUT PUTTING OUT THEIR CAMPFIRE. I feel disgusted. I went over to their campsite to scavenge for firewood and found their fire at nearly a full blaze. Even after I moved the logs to try to lower the temperature, there were still flames. Then I had to scatter the coals, and yet it was still hot enough to catch, so I poured water on it.
What would have happened if I didn’t wander over to this campsite? What would have happened if I didn’t see the fire still blazing away, even after the campers had left? See some may say that I’m overreacting. But the problem is, you will never have to know because I used my drinking water to be responsible, while others can’t appreciate the impact of their actions.
Seeing the effects of climate change ravaging our planet in many forms is absolutely horrible and heartbreaking. But what’s worse is when you see people around you appreciate nature but not be a steward for the Earth. If you are a hiker or camper, it is your DUTY to take care of the trails and campsites you enjoy so much. Fires wreaked havoc in Australia. Fires rage in California as we speak. When there is literally a sign that says that the potential is high for forest fires and you are reckless any ways, you are literally the reason we can’t have nice things.
The Art of Adventure 