A while back, Ted and I ran into a lively group of hikers on North Tripyramid, who we spent a significant amount of time chatting with while taking a break on the summit. A few of us later connected on Facebook, and among this group, was a very ambitious and admirable individual, Christina. With the growing number of people venturing out into the mountains every summer, and particularly this summer, hikers on social media have been complaining and raising awareness of the increasing amount of trash left along the trails. Christina took the initiative to coordinate a trail clean-up day, solicited volunteers and donors to make it happen, and made volunteering oh-so easy. We reviewed a spreadsheet that identified high use trails/locations that might need some love, and signed up to visit Artists Bluff and Bald Mountain.
Ted and I drove up early and met volunteers in Lincoln, NH, to sign in and pick up our supplies (gloves, trash bags, granola bars, and some other goodies). We started at the parking area for Bald Mountain and wandered along the roadside and in the line of trees between the parking lots. It is surprising how much trash suddenly appears once your eyes switch into find-the-trash mode. At first glance, we were almost surprised there wasn’t more, but then as we retraced our steps and looked harder and closer, we found more and more that didn’t belong. We hiked up the trail with Ted’s backpack open, lined with the trash bag, and laughed at his stench as we piled numerous dog waste bags into it. Other hikers laughed too, and thanked us for our trail improvements.
While disappointing to find so much trash over the course of a very short hike, it was interesting the array of things people had left behind. The day’s litter included not only the somewhat expected food wrappers, broken glass bottles, and toilet paper, but also a shirt, a pair of underwear, mini toy handcuffs, and a pink iPhone. Overall, the 1st Annual White Mountains Trail Clean-Up saw approximately 100 volunteers in 50 different areas, and removed over 275 pounds of trash from trails and trailheads. While I wish this kind of event wasn’t needed, I couldn’t be happier to have been involved in this, and am proud of Christina for pulling off this successful event.