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94 Posts |
Posted - 08/21/2004 : 02:05 AM
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We came across another disgusting dump site today, at Elk-Thurston. I'm going to list some of the horrible things we have discovered on our various hikes in the area...
-two burning cars
-a hide-a-bed blocking Borden Creek
-a couch blocking Foley Creek
-a mattress at upper Borden Creek
-over 100 grow-op pots, numerous check books, blocking Borden Creek
-a dead German Shepherd with a weird gravestone atop him
-12 pieces of broken lawn furniture at Foley Lake, plus hundreds of empty beer cans
-flippers, frying pans, tarps at Pierce Lake
I don't understand why people would dump all this stuff when it costs only five or ten dollars to go to the Bailey landfill.
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301 Posts |
Posted - 08/21/2004 : 5:28 PM
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Probably for the same reason they would beat the crap out of their vehicles and drive up the FRONT of Vedder mountain to dump a dishwasher and stove, when a certain appliance dealer in this town will pick them up for free!
...apparently there is limit to the stupidity of some!
We have also found grow-op pots, many Tim H*rton's cups, ad nauseum!
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Neither here nor there! |
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Castlegar, B.C.
Canada
1249 Posts |
Posted - 08/21/2004 : 7:35 PM
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I know what you mean about Pierce Lake with all the tarps, frying pans,pots, empty bacardi of rum, and poor sanitation practice's !
Did you notice all the black garbage bags of at the trailhead ?
I don't know what can be done about the problem in the Chilliwack River Valley area, but clearly something needs to be done !
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 Trail burning speed demon who sports insanely heavy packs
Chilliwack, B.C.
Canada
719 Posts |
Posted - 08/22/2004 : 9:06 PM
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Yes I agree and am disgusted with the stupidity of some people!
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Seek And You Shall Find! |
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Vancouver, BC
Canada
123 Posts |
Posted - 08/23/2004 : 09:40 AM
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It is sad to see and I would love to see someone organize a mass clean-up in these areas, with a little bit of media coverage.
Everytime we hike Elk there is a new dumping down the side of the entrance road to your right down the cliff.
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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
Herm Albright (1876 - 1944) |
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154 Posts |
Posted - 08/23/2004 : 10:06 AM
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Robin8, I feel your frustrations.
...hope you had a good time besides... if we all posted descriptions and content lists of the dump sites we came across Club Tread would not be the great hiking site it is. Just my humble opinion.
Cheers to all the great hikes you do, and all your clean up efforts.
By the way, the Chilliwack River cleanup is coming up again. Its in September sometime.. I'll post the date when I know when it will be.  |
Edited by - Rider on 08/23/2004 10:12 AM |
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94 Posts |
Posted - 08/23/2004 : 11:21 PM
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| Omigosh, Rider, you left all that crap out there? Sorry to embarrass you. Go pick it up. |
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301 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2004 : 12:17 AM
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Well, I for one am getting tired of picking up other people's crap! Wouldn't this be a great summer-employment program for students? Barring that, how about those who are incarcerated?
How about paying back some of that "debt to society?"
...oh, and INCREASE the fines for littering to a MINIMUM of $5000.00 - no questions asked - and have a number you can call to rat on the pigs anonymously!
Oh yeah...this topic gets me going!
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Neither here nor there! |
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chwk, bc
Canada
168 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2004 : 07:48 AM
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what's the point of increasing a fine if it doesn't deter anybody anyway?
i've never heard of anybody EVER getting a littering fine. |
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Vancouver, BC
Canada
123 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2004 : 08:47 AM
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MJDJ that sounds like a good idea, but then there is the huge cost incurred to have Corrections Officers 'babysit'. Naturally, that would end up costing more because they would be offsite away from the facilities, and then there are liabilitie issues...blah...blah...blah...
It would be great if you could do a 'citizens' fine, wherein you could ticket people for littering. Self policing, oh the chaos.
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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
Herm Albright (1876 - 1944) |
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 double-double seeking, snow-chasing, short-cutting, vertical feet collector
4522 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2004 : 09:00 AM
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on the topic of garbage.
I think part of the problem is the perception that these remote areas belong to 'nobody'. If the perception was changed to 'belonging to everybody' then these areas would not be the dumping grounds that they are now.
If the remote trails were made more popular, with more articles written about them, and with more traffic on them, their state of cleanliness would improve in major ways.
It's had to dump a hide a bed or a mattress when there is constant traffic about, and when there are other cars in the parking lot or on the access road.
But in the meantime, the perception of belonging must change. It is up to us, and up to the media, to change this perception.
cheers - C Wall
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The trouble with the global village is all those global village idiots |
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double-double seeking, snow-chasing, short-cutting, vertical feet collector
4522 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2004 : 09:03 AM
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on the topic of prisoner labour.
The Diez Vistas trail was built by the 'guests' of the Ferndale prison, over 20 years ago. There's a small commemorative plaque, at the entrance to the trail, just off the Powerline road, near the North end of the lake.
I usually do this trail counter-clockwise, preferring a relentless climb to a steep climb followed by a gentle descent.
cheers - C Wall
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The trouble with the global village is all those global village idiots |
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Kootenay Bud
2695 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2004 : 09:22 AM
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Is this really a "remote" area? I guess it depends how you define remote, but I wouldn't call remote anywhere you can drive to, and given the number of trip reports from this area I read, I'm not sure it is a remote hike either.
quote:
Originally posted by seawallrunner
on the topic of garbage.
If the remote trails were made more popular, with more articles written about them, and with more traffic on them, their state of cleanliness would improve in major ways.
cheers - C Wall
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opinionated-stove huggin'-fleece wearin'-arse burnin' hill virgin
Here
Canada
4641 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2004 : 09:29 AM
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Good point sandy. Still not a reason to use the local wilderness areas as a dump though. Most miscreants are not going to expend the effort neded to get into remote areas to dump their crap. The litter I have picked up further from civilization tends to be smaller in nature.
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"Function is beauty" |
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double-double seeking, snow-chasing, short-cutting, vertical feet collector
4522 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2004 : 09:39 AM
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It is far more remote than the trails near the Squamish - Whistler corridor. Access to most trailheads in the area can be difficult unless one has a 4x4, or a higher-clearance car.
There is less activity on the secondary roads in the Chilliwack area, than on the FSRs near Squamish, Brandywine, Callaghan, Mamquam.
Remember, you still have to *drive* that mattress or hide-a-bed to dump it somewhere, and that somewhere would be a place where the chances of you getting caught dumping are lesser than elsewhere.
I was talking about remoteness for effectively dumping stuff, not for hiking
cheers - C Wall
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The trouble with the global village is all those global village idiots |
Edited by - seawallrunner on 08/24/2004 11:30 AM |
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Kootenay Bud
2695 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2004 : 1:33 PM
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| Aha, good points. I'm always totally shocked to read posts about the amount of garbage and the degree of destruction (burnt outhouses, trashed cabins, etc., etc.) that are reported by various members of CT. It's such a different experience to anything in the Interior, where I rarely see so much as a cigarrette butt (let alone a mattress or couch!) and have never seen burnt outhouses or the like. |
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Trail running, bike hucking, fast packing, beer drinking collector of pine cones on a day pass
AKA
Dances with Trees
Forest Gnome Cabin
Canada
13015 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2004 : 1:57 PM
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The North Shore is reasonably clean,but there are still areas that people use to dump things.As for deterrents,if you don't hit violators with fines or hard labour,they are not going to be deterred at all.It's the same for sprinkling violations-all they do is warn offenders,and it gets around that you have nothing to worry about until you get nailed a second time.$2000-$5000 firm,plus cleanup charges and/or hard labour .If you don't kick ass,nobody is going to listen.I don't often get out to the Chilliwack area,so I can't comment on that-didn't realize the problem was that bad |
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301 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2004 : 4:20 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by mick range
I don't often get out to the Chilliwack area,so I can't comment on that-didn't realize the problem was that bad
It's awful Mick...anywhere along Chilliwack Lake road can be absolutely disgusting! Foley Lake is nothing more than a glorified landfill. Try the fishing hole by the Slesse Creek bridge (turnoff to Mt McGuire). Wherever people can PARK, there is garbage and LOTS of it!
Wasn't there a recent post about a dump of garbage along Harrison Lake shoreline?
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Neither here nor there! |
Edited by - MJDJ on 08/24/2004 4:21 PM |
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Outdoors addicted flyfishing, skiing, snowshoeing, hiking car crooner and resident motormouth
Da'Wack, BC
Canada
5368 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2004 : 5:24 PM
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Harrison and Chehailis can be just as bad. It's a sad truth. I can't see it being that these places are remote, it's pretty hard to hike in a mattress Most of the time these areas are 4x4 accessible. Nobody will work on the roads unless there is active logging happening so the roads are left to deteriorate - there is no park presence like Garibaldi in Squamish. Even with a hike as popular as Slesse it takes forever to get roadwork done, it's just not a priority for the muncipality. Although this is changing along Chilliwack River Rd corridor to some degree: now that it's paved to Chilliwack lake, some of the more popular hikes are getting more attention (ie: Lindeman-Greendrop) but Garbage is still a huge issue in these areas. Wrappers, drink-boxes, water bottles, beer cans/bottles etc, burned down outhouses are all a fact of life in the Chilliwack River Valley.
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Edited by - exscape on 08/24/2004 5:26 PM |
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Satirical photoshop junkie who frolics in the mountains of the Chilliwack River Valley
Chilliwack, BC
Canada
6895 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2004 : 6:09 PM
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quote:
If the remote trails were made more popular, with more articles written about them, and with more traffic on them, their state of cleanliness would improve in major ways.
Sorry, that's the last thing that should be done. Robin was referring to some of the more popular hiking trails and FSR's in the area, and more traffic has only led to more garbage. Some of the prime garbage areas are the hikes listed in the 103 hikes book. Back in the 80's, this wasn't as big a problem, as there was less traffic around....and you wonder why I try to keep some places "secret"!
The Vedder Mtn FSR has long been a dumping ground for the car thief residential scum to the west, and unfortunately the Foley Lake area is becoming that way too. Those roads provide relatively easy access and are remote enough to do such dispicable things.
The other problem is that we have very limited funding out this way for trail maintenance and clean-up; while the Squamish/ Whistler area is not in such a boat.
We used to have the provincial corrections inmates do a fair bit of clean-up and maintenance, but those camps are pretty much shut down now. The military also did some road maintenance as well; especially in the Liumchen and Slesse FSR's, until the Liberals shut down the base in 1993. So it's left to those who truly appreciate these areas to do the clean-up and adopt trails.
Maybe if we did get more attention we might get more funding for trail and road maintenance, but I doubt it...in reality you'd need a pretty good coal miner's lamp to find such a thing on the priority list.
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"If you can't learn to do something well, learn to enjoy doing it poorly" |
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opinionated-stove huggin'-fleece wearin'-arse burnin' hill virgin
Here
Canada
4641 Posts |
Posted - 08/24/2004 : 6:27 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by BillyGoat
"residential scum to the west"
Let's not go pointing fingers. I'm sure that there are plenty of such characters found right in your own backyard. Unfortunately anywhere there are people, there will be low lives.
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"Function is beauty" |
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Garbage in the Chlwk River Valley
