Campsite trashing

Here’s an article from today’s Star-Tribune on “campers” on the North Shore leaving trash at campsites in the BWCA, the Superior National Forest and the Superior Hiking Trail.
https://www.startribune.com/some-north-shore-visitors-trashing-trails-campsites/571652742/
I do 5-6 trips into Voyageur’s National Park every year and often find trash left at campsites and other rule violations. My last trip was to Rainy a week ago. When I arrived, there was a chunk of wood smoldering in the fire ring, fish entrails on the shore, two small trees sawed off, cooking oil spilled on the top of one of the bear boxes, aluminum foil and an aluminum can in the fire ring, multiple twist ties and scraps of paper and plastic, and worst of all, three wads of TP in the woods not 50 feet from one of the tent pads. I took photos of all of it and then cleaned it up. When I got home, I emailed the park headquarters. Here’s just part of the response I got: “This information is being passed along to law enforcement as well, who may be able to make contact with visitors before your stay.”
I have 3 more trips to VNP scheduled this year, so here’s fair warning. I will be documenting every rule violation I find when I arrive at a campsite, including photos, and reporting it to the park headquarters. Here’s the link for that; I hope you’ll join me:
https://www.nps.gov/voya/contacts.htm
The rules are pretty simple and listed plainly when you reserve a campsite. There is no janitor in the park and your mommy isn’t there to pick up after you.
If we, the users, don’t remedy this problem, the NPS may be forced to institute stricter regulations. Please do your part to keep our access open.

My son’s family spent a few hours at Gooseberry State Park yesterday and was really PO’d as the park was full of trash.

Granted, state parks have limited staff to enforce/clean this summer, but, come on people………. WTH…..
Pete

We are on a reservoir north of Duluth. There are many islands you can beach on that have campsites on them. These are usually full every weekend. There’s a particularly nice one I like that has a nice sandy beach that we will go to Sunday afternoons or during the week when all the citiots leave.

We were out there last Sunday. Cigarette butts strewn all of the beach. All sorts of garbage still smoldering in the fire pit, bread and bun plastic closures laying around etc. They picked up the big stuff I’ll give them that but damn people you got a fire pit do you have to leave a hundred cigarette butts laying everywhere??

I have a quarter mile frontage road every year you could pick up 3 30 gal trash bags from people whipping their crap out the window ! McDonalds , beer cans, whiskey bottles , soda cans ,cig butts ,buckets and tires . They just don,t care !

People are pigs.

It’s happening all over. By my place on a long county dirt road someone left a love seat right on the side of the road. Definitely didn’t just fall out of someone’s truck and land like it did.

I see it out on the ice a lot as well. I’ll stop and pick up that stray beer can or 2 litre pop bottle every time on a ice road I don’t care how many people are behind me.

It’s called lack of parenting!! There is nothing else that needs to be said. They just were never taught right or wrong because there parents loved their children so much the didn’t want to upset them.

supercat wrote:

It’s called lack of parenting!! There is nothing else that needs to be said. They just were never taught right or wrong because there parents loved their children so much the didn’t want to upset them.

Poor parenting yes. Entitlement even more so. How entitled do you have to be to make someone else pick up your garbage??? Dog owners who don’t pick up their dog’s sh** in public spaces are in the same category.

Poor parenting yes. Entitlement even more so. How entitled do you have to be to make someone else pick up your garbage??? Dog owners who don’t pick up their dog’s sh** in public spaces are in the same category.
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I totally agree with you but dog deposit will eventually go away. Plastic bottles, wrappers, bags, aluminum cans stay forever.

I just got home this afternoon from vermillion. Had a cabin up there for the last 8 days. We also did alot of hiking up in ely. It was sad the amount of trash we picked up on our hikes, even in the new state park. And of course all over the lake itself.

Ice Cap wrote:

I see it out on the ice a lot as well. I’ll stop and pick up that stray beer can or 2 litre pop bottle every time on a ice road I don’t care how many people are behind me.

Ice anglers are the worst crowd when it comes to leaving crap behind. There is no group worse. Trash, beer cans, empty propane tanks, human feces, you name it, they leave it.

Pick up behind yourself before you leave. Whether you are camping or just parked at Big Island on Lake Minnetonka.

gimruis wrote:

Ice anglers are the worst crowd when it comes to leaving crap behind. There is no group worse. Trash, beer cans, empty propane tanks, human feces, you name it, they leave it.

I don’t agree…. ice anglers just leave stuff that you see for a while. In summer it sinks, floats away, or gets burnt…. pigs are pigs all year round. The same people still litter, crap, you name it all year.

The places that people can access to fish on the lake near us have been a dump since covid. There is typically always something, but now there are dozens of blue bait cans everyday among other things.

We have gotten into the habit of bringing a trash bag and grabber on the boat, camping, on walks to the park – basically anywhere. It’s good for teaching the kids, but the problem doesn’t seem to be getting any better.

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Ice Cap wrote:

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Icecap –

I know you are on Whiteface Reservoir. We have a hunting shack near Shaw, 15 miles SE of you. Beer cans in the ditch, bar lube jugs in the woods, tires and rims on the side of the road, etc. annoys me to no end. We collect a fair amount of garbage during grouse and deer season, take the big stuff to the recycling site on Hwy 53. Can’t change the world but can improve our part of it. Also have sent photos of vehicles dumping bags of garbage in the ditch to the St. Louis County Sheriff. Occasionally you get lucky and can get a photo with a license plate. Again, doesn’t fix everything but moves the needle a little in the right direction.

Ron wrote:

I will be documenting every rule violation I find when I arrive at a campsite, including photos, and reporting it to the park headquarters. Here’s the link for that; I hope you’ll join me:

Be careful “who” you report. We stayed at Steakhouse Point on the east side of Namakan in late May. When we got there we had to wait for a guide and his clients to clear out. They stopped for shore lunch and left much of the same mess that you described. We waited right there and they still left the mess. Fish carcasses thrown on the rocks, paper everywhere, burned garbage in the fire pit etc. If we had arrived after they left we would have blamed the previous campers who were not guilty. Most campers I have encountered clean up their mess before they leave.

Did you report the guide?

I’ll repeat that. Did you report the guide? If not, you’re part of the problem.
In all my trips to VNP over the last 10 years I’ve never encountered a guide cleaning fish at a campsite, so I’d say the chance of that happening is pretty slim. I will report every violation I find and let the authorities sort it out.

slowpoke wrote:

Be careful “who” you report. We stayed at Steakhouse Point on the east side of Namakan in late May. When we got there we had to wait for a guide and his clients to clear out. They stopped for shore lunch and left much of the same mess that you described. We waited right there and they still left the mess. Fish carcasses thrown on the rocks, paper everywhere, burned garbage in the fire pit etc. If we had arrived after they left we would have blamed the previous campers who were not guilty. Most campers I have encountered clean up their mess before they leave.

I for one would like you to say who this “guide” was. I sure hope he was reported…… If he did actually leave trash behind he should not be a guide.

To the OP, thank you Ron for being part of the solution and not part of the problem.

Can you imagine what ice fishing season will bring this year for trash? Going to be a good year for refilling 1lb propane tanks.

Thankfully not all people are pigs.. spent Father’s Day weekend up at the Leech Lake Dam rec area and was very impressed with cleanliness. Few random peanut shells at my site but nothing to get upset about. Checked some of the neighboring sites when people left and they were in good shape.
Unfortunately, a few richard craniums seem to enjoy making life difficult for others

Ron wrote:

I’ll repeat that. Did you report the guide? If not, you’re part of the problem.
In all my trips to VNP over the last 10 years I’ve never encountered a guide cleaning fish at a campsite, so I’d say the chance of that happening is pretty slim. I will report every violation I find and let the authorities sort it ou[/quote

Well if you haven’t ever seen that then I guess I imaginged it. No we didn’t report it because we didn’t see it till we got out of the boats and they were already gone. We did however clean up their mess and pack it out when we left.

Some disappointing photos coming out of the BWCA this year….

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Bunch of slobs. How the hell do you think it’s ok to cut down trees!

munchy wrote:

Some disappointing photos coming out of the BWCA this year….

I’ve seen it first hand on my trips into the BWCA and Superior National Forest this year… lots of newbies up there leaving their mark and showing they don’t understand (or care) about the LNT principles. I have no problem with tourists coming up to explore northern MN but please do it respectfully.

i love fishing in the spring and fall when the cretins are not out in full force. after memorial day any spot you can shore fish on looks like river banks of a river in india. absolutely disgusting.

Terrible. It has become the norm that picking up after one’s self, is someone else’s job. HORSE poop!