Talking Trash

[Bambi]

I'd like to do more camping off the beaten path. What are the options for dealing with trash when you camp in a "primitive" camping spot (like when backpacking)? Do you have to haul it around with you everywhere?

[ChadTower]

Originally Posted by Bambi

I'd like to do more camping off the beaten path. What are the options for dealing with trash when you camp in a "primitive" camping spot (like when backpacking)? Do you have to haul it around with you everywhere?

Yep. Plan your pack so the trash is as little as possible once the stuff inside is consumed.

[Lorax]

I just carry around a zip lock which I use for trash. Most of my stuff is repackaged in the same, so it's just fold it up and stash it inside. It never really amounts to much in weight and bulk anyway.

Don't forget that with food smells, this will need to be bear bagged/bear vaulted or whatever method you are comfortable with.

[Refrigerator]

Bambi...it takes more energy to backpack in what ever generated that trash as it would backpacking it out...and think about how well this feeds your Karma when you pack out what you pack in.

[steves]

If I can't burn or eat it I pack it out.
Even bury my ashes from my fire if at all possible, You would need to be very observant to even tell where I camped.

[dinosaur]

Originally Posted by Bambi

I'd like to do more camping off the beaten path. What are the options for dealing with trash when you camp in a "primitive" camping spot (like when backpacking)? Do you have to haul it around with you everywhere?

You're talking about your own trash, right? If you're that primitive, you don't have trash. I've camped quite literally for years and there was no trash. I burned it. Are you packing in plastics? Those can be recycked on spot. Glass can be buried or melted in a fire. It's sand. Aluminum cans can also be melted down in a fire and returned to the earth from which they came.

What sort of horrible terrorist packaged refuse are you bringing in to our wilderness that you need to be stopped? Do you bring things in that you know will cause a problem? Why?

Don't tell me it is the only way it is packaged and you have no choice. Yes you do. You hauled it in, haul it out.

[IndianaHiker]

Depends on the person. If you follow leave no trace burning trash is not an option. In fact a leave no trace fire requires wither a mound fire or a metal pan be used to protect the top soil from heat. In making a fire where there is no fire ring the heating of the soils prohibits bugs and other creature that live in the soil because of the heating of the ground. Here is the info from the Leave no Trace website. As far as trash it pretty cut and dried. Pack it in pack it out.

Leave No Trace :: Programs :: Principles