Litter On High Country Trails Too Much For Rangers To Handle
DILLON, Colo. (CBS4) - A popular trail in the high country is littered with trash and park rangers say they can't keep up with all the garbage hikers are leaving behind.
The Herman Gulch Trail is located right off Interstate 70 in Dillon. U.S. Forest Service rangers in the Clear Creek district say they can't keep up. They say pick a trailhead and piles of trash can be found by people who just don't care.
You don't have to be a naturalist to see the problem is laziness. The following are just some comments hikers gave CBS4's Matt Kroschel about the litter:
"Terrible."
"Disgusting."
"Awful."
"Disgusting, it's just sick."
"Real shame to come up here and see that kind of trash."
"Somebody was really a slob."
"Pretty poor. I mean come on, be an adult and throw your trash away."
Most trailheads in the area don't have trash cans. They do however have signs telling people to pack it out.
Doggie doo bags litter the trail like an Easter egg hunt from Hell.
"This place is so beautiful. For people to leave that stuff is just criminal," a hiker said. "Usually the trailheads … we still see people leave their doggie bags up on the trail."
Rangers are exasperated. They have volunteers to help clean up trailheads but there is just so much litter they say the task is nearly impossible.
The hikers CBS4 talked with say they always take their trash with them, but a lot of others don't.
There are few solutions. In Breckenridge they have trash cans on some trails, but even there rangers and volunteers say they spend a good chunk of their time picking up what others have left behind.
Additional Resources
Have a solution to the trash problem? Send a tweet with your idea to CBS4's Matt Kroschel so he can pass it along to the Forest Service.
