More Campsite Cleanups Outside Silver City, New Mexico - Gila National Forest

While many folks have been quarantined or self isolating themselves during these crazy times, I have been able to continue cleaning up at campsites I’ve been staying at near Silver City, NM, as well as nearby roads/trails. The last place I camped at for 10 days was a nice change in scenery, being deep in an actual forest after much desert and high desert camping, and I was initially pleasantly surprised by the lack of litter in the area. Just a few scattered candy wrappers, an egg carton, and a few stray beer cans.

But then as I explored the area, going on hikes and bike rides, I began to find much more trash, particularly beer cans and bottles, soda cans and fast food bags and wrappers...

Each bike ride up the dirt road, I would carry as many crushed cans back with me as a I could, up to two per pocket (X 4 pockets = maximum 8 cans). On my last day I took a pack with so I could collect more, and picked up a whole grocery bag full. When all was said and done, I had gotten a full dog food bag and grocery bag full, seen in the top photo, which was still only half of what I had picked up at the nearby previous campsite a little closer to town.

One interesting phenomenon I notices, is that it almost seemed as if new beer cans would magically show up on the side of the road where I could have sworn I had gotten them all! Almost as if the people driving up the road were just chucking them out the window on a daily basis. I even found several full cans of beer and soda, that hadn’t even been opened yet! I do wonder why those were thrown away... I came to the conclusion that people who used that road were intent on making sure that road was lined with empty beer cans :)

At times I wondered if my small contribution to beautifying the area would have any lasting effect, but then I would remember the story about the man walking the seashore collecting starfish and throwing them back in the ocean - someone noticed him doing it, and asked him if he realized he was wasting his time and not making a real difference because there were thousands of starfish washing up all the time, and his response was: “Well, it sure made a difference to this one,” as he tossed one back in, continuing on with his work.

Still, as annoying as it was seeing the forested roadsides collect new beer can specimens even as I was in the process of removing them, this area was not at all as bad as the previous place I camped, where I collected more than twice as much, two dog food bags full of litter, an old carpet I found, and three smaller grocery bags full!

Here is a photo from my main trip into town to dump them at the city welcome center dumpster, crammed into the bag of my Subaru:

Just a few of the total cans I picked up, one easy day’s worth:

By spending no more than an hour or two fully dedicated to collecting trash on one or two days during a stay, and then just picking up what I notice and can fit in my pockets when out on daily walks or mountain bike rides, it’s amazing how easy it is to quickly collect large piles worth of litter. At this place, as bad as it was, there was still more around I hadn’t gotten to by the time it was time for me to leave and move on, but at least the vicinity in the immediate area I pitched my tent was way cleaner, more scenic, and safer with much broken glass now gone.

I have come to the conclusion that beer manufacturing companies, particularly Budweiser and Coors, are among the largest contributors of litter in the forests and deserts of the southwest, if not throughout the entire country. Fast food joints such as McDonalds are also up there. Clearly, people in this area have a serious issue with littering in the backcountry, as Silver City itself is a pretty clean town. Almost as if the people intentionally drive their litter into the backcountry just to trash it up, like a family tradition or something... Maybe someday this major disfunction within society will be healed, along with many others such as alcoholism that likely also contribute to this problem.

In any event, I will continue to do my small part in cleaning up the areas of the great outdoors I visit, to return them as closely as possible to their natural states of peace and beauty, even if it sometimes does seem like it isn’t changing anything in the bigger picture of things. If enough of us began to do so - just spending a few minutes each day cleaning up areas where we are - I think the litter would soon enough practically disappear completely, regardless of how many people continue to toss their empty beer can out their windows.