Am very well familiar with the concept. This county was the first in the nation to adopt this philosophy. Being an active volunteer for the BLM/National Monument we emphasize leave-no-trace whenever we can.

The littering and dog fouling is a universal problem unfortunately! I don’t think dogs should be taken on mountain climbs in the first place....I saw an item where a dog had to be rescued from a mountain in Utah In 2019...brought down on a stretcher because it was too exhausted to move any further. It was a 190 lb Mastiff pup! Madness in my opinion. The beaches, country parks and other beauty spots are all being ruined by overuse at present, especially by day trippers from cities who have been confined to their homes for months, and just want to get out into the wider spaces. This is understandable, but is a recipe for spreading the virus as well as trashing the very beauty spots they want to enjoy, Taking their rubbish home with them would seem such a reasonable thing to ask of them!

Even inexperienced hiker me has heard of "leave nothing, take only memories."

Teddy Roosevelt is spinning in his grave

Just to make sure, I don't go camping and my hiking is limited to about 20 yards from the parking lot.

All beautiful photos, I find the Enchantment Mountain photo especially nice. I went to Hetch Hetchy last Saturday for a short hike. It was quite crowded but not littered with trash. Years ago i would go there with my family and most of the time you would only see two or three people all day. I have a couple of photos but they keep loading upside down...

We've been having the same problem here. Ever since things shut down, it's been a mob scene in my quiet little lakeside community. Locals have been videoing boatloads of drunks dumping trash overboard and turning the videos over to the sheriff, who appears to be doing nothing.

Sadly, this type of degradation is spreading far and wide as people with no background in responsible outdoors behavior, and apparently lacking in basic civility or consideration for others, are flocking to trails and parks because the types of recreation they are used to are closed because of the pandemic.

Welcome to the planet of the apes.
I remember the early 1960's before Lady Bird Johnson said Hey! this is an embarrassment clean this place up. No laws against littering and trash piles three feet deep all along rural roads.
We can fix this if we have the will.

I know a group that races the mountain roads and they maintain a strict take it in, take it out rule. They remove, literally, tons of other people's trash yearly.

As stated elsewhere, littering is becoming more common all over. People no longer hold themselves to ANY responsibility. Lack of responsibility is growing in all faucets of society.

Welcome to the world of Homo Sapiens. From what I've experienced, just business as usual for most of humankind.

It isn't just the hiking trails that the population is trashing . I still see where people come from fast food places , eating their unhealthy meals , and dump their trash by the road , as soon as the food is gone . There's no reason they can't carry it with them until they reach a trash container .

Sad story. Beautiful photos.

The aussie bushwalkers bible. Take nothing but photos, leave nothing but footprints.

I was a Boy Scout, one of the unmolested ones. For some reason I absorbed all the camping and hiking lore. We were always expected to leave the campsite and trails in better condition than we found them.

Very good points made

Humans can be very disgusting animals when it comes to the enviroment,it is all about themselves and do not give a dam about anyone else

It does no good to get angry over it but it's durned difficult not to. This was the one rule I hammered into my Girl Scout Troop's skulls. I always started with proper set up so it was easy to leave this way. This is what comes of not teaching environment importance and allowing ignorance to prevail.