Was up in Lower Pauness last Friday and stopped at campsite 42...north of the south portage and found this mess.

I wonder how you play "Bonk Rock"?

It said Bork rock...maybe a last name??

At least they had the sense to put water on the fire? Just looking for a silver lining.

Hey, PortageKeeper/Bogs - that's the Lower Pauness site we stayed on that time,.. wonder if our three ****in buddies in the ****in Alumacraft made a return to that ****in site...after they put fifty ****in shots in another deer. They seemed like the type!

Maybe it's all in one's own definition, but compared to some of the "trashed" campsite photos we've seen over the past several months, this one seems pretty mild. Not excusing the mess at all, but when I think of trashed, I immediately think a whole lot worse than this.

Not to excuse it, but the put-out fire was a positive. Last week while passing through Disappointment Lake. My daughters peeled off our group to stop at a campsite which had recently been vacated. They saw smoke coming from the fire grate, and when they got there to douse it, there were actually open flames coming from the grate as well. This in an area of jack pines and the 7/21/16 storm affected area. Our group has personally doused 6 unattended campfires in the last 3 years. WTH is going on?

quote fairmatt: "

Was up in Lower Pauness last Friday and stopped at campsite 42...north of the south portage and found this mess."

we were through that area on Friday as well. Did you leave there Friday or arrive on Friday?

Stayed far north site upper Pauness. Left Saturday early am.

quote Jackfish: "Maybe it's all in one's own definition, but compared to some of the "trashed" campsite photos we've seen over the past several months, this one seems pretty mild. Not excusing the mess at all, but when I think of trashed, I immediately think a whole lot worse than this."

My thoughts exactly.

quote emptynest5 7/21/16 storm affected area. Our group has personally doused 6 unattended campfires in the last 3 years. WTH is going on?"

Unfortunately the Moron gene can't be bred out of existence :-)

quote mastertangler: "

quote Jackfish: "Maybe it's all in one's own definition, but compared to some of the "trashed" campsite photos we've seen over the past several months, this one seems pretty mild. Not excusing the mess at all, but when I think of trashed, I immediately think a whole lot worse than this."

My thoughts exactly."

+2

My first thought was someone drank too much last weekend when I hear TRASHED :)

If it weren't for the trash in the fire pit then I would see nothing wrong in that second picture. The bark pile could probably be dispersed with a kick or two so whatever. All things considered this one is not so bad. Ashes coming out of the fire pit is unsightly but how mad can you really be when they just doused the fire?

quote fairmatt: "

Was up in Lower Pauness last Friday and stopped at campsite 42...north of the south portage and found this mess."

We encountered the group who stayed at this site the night of Thursday, July 20th (in casual conversation they told us they did, arriving there just about dark that night). When we saw them they were just coming into Upper from Lower Pauness at the 40 rod portage as we arrived going the opposite direction.

Frankly, after observing this group, I'm not surprised that they'd be one to leave trash at a campsite. They were a large group of four canoes and did not seem very organized with LOTS of gear--many of the large Rubbermaid-type bins and a full-size folding table among many other items. Portages were done two people to a canoe, one of which appeared to be a Ram-X and aluminum-tube framed "Scanoe" type that did not have a portage yoke so I guess two people would be the best way to do it. They took up the whole landing and we just waited and fished a bit until they were done.

They must not have thought anything about the trash left behind. Otherwise, why would they volunteer information on where they had just stayed?

^^^^ a scanoe , damn those things weigh #98 , and the square stern is a wide one, a lot of drag !

quote Jackfish: "Maybe it's all in one's own definition, but compared to some of the "trashed" campsite photos we've seen over the past several months, this one seems pretty mild. Not excusing the mess at all, but when I think of trashed, I immediately think a whole lot worse than this."

agree!

quote A1t2o: "If it weren't for the trash in the fire pit then I would see nothing wrong in that second picture. The bark pile could probably be dispersed with a kick or two so whatever. All things considered this one is not so bad. Ashes coming out of the fire pit is unsightly but how mad can you really be when they just doused the fire?"

That is what I was thinking also.

Yeah that was my knee-jerk reaction as well, but the fact that the OP thinks it was "trashed" only serves to indicate his higher standards--and I thank him for it.

In truth, I would never leave a site like this, and I'm sure the OP wouldn't either...and I'm sure YOU wouldn't, either!

Also, I'm looking at it on a computer screen...not from the perspective of someone in the woods looking for a relatively undisturbed, nice place to set up camp.

I wouldn't be super-pissed, but people can (and do) do better.

Hats off to the OP for his high standards.

Insightful comment, Moss Tent...you should become a member!

quote bottomtothetap: "

quote fairmatt: "


Was up in Lower Pauness last Friday and stopped at campsite 42...north of the south portage and found this mess."

We encountered the group who stayed at this site the night of Thursday, July 20th (in casual conversation they told us they did, arriving there just about dark that night). When we saw them they were just coming into Upper from Lower Pauness at the 40 rod portage as we arrived going the opposite direction.


Frankly, after observing this group, I'm not surprised that they'd be one to leave trash at a campsite. They were a large group of four canoes and did not seem very organized with LOTS of gear--many of the large Rubbermaid-type
bins and a full-size folding table among many other items. Portages were done two people to a canoe, one of which appeared to be a Ram-X and aluminum-tube framed "Scanoe" type that did not have a portage yoke so I guess two people would be the best way to do it. They took up the whole landing and we just waited and fished a bit until they were done.


They must not have thought anything about the trash left behind. Otherwise, why would they volunteer information on where they had just stayed? "

Because the group was large, had some Rubbermaid type bins, not the greatest canoes for portaging and seemed disorganized, you aren't surprised they left a mess?
My impression would have been a group of newbies who would learn as they went and would do better next time. I wouldn't just assume they would leave some trash at a fire pit.

quote mutz: "

quote bottomtothetap: "

quote fairmatt: "



Was up in Lower Pauness last Friday and stopped at campsite 42...north of the south portage and found this mess."

We encountered the group who stayed at this site the night of Thursday, July 20th (in casual conversation they told us they did, arriving there just about dark that night). When we saw them they were just coming into Upper from Lower Pauness at the 40 rod portage as we arrived going the opposite direction.



Frankly, after observing this group, I'm not surprised that they'd be one to leave trash at a campsite. They were a large group of four canoes and did not seem very organized with LOTS of gear--many of the large Rubbermaid-type
bins and a full-size folding table among many other items. Portages were done two people to a canoe, one of which appeared to be a Ram-X and aluminum-tube framed "Scanoe" type that did not have a portage yoke so I guess two people would be the best way to do it. They took up the whole landing and we just waited and fished a bit until they were done.



They must not have thought anything about the trash left behind. Otherwise, why would they volunteer information on where they had just stayed? "

Because the group was large, had some Rubbermaid type bins, not the greatest canoes for portaging and seemed disorganized, you aren't surprised they left a mess?
My impression would have been a group of newbies who would learn as they went and would do better next time. I wouldn't just assume they would leave some trash at a fire pit."

That WAS my impression as well. When I met them I did not assume that they had left any trash at their campsite and didn't have a reason to assume such. However, learning after the fact that they likely did was not surprising to me. Perfecting "leave no trace" camping techniques is part of the learning process also.

I know that I now do a better job of leaving no trace than I did when learning on my first trip or two as we brought milk crates full of gear like large cast iron pans and instead of packs carried everything in flimsy garbage bags that tore open on the first portage. I'm sure we were not as mindful of our Hershey Bar wrappers as we should have been that first trip but know better now.

It's generally understood that larger groups tend to have more of an impact on the resource than smaller ones. That's one of the reasons the Forest Service has imposed group size limits.

quote emptynest56: "Not to excuse it, but the put-out fire was a positive. Last week while passing through Disappointment Lake. My daughters peeled off our group to stop at a campsite which had recently been vacated. They saw smoke coming from the fire grate, and when they got there to douse it, there were actually open flames coming from the grate as well. This in an area of jack pines and the 7/21/16 storm affected area. Our group has personally doused 6 unattended campfires in the last 3 years. WTH is going on?"

Yikes!