This year, I was very disappointed in how people left campsites. When I went two years ago, I didn't see too much of a mess left by people. However, this year, I was doing a different route so maybe that is part of it.

We saw lots and lots of aluminum foil in the fire pits at every site we not only camped at, but just had stopped at to check out campsites. I'm not sure what everyone uses foil for, but please pack it out. It does not burn. So we packed out lots of aluminum foil with our trash.

We then came across three campsites where people had left fires still burning. The first one was on Olifaunt Lake and we knew who did it. We had met a husband and wife and their college age son just prior to coming across the fire on the Olifaunt Lake island campsite and they stated that no one else was on the lake except them and us. They must have had a shore lunch of fish and left the fire with out extinguishing it.

The next fire we came across was on Pickerel on a site that is mostly beach. I had to use five gallons of water to extinguish it.

The last fire was on the campsite on the point between The Pines and before entering the river to French Lake. This fire was burning actively and I had to use about 5 gallons on it, too. Cindy took a photo of how it was burning prior to extinguishing it.





At the 5-star site on Pickerel that we stayed at, we found 5-6 piles of poop on top of the ground. Someone was too lazy to bury their crap.

Other than the foil, fires and poop, we found only small amounts of other liter left behind by previous campers. Most of the other liter was cellophane wrappers and wrappers from granola bars and from drink or coffee packets and a disposable water bottle. We also found two tent stakes, some tent line, a squeeze bottle cap, a shoe lace, a child's toy and a 3-legged stool. Also a lead jig head and a leader line.

The most unusual item we found was a black bra.

Unpleasant fact of life, many ignore common sense and regulations. That includes so called season trippers posting about campsite modifications/construction, who should know better, and the uninformed new visitor, learning for the first time. Wilderness parks do not stay that way with such folks. Just more regulations and closings.

Your efforts to clean and point out this problem are appreciated.
Thanks OldFingers57!

butthead

The unattended fires are particularly disturbing to me. In Minnesota it is unlawful to not completely extinguish a campfire before leaving the site (MN Statute Chapter 88.15), but I don’t know what the penalties or fines are for this type of behavior. If the fire happens to spread though, the person(s) that left it would be held accountable for any damages.

quote butthead: "Unpleasant fact of life, many ignore common sense and regulations. That includes so called season trippers posting about campsite modifications/construction, who should know better

There is a new post in the fishing forum from a 'seasoned tripper' who cut up some living trees and also blazed trails, posted pics in a trip report, proud of his "enhancements" , then argued the LNT rules, as though he were exempt. Some folks just don't get it. I too cannot understand why campers continue to try to burn alum foil - I find it in every fire pit.

quote plexmidwest: "There is a new post in the fishing forum from a 'seasoned tripper' who cut up some living trees and also blazed trails, posted pics in a trip report, proud of his "enhancements" , then argued the LNT rules, as though he were exempt. "

Can you post a link to that post?

quote inspector13: "The unattended fires are particularly disturbing to me. In Minnesota it is unlawful to not completely extinguish a campfire before leaving the site (MN Statute Chapter 88.15), but I don’t know what the penalties or fines are for this type of behavior. If the fire happens to spread though, the person(s) that left it would be held accountable for any damages. "

The fire that I posted a photo of was especially disturbing as it was extremely windy that day and it was almost like the people who left it wanted it to extend out of the fire pit if you look at all of the twigs and branches left around it. Plus that large log outside of the pit had been burning too, as it was still hot to the touch and I had to dunk it in the lake.

quote Jackfish: "

quote plexmidwest: "There is a new post in the fishing forum from a 'seasoned tripper' who cut up some living trees and also blazed trails, posted pics in a trip report, proud of his "enhancements" , then argued the LNT rules, as though he were exempt. "

Can you post a link to that post? "

Not Q but WCPP

Somebody get me some popcorn, I think I'm going to need it.

every trip i've done through Quetico and every single campsite needed to have the fire area cleaned out of trash, twisties, zip ties, toothpaste containers... believe me, if we had found a name or address on anything they would have received an early christmas present. because of this i find myself chatting up people at portages more than i'd like. i'd like to know where they camped, fished, and if my memory doesn't fail i try to remember their canoe and if the license was from a different state than MN... gathering info.

Here, Pete.

Yes, the aluminum foil scraps seemed pretty common in the fire pits at our campsites in the Q this year. We also found in one fire pit a metal can lid that was of the type that is on frozen juice. These are the sorts of things that we put in our trash bags. Other scraps here and there probably just got away from people before they could take care of them. One amazing item was a very large steel scrubbing pad that was near a tent area. We found a large wad of wet TP in one fire pit. How do you forget to burn or pack out that? I also found what may have been body wipes on the ground or under a rock. Ugh. Overall most sites were OK.

About 10 years ago, one of my church friends, knowing I took a crew yearly into the Quetico, shared a book with me , called "Into the Wilderness" by Henry David Thoreau, about 1850, someone famous for back to nature love. we know him from "On Walden Pond".
The books described his trips into the wilds of Maine. This was to report on his wilderness appreciation trips.
By the standards of today, he and his associates would be severely fined, or possibly put in prison. They deliberately cut lots of fresh branches every night to cover their tarp. They shot a moose just to cook it's tongue and left the carcass to rot in the river. They deliberatively added wood to the fire each morning to keep it going in case comeome came along, and on one occassion had to move their route to avoid the forest fire they started. The book is incredible, as there is no recognition of right or wrong. Quite a read by the accepted standards of today.

Eyedocron, thinking about how Thoreau and his crew behaved got me thinking about our species' behavior towards this critter.

quote Mocha: "....believe me, if we had found a name or address on anything they would have received an early christmas present. .... "

i know someone who years ago found a quetico campsite trashed (copius piles of garbage strewn about the camp, hanging in trees etc), among the trash was a name tag and address on one of the items. he hauled the piles of stuff out with him, on the way out gave the item with name on it to the ranger who said that individual would be on a 'banned from the park' list. not sure if such a list exists or if anything ever came of it.

quote zski: "

quote Mocha: "....believe me, if we had found a name or address on anything they would have received an early christmas present. .... "

i know someone who years ago found a quetico campsite trashed (copius piles of garbage strewn about the camp, hanging in trees etc), among the trash was a name tag and address on one of the items. he hauled the piles of stuff out with him, on the way out gave the item with name on it to the ranger who said that individual would be on a 'banned from the park' list. not sure if such a list exists or if anything ever came of it.
"

Well when I told the woman at the office about the fires and that I could ID the offenders and their canoes who left the fires burning they were none to interested in getting the info. As I had a good description of the people and the numbers on their canoe.

Thanks for putting the fires out. Sorry to hear the Park had no interest in the offenders.

For the Q most of the camps are pretty clean, some small amounts of tinfoil in fire pit maybe, but the Q has also been home to the worst camps as far as well. I found a site on Argo once that had a whole Duluth pack worth of garbage and items left blind, huge amounts of plastic melted/molded into the fire pit. Another on William where people used the tent spots for sanitation and left tuna fish cans, eggs, canned meat in the fire pit all unburned too. Surprised a bear did not find it. Luckily these weren't on the same trip as I wouldn't be able to get it all out.

T

Sadly, that seems to be the human condition today. We are destroying the planet and hardly anyone cares. We see very little garbage in Quetico as compared to everywhere else. Living in Florida, there are almost no places that are garbage free. I would love to see a ban on aluminum foil in the Q. It is wasteful, IE: single use and far too messy when used.

This attitude starts at the top with corporations who dump their stuff wherever they can and politicians who refuse to put teeth in littering law enforcement. Did you see the photos of the red river in Russia?

It is our own fault for not electing the right people and not putting up gigantic stinks when we see these things happening. It is really frustrating.

I agree and even suggested to the staff at the park to have a ban on aluminum foil along with the bottle and can ban. I'm not sure what everyone is using the foil for other than maybe cooking fish on the coals.

I think most of the foil left in pits is from wrapping (candy, tea bags, power bars) that is coated or bonded with paper. The coating or the paper burns, the foil remains. I also am a foil picker and pack it out when picked. Though it is bothersome it is in the fire pit and relatively inert so the damage it does to one's "wilderness" is minimal; even from an aesthetic point of view.

quote Banksiana: "I think most of the foil left in pits is from wrapping (candy, tea bags, power bars) that is coated or bonded with paper. The coating or the paper burns, the foil remains. I also am a foil picker and pack it out when picked. Though it is bothersome it is in the fire pit and relatively inert so the damage it does to one's "wilderness" is minimal; even from an aesthetic point of view."

Most of the foil I find is regular old aluminum foil not from foil coated wrappers or packets.

My experience has been mostly sheet foil used for cooking as well.

Just a tip and kinda off topic, non-stick aluminum foil one of my favorite cooking aids. Works great and is easily reused, just wipe it off and fold it back up for use again.

butthead

quote butthead: "Just a tip and kinda off topic, non-stick aluminum foil one of my favorite cooking aids. Works great and is easily reused, just wipe it off and fold it back up for use again.


butthead"

So what do you use aluminum foil for? Fish? Pizza?

quote zski: "

quote Mocha: "....believe me, if we had found a name or address on anything they would have received an early christmas present. .... "

i know someone who years ago found a quetico campsite trashed (copius piles of garbage strewn about the camp, hanging in trees etc), among the trash was a name tag and address on one of the items. he hauled the piles of stuff out with him, on the way out gave the item with name on it to the ranger who said that individual would be on a 'banned from the park' list. not sure if such a list exists or if anything ever came of it.
"

That is my sentiment,ban them from the park. ZERO TOLERANCE>

"So what do you use aluminum foil for? Fish? Pizza?"

Have cooked fish, pancakes (regular and potato), bread sticks, biscuits, on this foil and in folded ovens from it, over the fire grates. Also suspend breads in a pot for single burner baking 1 of 4 baking a biscuit, part 4 of this old video . Reuse as much as possible pack it out after.

butthead

I agree with all of the above comments. My experience has been as disturbing as the messes found in the Q are what we have found further north in Ontario at long used First Nations sites is really disturbing. We have found plastic big wheel tricycles, garbage bags of used adult diapers (which take forever to burn), enough plastic sheeting stapled to saplings to build cabin sized enclosures, 50 gallon drums of steel and plastic, abandoned and presumably inoperable outboard motors, Canadian coins ($4-5.00 worth at one campsite), innumerable shell castings and all of these campsites contain empty cans and bottles sometimes in piles that must be decades in the making. The one upside is these long used sites are probably the best spots for campsites in an area where there are usually not many good spots for a campsite.

I use aluminum foil for pizza, fish, quesadillas to bake them over the fire. I guess when ya said you removed aluminum foil for the pit I assumed it was like burned up crystal lite or gator aide packets or other foil food packets that many camp foods come in. I've never found actual aluminum foil wrapping in a fire pit, but a lot of people burn their camp food packets in the fire---it looks like it is burning but it really turns into a small ball of aluminum foil. I am always cleaning that out from others, I used to get annoyed but now it is just what I do I guess.

I wouldn't want an aluminum foil ban, it would limit a lot of the foods/drinks I bring as I assume it would include all aluminum foil including foil packets. Can't believe I said aluminum foil that many times :)

T

Considering that Quetico has 1/10 of the visitors of the BWCA, the Q has much more of a trash problem. I noticed that the video and 'quiz' south of the border stresses LNT more than the orientation at the Q.

Also, I believe aluminum foil should be on the banned list along with glass bottles and cans. The inconvenience for the current users would be outweighed greatly by the joy of not being grossed out when looking at a fire pit.

I just got back from a 14 day trip. I made 7 different camps and all were free from garbage except for minor things like twist ties and small pieces of foil in the fire pit. However, on sunday Lake I was at a beautiful site at the north end east side and strangely there were fire place rocks near the bushes just outside the main fire pit area basically within 15 feet of the sitting area. Under each one was a fresh "dump". They couldn't even be bothered to walk in the woods let alone dig a hole. It absolutely disgusted me. I have no comment on whoever did this but they certainly couldn't care less about anyone else camping there in the future.

Overall I found the sites to be in great shape on this trip.

Camped at that site before. Nice site, but very disgusting they can't walk a little ways. I always walk a fair distance and get off the natural paths.

I like to do my business along the way away from any camps. Easy to find a place to pull over and poop.

I think it only fair to say that I just got back from an 8 day trip out of Beaverhouse thru Quetico, Jean, Burntside, Bentpine, Fair, Badwater, West Bay and was truly impressed at the lack of trash--basically none! Only one dug-up toilet mound by an animal. Thanks to those who tripped the right way before we got there!

I think the problem with aluminum foil is that many people believe it will burn if the fire is hot enough.

not true!

finding tinfoil doesn't bother me, finding discarded TP and other used hygeine products does :(