BLOG #65 CAMPFIRES AND YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES

                                                CAMPFIRES, AND YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES 
There’s nothing like enjoying a campfire while camping out at your favorite lake.

BUT, in the last three weeks I have found two campfires burning, and no one was around. 

Up at Upper Glidden Lakes, I hiked in to have dinner by the lake.
During dinner, I noticed considerable trash laying about.
After dinner as I was packing up to leave, I started picking up trash. As I reached for the trash in the fire pit, I felt the heat of a smoldering campfire.
I dumped the trash out and ran down to the lake to get water to extinguish the ashes. It took three trips to the lake to put the fire out.

Flash forward three weeks. While I was up at Upper Stevens Lake to assess the avalanche debris that has blocked the trail, I had my lunch next to the lake. 
There was a group of very polite young people, getting ready to head down the trail.
I ate lunch with the always great views of the Stevens Peak massive.
When I was done eating, I scanned the area for trash. There was very little to pick up.
But then I started picking out unburned trash from the pit.
And low and behold, the fire pit was smoldering hot.
No I don’t know that it was left by the group of kids, but there was evidence that they tried to extinguish the fire, but did not finish the job.

The moral of these stories is simple…..if you leave a fire, even smoldering, it can cause a fire that can destroy whole areas or forests.

A single plastic grocery bag weighs only 6 grams.
They can be used for trash pickup, dog and human poop removal, and for putting out fires, among many other uses.

Because most grocery bags leak, they are perfect to transport water to the fire pit. All you have to do, is direct the leak onto the burning ashes.
A plastic grocery bag can hold about 1.5 gallons of water.

Even if it takes many trips to extinguish a fire, it’s worth the effort to save our natural wonders.

So my advice to every hiker, paddler, backpacker, climber, camper, or Rv’er, is to carry many bags with you.
They are light and can save entire forests from burning.
The Stevens Peak and Lakes area are some of the best hiking, camping and scrambling areas around Spokane.
This area last burned in 1923. 
​
It is filled with such beauty, it would be a shame to see it charred and wasted.
While this BLOG is still on your mind, fold up 5 or 6 grocery bags, and put them in a ziplock for whatever use they are needed for.
You too can be a hero. All you have to do is plan ahead.


Thank you all for reading and using InlandNWRoutes.com,

Chic              David


InlandNWRoutes.com