Michael: A Mission

The day won’t wake up
Her grey eyes turning away
From the morning sky.

Sunday, May 17, 2015

There is one glaring negative about some of the trails here. At campsites, or where people gather to relax, like at a swimming hole or hot spring, there is usually an unsightly amount of trash. The pack it in; pack it out ethos doesn‘t seem to have taken hold here as strongly as it has in the states.

I don’t feel we’re capable of doing much to influence peoples attitudes about cleaning up after themselves. Instead, we’ve decided to help by cleaning up the Western Trail.

Logistically, the majority of that clean up is going to have to wait until we can camp overnight. Several of the campsites are near the peak and are going to require an overnight stay to give us the time we need to clean,  carry the trash to the cans at the peak by the transmitters, then scramble down to camp.

And camping overnight is going to have to wait until we bring our camping equipment here from the states. We’re actually excited about that. It’ll give us a chance to test out how waterproof some of our equipment is. In our nearly three years together and 10+ overnighters we’ve only been caught out in the rain once. That was early in the morning near Ojai a couple of years ago. Our lightweight ponchos worked great keeping us and our packs dry. But we haven’t been rained on overnight or while we set up camp. That’s a strong possibility here.

As a trail runner I’ve also been concerned, as have many others, about accidentally leaving gel wrappers or their rip off tabs out on the trail. That’s why I make my own gel and use a flask. Gels are expensive and not as popular here as they are in the states, but flasks aren’t used as an alternative. In fact none of the bike shops or sporting goods stores around here or the bike shops or stores in Panama City had flasks. People here pretty much rely on old fashioned store bought sweets. And just like in the states, parts of those wrappers sometimes get left behind.

So many people here find a way to contribute to the community. Now Kimme and I have a mission we feel good about and know we can accomplish.