I am someone who spends an absurd amount of time in the mountains. It’s the place I like to get away from the city, escape the chaos and enjoy the outdoors. It’s my version of paradise, but unfortunately these beautiful places are being ruined by reckless hikers who have been littering and leaving garbage, food, bottles and cans instead of packing out their trash.
Recently due to the popularization of hiking and adventuring due to social media, beautiful parks in BC are being destroyed and closed down due to littering. One specific case of this is a natural hot spring location called KeyHole Hot Springs, located in Pemberton, BC. Due to ‘geotagging’ on social media, Vancouverites and travellers over-visited the area and left mass amounts of food, garbage and cans which intrigued local black bear populations. The situation became dire when these bears were so used to humans, they began charging anyone with backpacks and the park is now permanently closed to visitors to prevent people from getting injured, and to protect the bears from getting destroyed.
As a result, local Vancouverites and Influencers have been advocating for the ‘leave no trace’ policy and actively encourage people to pack out what they pack in on hikes, as local areas are seeing more and more traffic and pollution. Another BC park affected by littering and overpopulation is Joffre Lakes, which was also popularized by instagram and social media. It is now common to see influencers protecting these areas and doing garbage cleanups on hikes to help keep these places clean.
Therefore, when adventuring this summer, please be conscious of what you pack in and out. Leave no trace is more than just an idea and campaign to make sure you clean up your trash, but instead its about leaving parks better than you found it, so everyone is allowed the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of nature.
References:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/i-ve-never-seen-that-much-garbage-pair-of-hikers-carry-out-other-people-s-garbage-1.4159391
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/keyhole-hot-springs-closed-why-1.4132931
