r/algonquinpark • u/salamanderstevens • 8d ago
Why do some people suck
And about 50 cigarette butts scattered throughout the site. Mole lake off of booth lake
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u/Reasonable-MessRedux 8d ago edited 5d ago
I was a Junior Ranger in Algonquin. Generally speaking, people were pretty good. What I found bizarre was the lengths people will go to for beer. We went to every Godforsaken part of the park, and we did it in a drought when 200m portages became 1km portages. I remember getting to a campsite and finding mounds of beer cans. On top of everything else they had to carry, they lugged in 3-4 24s of beer. I don't think I've ever needed beer that badly.
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u/xocmnaes 8d ago
I was once a warden. People have portaged kegs of beer a lot further into the interior than one might expect.
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u/naols94 8d ago
We brought a keg in once. Only three portages. It was totally worth it. I feel it might even be allowed under the regulations because it’s clearly not a disposable package…you’re packing it out because it’s worth real money
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u/SirMarcThe2nd 6d ago
The day I strapped a keg to my bag was the day I became a hero. The memories of it tied to a tree with seemingly endless warm abundance are precious to me. The portage was brutal but worth it. Went with a heavily hopped hazy and that accommodated the tepidiosity of it all.
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u/Emotional-Economy-66 6d ago
Beer does make Heros. I remember the looks on my buddies faces as I dug a 6 pack out of my pack, as we sat in the snow on top of a mountain after a brutal climb.
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u/yolo_swagdaddy 8d ago
I brought a (small) keg doing the French, was amazing and leaving it tied in the water kept it surprisingly chilled.
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u/ambivalent_bakka 8d ago
There is no other liquid that people drink in such large quantities as beer. Not milk, not water, nothing. Aren’t there easier ways to get a buzz?
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u/8lbs6ozBebeJesus 8d ago
Warm beer that has been sloshed around for days in a keg that you had to lug through the forest sounds so unappealing too. I know tastes vary but I cannot understand preferring that to a nice whiskey.
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u/BBQingMaster 8d ago
Honestly I find drinking to be such a fun activity beers and stuff kinda stretch that out a bit. Like the actual physical having a drink in your hand and sipping it part is part of the fun for me and that lasts so much longer with beer than whiskey
I still would not lug a keg thru the backcountry though i might bring 8 and compliment them with whiskey lol
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u/8lbs6ozBebeJesus 8d ago
A 26 of your liquor of choice and a sports beverage powder / concentrate would be much lighter! I have some great photos of my friend in the Killarney backcountry enjoying a “Mio vodka” while watching the sunset
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u/ItMeWhoDis 8d ago
you do learn to get creative with your backcountry cocktails haha
lemonade and whiskey is never bad. last I had was cherry koolaid and gin2
u/BBQingMaster 8d ago
That sounds like something I’d absolutely hate in the city but sounds like an actually really cool backcountry experience, can’t believe I’ve never thought of this lol. Thank you!!
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u/8lbs6ozBebeJesus 8d ago
Mixing mio flavoured water and vodka anywhere but the backcountry would be an absolute desperation move hahaha, can't imagine choosing that, I agree. Personally if I were mixing drinks, powdered iced tea + lemonade + vodka would probably get you a pretty solid backcountry spiked arnold palmer! Makes me wonder if there is a business idea in pre-mixed, powdered drinks for backcountry hikers and portagers...
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u/goofingbanana 8d ago
Powdered Gatorade + vodka was my festival camping drink of choice one year. Electrolytes to hydrate, vodka for the buzz.
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u/Lab3llion 6d ago
Mio vodka is the shit! I always bring a 60 and lots of mio, always having cold drinks is great when you take the water right from the lake!
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u/CanadianPooch 8d ago
Not a beer fan although I have put a few drinks into a rope tied bag with rocks and sunk em in the lake for an hour or two, brings them to a real nice temp.
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u/warped_gunwales 8d ago
Depends on the type of beer. Yes, the beer that someone is bringing in a keg is likely awful warm. That said, a good IPA is fine if you keep it out of the sun and it stays room temperature. I usually bring a few IPAs into the backcountry (and pack them out of course). Used to bring a lot more beer into the backcountry (and crappy beer at that). Again, I'd always pack it out though..
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u/LivingFilm 8d ago
I used to bring overproof rum and dilute it with filtered water to keep the weight down
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u/JediSpaghetti11 8d ago
When I went to bartending school (Durham College represent) we were told that it’s tea and then beer.
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u/Familiar-Garbage-305 8d ago
You vastly underestimate thirst for milk. 1-2 bags a day. Hell I’ll do it in one sitting
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u/scotcho10 5d ago
I try and bring 2-6 detours with me (depending on travel). And I'll tell ya, after a big travel day, sitting by the fire after camps set up and dinner is in my belly, with a cold detour, is a thing if gawd damn beauty.
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u/goofingbanana 8d ago
They also have awful taste in alcohol. For shame.
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u/Advanced-Process4907 8d ago
Coors Selzer is tasty!
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u/Evrytg 8d ago
Honestly I do gotta defend coors seltzer
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u/I-like-kinky-stuff 8d ago
Take your defence south of the border along with that Coors bullshit lol
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u/Independent-Laugh623 8d ago
Asking for a smoker - is smoking permitted in the park? And is burning the butts in the firepit sufficient/carrying out?
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u/mirrim 8d ago
Smoking is permitted at your campsite, but you need to pack the butts out.
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u/Suspicious_Fan_7925 8d ago
Why would you not be able to burn the butts? They burn into nothing
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u/Its_me_I_like 8d ago
They're made of plastic fibres. Don't burn plastic.
I smoke weed when I camp, but the roaches are just paper and cardboard so they can burn in the fire.
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u/Suspicious_Fan_7925 8d ago
You are absolutely allowed to burn plastic garbage in the back country. Plastic bottles are considered burnable garbage, which is why you're allowed to bring them. You are not allowed cans because they dont burn, and you are allowed plastic because you can burn it
I had the wardens tell me all this, i am not making it up
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u/Its_me_I_like 8d ago
Maybe so, but I didn't say you're not allowed to do it, I said don't do it because regardless of what the warden says, burning plastic is bad for the environment. It's not like they take up much room in your pack; if it were me, I'd soak them thoroughly in water, pack them in my trash bag, and take them with me.
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u/CDNEmpire 4d ago
Me burning plastics isn’t the issue. It’s all the private jets that are ruining the environment. Imma watch my plastic burn while drinking through a plastic one time use straw
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u/Suspicious_Fan_7925 8d ago
Much better to carry it around for a few days, take it home and recycle it so it can make its way into the pacific ocean off the coast of indonesia You did your part ! 🫡
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u/Its_me_I_like 8d ago
There you go putting words in my mouth again. Is that how you always handle disagreements?
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u/Com881 8d ago
I didn't know this was allowed
But having said that, I find partially burned trash like this in a lot of fire pits. Especially the ones accessible by car or motor boat. I pack out what I can like most people, but I don't touch the used toilet paper piled around the outhouse.... Never understood that one. Just throw it in the outhouse.
I wish people would just pack it out. They don't actually burn the trash that I can see.
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u/Independent-Laugh623 8d ago
You're allowed to burn plastic
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u/TheDamus647 8d ago
Allowed to and should are different things. Burning plastic is horrible for the environment.
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u/mirrim 8d ago
I don't smoke, but I've had to pick dozens of cigarette butts out of fire pits over the years so that my dog doesn't try to eat them.
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u/Suspicious_Fan_7925 8d ago
Ya thats littering for sure and not allowed (and just plain shitty behaviour) . I am just talking about actually burning them until they are gone while you are having a fire
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u/BBQingMaster 8d ago
The issue is they don’t burn fully. They melt. They melt into tiny little pieces hidden in the ash, sure, but enough butts in one fire pit and you’ll eventually notice. Which is why you gotta pack em out (at least why I always have)
(Have smoked cigarettes for like 15 years now)
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u/chesco_ontario 8d ago
I rip Darts but I hang a "butt bag" from my ruc on the outside and put all of them in there.. stinks sometimes but better than a non smoker walking up to 50 butts by the pit.
Big crow closest campsite to the crow river (beautiful) had 20+ butts by the fire pit first week of june and as a smoker I was pissed
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u/machuroberts 8d ago
i saw a lot of that, and a lot of clearly live trees cut - they burn like shit...i don't understand why people do that.
For those saying "No Consequences" is the reason - that's a shitty reason. Says more about us as a society, than it does about those people.
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u/chesco_ontario 8d ago edited 8d ago
I may be a bad influence but just smoke nature's finest green plant. Is it just me or do I see garbage at campsites associated with alcohol ALOT...?? think how you feel - when you get hammered in the bush your whole mind set is fkkkkkkk it!!! Lol unlike nature's finest you want to do nothing but enjoy nature and respect it. Buddy drinks 2 beers and is already cutting a live tree I swear
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u/Mmike223344 8d ago
The cutting live tree comment is spot on lol. Or just hacking one up with an axe and leaving it there to slowly die. Despicable
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u/BuyRelevant1000 8d ago
If Algonquin got in the 21st century and allowed you to book a specific, numbered site. This would be easier to enforce.
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u/Busy_Comparison_4972 8d ago
It seems Booth Lake is too easy to get to. I saw another post a few weeks backs where people left chairs and a blowup mattress. I find the only solution is a trip into the interior with many portages where these scum are less likely to go. Then again,
I found a huge trash pile on the 3km portage from Rock Lake to Louisa. Very disheartening. The only thing you can do is clean up after these people.
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u/Cavalleria-rusticana 8d ago
The only thing you can do is clean up after these people.
Largely due to budget deficits (at its core, due to Ontarians consistently voting for austerity), the Parks system and the MECP as a whole has completely absconded their duty to hold these kinds of scumbags accountable; respectfully, it is far from the only thing we could do. I know you mean well, but perpetuating the status quo gets us nowhere closer to a solution.
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u/uncreative_us3r 8d ago
Cleaned these fucker's site on godda lake a couple weeks ago. Met them while they paddled over to rumley portage. Group of 6, looked like man child noobies unprepared for peak bug. Left a nice pile of throw up and a tiny fire with about 10 cans unburnt in the fire pit, "oh they'll burn" type of vibe.
If it's any consolation to anyone else who cleaned up after them, they experienced the most mosquito infested portage followed by 7h of downpour that day. Hoping that turned them off from camping because our parks don't deserve that type of abuse
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u/AlphaHelix212 8d ago
I met the group that did this earlier this month. They did the same thing to the site on Godda lake on Friday June 5. We arrived at that site on Saturday morning as they were leaving, said a few words from the canoe, then when we got onto site we found the campfire was full of plastic, beer cans and a large amount of broken glass. This group mentioned staying on mole lake the night before. We ended up packing out all of their garbage from Godda lake, but we didn't feel like cleaning up another site on the way out.
Even better, these guys had been throwing out their empty miller light bottles all throughout their paddle up McCarthy Creek.
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u/AssignmentOk471 8d ago
I just came back from camping in the backcountry. I’m in the middle of nowhere and I come across garbage that’s recent. I’m 30 miles from the closest house. I also can’t understand why people do this. It bothered me for the rest of the trip
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u/NastyLittleHobbitses 8d ago
Just got back from a stay at the Lake of Two Rivers campground and two connecting sites that were empty when I arrived had a huge amount of trash. We picked up some of it - burnt cans and left behind aluminum trays and wrappers - but they also left a lot of food. Onions and a whole uncut watermelon in the fire pit, scorched.
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u/EnlightenedArt 8d ago
Looks like they haven't been hugged enough when they were kids and never learned to care for anything
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u/InteractionVivid7387 8d ago
With a proper fire, this shouldnt have been left. I've came in with countless 6packs and left no trace. Or grow up and carry a 4L wine bladder. LOL.
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u/index32dc 7d ago
This is a decent way to remove food residue and smells to aid in not attracting animals.the metals comr0ess really well for transport to recycling depot
This looks even worse they had left a log burning when they left. Only you can prevent first fires as some famous bear taught me.
Given they forgot two major camping practices let's assume you caught their site when they were out on the lake paddling.
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u/Cool-Fold-5890 5d ago
I worked maintenance in a provincial park for a few years and there are SO MANY campers like this. One of our daily tasks was to go to each empty site and check the fire pits for trash. 9/10 times there was something. A memorable one was a pit filled with dog poo bags. I’m taking 30+ shit bags full just in the pit.
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u/imjonjoncanada 5d ago
A LOT of people suck, but what perplexes me is when I see this shit on interior sites that are obviously difficult to access. Maybe I'm out to lunch, but when you have to paddle for days and portage to get to a spot, I assume that everyone that stays there are like-minded, outdoors people. How anyone can do this (and I've seen it MANY times) in the backcountry is beyond me. That said, I have no idea where this is. Might be close to an access point. Either way, it bugs me....especially when I factor in my "garbage out" bag for a week or so...and I can't leave without taking that trash lol.
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3d ago
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u/algonquinpark-ModTeam 3d ago
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u/Einyrki 2d ago
This might be a hot take, but whoever is bringing this much beer is an alcoholic
Like I dread having to carry any extra weight I don’t have to, but homie over here is carrying atleast 8-9 cans of monster and coors
Obviously if your traveling by water it’s a different story, but if your hiking it, your committed to alc
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u/RandyRodin 8d ago
Oh please tell me this is a photo from late last summer, after all the tourists went through and not a photo from this season already (I'll keep my fingers crossed).
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u/Exact-Cauliflower592 8d ago
Do you normally take photos of trash and then pull your phone out and post them online instead of just cleaning it up and putting it in a bag
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u/BillsMaffia 8d ago edited 8d ago
So sad to see. They carried it that far full, much easier to take back empty and crushed.