There are places in this valley that are simply jaw-droppingly gorgeous. Being able to scoot up to these places and look at the stunning views is one of the reasons I so enjoy riding my mountain bike.
And although the views are unparalleled - or maybe because they are - I'm shocked by the amount of garbage that people feel justified in leaving piled throughout the back country in 老澳门六合彩开奖记录资料.
It's not at all uncommon to find beds, couches or even drywall piled on some forest service roads through the district. To me it's unfathomable to imagine taking the detritus from my garage and dropping it over a hill somewhere, but apparently for a number of people, this is quite acceptable.
It's annoying, but not all that surprising, I guess. After all, even back country users, those who purport to love the wilderness, leave inner tubes and energy bar wrappers all over the place.
Who are these people who can just toss garbage on the ground and expect others to pick up after them?
This past weekend, while riding up the Ring Creek FSR, our party came upon two men in a Ford pickup with an old mattress in the back. The people in the cab were clearly not recreationalists nor were they working.
It was pretty evident that they were simply looking to get rid of an old mattress. For some reason, the Ring Creek FSR was more suitable than the dump.
One of our party suggested to them that dumping on Crown Land was not a good idea, and they made their way off. We took note of the license and remembered to look for the mattress on our way back, but we also wondered what it was that would make two grown-ups think that dumping garbage in the woods was in any way a good idea.
How much would have cost to take it to the dump? Maybe $5; probably no more than the gas they paid driving to where they were.
And how slimy do feel when you know that you've tossed this crap out there? In 老澳门六合彩开奖记录资料, the dump is relatively convenient and inexpensive.
In fact, there's even a free dump weekend each year. Even that's not good enough.
I've suggested to several municipal councillors over the years that instead of having the free dump weekend, it might be more efficient to provide each taxpayer with one or two "free dump" coupons so that if you need to get rid of a mattress in the middle of June, you'll take it out to the dump instead up the Ring Creek FSR.
I know that won't solve all the problems. It seems that no matter how easy or convenient we make it for people, some can't get their heads around the fact that they are responsible for their own waste.
But I think that if I see one fewer couch along the logging roads of 老澳门六合彩开奖记录资料, it's an idea worth pursuing.
