I had the day off today, since the ship is still in the midst of its holiday stand down, and I decided to head out to Iron Mountain in Poway. It’s been a while since I’ve been there, as I’ve been spending a lot of time at Cowles Mountain and the trails around that area. The trail is just about 2.75 miles to the summit and it’s relatively easy. There are a few spots where you can take a slightly alternate route and see some different spots on the trail. The parking lot was crowded compared to the last time I was there, but there was about the same number of people on the trail, so it was alright.
Here’s the map link: http://maps.google.com/?q=http://share.abvio.com/8215/2711/4e89/e113/Runmeter-Hike-20120104-0911.kml
On the way down, I came across something for me to move up a notch on my “hating people on hiking trails” scale. There on the side of the trail was two Starbucks cups. It was about a mile or so from the trail head, and I’m not sure if they left them there to pick up on the way out or not, but I stopped and stuck the litter into the back of my CamelBak to carry out to a trash can. Typically, I haven’t bothered with litter before on the trail, mostly because it’s stuck in the bushes on a slope or something like that. And I don’t even understand why people bag dog crap and leave that on the side of the trail. This time, two christmas themed Starbucks cups had to go. I’m not sure what people don’t understand about the Leave No Trace concept. If you can’t carry it, don’t bring it with you on the trail.
On an unrelated note, while I was on the internet the other day, I stumbled across a site that I spent a considerable amount of time on. http://www.100peaks.com/ is dedicated to chronicling 100 Peaks of San Diego County and Santa Barbara. There’s a lot of good information about the trails in San Diego, and I’ll likely spend a lot of time there searching for my next adventure. The irony happened last night when I got notification of a comment placed on my post from the 2nd of this month. It was from the author of that site. Something like that suddenly made the internet not so big. Thanks Derek.
Thanks for the shout out, Thomas. I’ve also had my moments where I wish some trails could be kept secret.
What I’ve found is that the amount of trash on a trail is relative to its popularity and if it is accessible by vehicles. I’ve carried 40 oz. beer bottles in my pack before, to get them off the trail. (See Cedar Creek Falls, Lawson and Gaskill Peaks, and the dirt road in Mount Laguna that leads to Pine Mountain.)
But truly my goal is not only to get people out on the trail, but to take care of them, as well.
That being said, my favorite hikes have been the ones where I’ve felt removed from it all.