What a bummer—you get to your campsite and admire the views, then look into the campfire pit just to see someone’s empty Coke can. Ugh. Why don’t people clean up after themselves??
How often has this happened to you? Where you find unburned garbage in a campsite’s campfire pit? Do you see it often? Once in a while? Have you been extremely fortunate and never seen such a thing?
Feel free to tell us about your experiences in the comments below after you vote.
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Worse than the trash in the fire ring is cigarette butts scattered around the camp
We always try to leave a campsite cleaner than we found it and find bottle caps embedded in the soil to be the most prevalent eyesore.
Somebody else did not show up to clean up. Leave nothing but footprints.
It always for us to be aluminum cans or foil. I guess people don’t understand that you can’t get it hot enough on a camp fire to melt. Toss it in the trash.
Very rarely since we hardly ever stay at a campground or an rv park that allows open fires. We think all open fires should be banned everywhere!!!
Well, that’s certainly becoming the American way. “I don’t like something so no one else should have it.”
My wife and I rarely have a fire, but when we camp with our oldest daughter’s family they always have one. My daughter loves to cook all kinds of things from breakfast to pizza to desserts over the open fire or hot coals and it’s all delicious. Sitting around the campfire in the evening is wonderful. Campfires are a natural part of the camping experience.
I totally agree with your first sentence, Mikal. Darned shame.
Ever since we put a new fireplace insert in our home living room and use it extensively in winter months to help heat the house, I just have trouble making campfires because I see that wood as heating material. HA! That’s just me, I guess.
What I see most often is they are used as ash trays.
We have seen unburned garbage a few times. Most of the campsites in which we have stayed lack fire pits, so we have not had many opportunities to see this.
Depends on the campsite. My state’s parks are clean . Michigan state forest sites fire rings are loaded with trash.
Speaking of trash Michigan did do one smart thing, they put trash cans in the pit toilets/ outhouses. In an attempt to keep people from throwing trash in the toilet .
Good point. Many a park has nowhere to put trash on the camping loops themselves, instead there are big dumpsters a mile away, convenient for the staff but not for the campers.
We have pretty much stopped using campground fire rings for several reasons.
*due to invasive pests, in much of the country, transported firewood is banned – – and purchased firewood is all too often insufficiently seasoned and/or not hardwood. Not to mention, often expensive.
*excessive smoke (see above)
*drought – so much of the regions where we camp have elevated fire hazard conditions. Wood that is not fully seasoned (see above) tends to pop and send sparks flying. I’d rather do without than continually chase around the area with a water bucket to douse those flying embers.
*if we want a cooking fire- sappy softwood (see above) tends to impart a turpentine’ish flavor to foods and it is more difficult to create a nice bed of coals. Might as well use charcoal.
As a Camp Host and seasonal DNR worker in a state park, I see this ALL THE TIME! It is disgusting. When I clean fire rings (the most dreaded job), I see diapers, food, cigarette butts, beer cans, dog poop bags, etc left behind. It seems a reflection of today’s society: selfish, and disrespectful. I often wonder if the perpetrators are also the ones who are so concerned about our environment. That would be ironic, now wouldn’t it??
My wife and I volunteered for ~10 years (NPS & NFS) primarily as campground hosts. Upon a guest leaving we would inspect the site cleaning up after them. Garbage in the fire pit, cigarette butts and bottle caps (beer & water/soda were the most prevalent problems). Seldom were the sites clean and ready for the next guest. It was always a very welcome surprise when we only had to clean ashes from the pit. As we walked through the campground we would comment to each other on how much cleaning we would face. The worst offenders was NFS campgrounds where “locals” had developed a sense of ownership and declared “they been camping there for 20, 25, 30 years they always did this or that and no-one ever said they couldn’t…” The rules didn’t apply to them.
Ironic, but I bet you’re correct, at least in some instances, Peggy. Have a great day. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
We once found a sewer hose in the camp fire ring. Talk about disgusting!!!!
We have seen this regularly, but mostly at state parks and NFS sites. We hardly ever see this at all in private campgrounds probably because they have someone who cleans the sites between guest. Our biggest complaint is cigarette butts all throughout the site. Anyone who travels with pets should be aware that nicotine is a poison so deadly to wildlife (pets too) that it was banned for agricultural use decades ago.
As a camp host my worst fire pit clean out was a large pile of cooked spaghetti! Try picking up that slimy mess. Agree that cigarette butts were the most common clean out.
Camping and camp fires in the evening, grand kids, bear stories and the like are part of the great outdoor experience. However, cleaning up is also a major part of the great outdoor experience. Cigarette butts, beer tabs, bottle caps are bad enuf, but perhaps the worst offender, sunflower seed shells scattered all over the campsite; difficult to pick up too. We always clean the site and the fire pit as well. I usually bag the ashes and leave the bag in the fire pit for easy pick up by park personnel. (Most don’t want ashes thrown in the trash bins). They are well drowned by the way! Respect our beautiful country – Leave only footprints and tire tracks for nature to deal with.
If you find trash in a fire pit one time……….THAT’S ONE TIME TOO MANY!!
AGREED!!
It is mind boggling why people have to be such pigs when they camp. Why can’t they treat a campground like their backyard (maybe they do?) and be more considerate? I really don’t understand…. 🙁
My yellow lab always found it before we did!
Never. We don’t camp around open flame.
We camp hosted once. The people on sites we thought would leave a mess all over as it was a mess when they were there, left everything so clean. Then you have those that thinking it’s okay to leave messes! Dirty diapers, dog poo in the baggies, styrofoam take out food containers, things that broke during their stay,nails stack around the perimeter of the fire pit, I can go on and on but I’ve said more than enough!
Mitzi here. Smoking causes blindness? When I smoked in 1967 I stubbed out my butt, then picked it up and stashed it in my jeans cuff till I could get to my car’s ashtray. I guess nobody rolls their jean cuff anymore? I stopped smoking in 1969 when I had to choose between a carton of cigarettes or a week’s worth of food.