Julie Midura: Remember leave no trace principles when hiking this summer

To The Daily Sun,

As an avid hiker of the mountains in New Hampshire, I would like to share an important message regarding Leave No Trace principles . . . otherwise known as “Don’t leave any of your trash behind when you hike.” Basically, it’s what our mothers taught us when we were five years old.

For those who would never drop a water bottle or candy wrapper on the ground, but think nothing of leaving an orange peel, egg or pistachio shell . . . or any other item that is considered "natural" or "biodegradable," I ask you to research how long it takes for these items to break down in nature.

No, seriously . . . you can do it now.

I’ll wait.

Crazy, right?! I thought the same thing when I researched it! TWO years for a banana peel to decompose. Over THREE years for a pistachio shell. I don’t know about you, but to me, trash is trash. Whether it’s a "biodegradable in two weeks or in two years" item — or a water bottle that will be there FOREVER — it shouldn’t be in our sacred outdoor places.

For those who bring cans of their favorite beverage to celebrate with on the summit . . . you carried the can or bottle up when it weighed just under a pound. It weighs less than an ounce once empty. I would think that it would not be overly taxing to carry it back down at that point.

And what about the piles of used toilet paper on the sides of the trails while hiking? Definitely something I want to see while meandering on a pretty path in a beautiful moss-filled forest, don’t you agree?

Solutions abound ensuring that our eyes aren’t assaulted by mountains of TP in the forest, including a bandana, a Kula cloth, or a double thickness ziplock bag to place used toilet paper in.

We would never think to throw our candy wrapper, orange peel, or empty can on the floor in our homes. We also don’t throw our used toilet paper on our bathroom floor. So why is it that we think it’s acceptable to do those things when we’re in the wilderness?

It’s our responsibility to treat the wilderness the same way we treat our own homes. Because the wilderness IS home to thousands of other people who will come after us. Not to mention that many of the items that we hastily discard can be detrimental to the wild animals who attempt to ingest them.

With the warmer weather approaching, the trails are about to be repopulated by the masses of people who do not hike in winter. For the newer hikers who may be unfamiliar with what LNT entails, I implore you to do a a bit of research on the seven principles of LNT.

We owe it to each other.

We owe it to ourselves.

We owe it to those who will come after us.

We owe it to the natural places that many of us call our home.

Hike on!

Julie Midura

Ludlow, Massachusetts