Granite Gear pack manufacturer said three hikers it sponsored packed out 1,090 pounds of trash collected during their five-month hike along the Appalachian Trail.
In March, the Minnesota-based company sponsored a team of three friends that had set out to hike and clean up the Appalachian Trail, and five months and 2,190 miles later they had successfully packed out 1,090 pounds of trail trash.
“To clean up, walk along, and live on one of America’s greatest trails has been the most amazing experience,” said Seth “Cap” Orme, founder of Packing it Out. “Achieving our goal to inspire others and raise awareness created a huge sense of accomplishment among the Packing it Out crew. To feel completely alive and to do what you’re passionate about every single day is the greatest triumph I can think of. ”
Stemming from the Leave No Trace principle “pack it in, pack it out”, the Packing It Out team accounts for their own items but focuses more heavily on the things that haven’t been packed out by others. In order to remove as much waste as possible, the team carried extra heavy duty trash bags and extra cordage to accommodate heavier loads, such as mattresses. Often having to carry trash for up to 4 days before finding a receptacle, the team relied on the kindness of others to help them dispose of the garbage at trail heads.
“I can’t recall a single time that someone denied taking the trash away,” says Orme. “We can’t express how thankful we are for the help of strangers.”
The job of packing out trash did, however, take a toll on the physical bodies of the team and Spice actually ended the thru-hike 300 miles early, due to injury. Once the team has healed and rested, the plan is to keep packing it out on a smaller scale until they attempt the PCT in 2016. They hope to maintain their trail fitness the best they can by getting out and cleaning up local trails.
