On 17 Aug 2004 at 13:16, cholst_at_bitstream.net wrote: > The day we camped on rock, we put driftwood sticks through the stake > loops and then piled rocks on them. I have a new (well, sort of - it's a coupla years old, but I'm finally starting to use it) tent and it has some webbing in a few spots to peg down. I find that in Georgian Bay, the rocks that you use for ballast are occasionally sharp. I like the webbing instead of line to wrap around the rock, since it seems to hold up against abrasion better. One of my paddling buddies brought some light climber's webbing on last week's trip and I watched him cut it into convenient lengths and tie to various points around his tent. These he wrapped around rocks. I 've only had one line seriously abrade against a rock and it was on this trip - a tarp tiedown. It made me appreciate the value of webbing. > (An unpleasant discovery I made while gathering rocks at this site -- > on Spain Island, for those who know it -- was that one rock was > sitting on a pile of shit. When I looked around, I saw flags of fresh > toilet paper behind several bushes. There was no excuse for this, as > there was easy access to the woods above the clearing where I found > this stuff where it was quite easy to dig cat holes in the duff.) Every fall, our club (Great Lakes Sea Kayaking Association) spends a weekend on Georgian Bay and cleans up Franklin Island. We've also made several thunderboxes and placed them at popular campsites. This in an attempt to prevent the sort of mess that Chuck describes. On last week's trip, we spent a night on Franklin. The first couple of campsites we wanted were taken, but the first empty one we found was disgusting. I remember when I helped dig and place the thunderbox (TB) at this specific site a few years ago. The following year, we added wooden signs to point out where the TB was. In spite of this, there were _lots_ of piles of toilet paper and crap all over - within a few meters of the TB! At a couple of campsites, some users have decided to employ a new method for distributing shit. They make a little frame to hold a toilet seat. They use this to sit and do their business. However, every time they do their business, they move the seat to a new spot. This is out on the rock, so the stuff doesn't degrade, it just washes into the lake when it rains! Doesn't anyone know about hygiene these days? Lauramercy, when I was 12, I learned how to make a septic system in school! I know dogs that are cleaner than these people! We ended up doing two liftovers into the Little Lakes - accessable only to canoes and kayaks. These sites, unlike the sites accessed by motor boaters, were spotless (surprise). This year, I'm in charge of the cleanup. I'll tell you, it makes me question why we even bother. Every year it's the same pigsty. If those people want to live in a cesspool, why should we interfere? We can paddle off to other islands and camp. Mike *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Wed Aug 18 2004 - 17:09:36 PDT
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