Energy Gel Litter all along Kedumba to Leura Track!

[ferozious]

I did the Mt. Solitary loop over the weekend.

On the firetrail from Kedumba back to Leura I picked up AT LEAST 15 empty energy gel sachets that people had carelessly left behind.

Was there a big group of runners on this track recently?

Is a 2g sachet really that hard to carry out?

Shame on you whoever this was.

[greenpro]

I believe the North Face 100 race went through there a few weeks ago, so possibly from that !

[wildwalks]

Hi Ferozious

Good work for picking them up -- It makes me grumpy too. It is encouraging to see people who are willing to clean up after the (thankfully rare) careless people.

Thanks

Matt

[ferozious]

The organisers of these events really should conduct a team to go back over the route to collect rubbish.

I also managed to score myself a Kathmandu WindFleece Glove which was left on the track. Does this belong to anyone??

[wildwalks]

It might be worth emailing the organisors of the northface and let them know about the rubbish left behind and request that they look consider sending a cleanup team through. If you don't get any joy then contact NPWS who needs to approve their plans for future events -- They can enforce the idea next year.
It is possible it was not them, so give them the benefit of the doubt - but the timing is suggestive.

Matt

[ULWalkingPhil]

I walked through there course on the other side the day after the event and never noticed any rubbish but all there signs on the track are still there and no one to be seen.


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[ferozious]

I walked through there course on the other side the day after the event and never noticed any rubbish but all there signs on the track are still there and no one to be seen.

Interesting. The rubbish I came across could have just been from a single group of excessive energy gel addicts. There was a great variety of brands of energy gel.

haha, possibly a product comparison trip.

[Strider]

At least its not broken glass, like I seem to find constantly along my local!

[FatCanyoner]

It might be worth emailing the organisors of the northface and let them know about the rubbish left behind and request that they look consider sending a cleanup team through. If you don't get any joy then contact NPWS who needs to approve their plans for future events -- They can enforce the idea next year.
It is possible it was not them, so give them the benefit of the doubt - but the timing is suggestive.

I'd CC NPWS into it at the first instance. These big events are all licensed by NPWS. I'm certain they would have something in that license that requires them to ensure all rubbish is removed (they have signage etc temporarily in place too). If it's not them they'll be fine, but it doesn't hurt having some extra oversight. An event with hundreds of people -- many who do not have the normal bushwalking ethics -- is always a recipe for disaster. Perhaps making rubbish part of the pre-race briefing, as well as the threat of being disqualified if caught littering, would be a good start to ensure those extra few grams of rubbish are tucked away. While I'm on my high horse, perhaps a ban on those *&%$#! blue foam mats the scouts / duke of ed kids all seem to use. I'm sick of following trails of blue 'breadcrumbs' through the bush!

[Strider]

I'd CC NPWS into it at the first instance. These big events are all licensed by NPWS.

I would just email NPWS only. It would then be up to them to track down the source, without any finger pointing up front.

[DaveNoble]

I've been up that way a bit lately - and you can't help noticing all the mountain runners out and about. I'm not sure if they are doing training runs or pleasure runs or what - but there is a lot of them running around the valley or down the Grose etc. Most of the ones I have seen, seem to be doing the right thing - carrying out their rubbish etc. I did see one with a dog. On a recent trip - whilst camping on Mt Solitary, I was up to photograph the sunrise, and the first runner came through about 6:30am - and there was a constant stream after that.

Dave

[Allchin09]

FatCanyoner - Nothing wrong with using the blue foam mats, they just have to be in a suitable bag or tucked away in ones pack!

[Nick S]

Darn blue mats. There were bits of blue mat all along the Southern ranges traverse in Tassie.. The logbook on PB had an entry from 2 years ago pondering their source. 2 years ago..

[colinm]

We teach the scouts to pack properly. DoE is my guess.

[Wolfix]

Trek 4 Timor has a dedicated Sweep Crew that walks the entire 50km route at the end, collecting all the signs and rubbish. Last year we met them on Kedumba Valley Rd to take them home at about 2am. Whoever organises NF100 should take a leaf out of T4T's book, more specifically, the Bush Lemons convenor Jocelyn, who almost singlehandedly organises the Katoomba event.

[jonnosan]

I was on an SBW walk to Mt Solitary in early April (i.e. a few weeks before the NF100). We picked up whole bunch of discarded gel packets and 'energy' drink bottles at the turnoff to Sublime Point Ridge firetrail. So I think it's more likely private runners than the race.

I am sure it is only a small number of selfish prats, not all runners are like that, I did note though there were a few groups of runners who overtook us, and others coming up the hill, it is kind of disappointing that it didn't occur to any of them to clean up the mess.