# Pack in....Pack OUT!



## K9SAR (Jul 26, 2010)

We drove up to Dick's Creek (at Chestatee WMA) yesterday, and, of course, Dick's Creek was packed.  We drove a little farther up to some of the falls just below the sliding rock, etc. and I couldn't help but notice some things....

1. TRASH!  TRASH everywhere!  Whatever happened to "Pack it in.  Pack it out?"  I noticed that some people at least made some sort of an effort by bringing large lawn and garden bags, securing them to a tree, and putting their trash in it.        Then they left them.  

Other people just LEFT their trash scattered all over where they camped, alongside the creeks, on the trails, etc.  

WTH?! 

They're obviously outdoors lovers so why not be a little more respectful and CLEAN UP AFTER THEMSELVES?  

P.S. If you have to poop outdoors, BURY IT!  No one wants to walk up to a waterfall, etc. hear flies buzzing around, and the overwhelming baked stench of human feces all over the place.  

2. When you're driving on a "not maintained for passenger vehicle roads," it's best not to try to drive as fast as possible on this one-lane, non-maintained road either behind someone or approaching someone.  It's probably not a good idea to drink, drive, and have your buddy laying on the roof of your car while you try to slam on the brakes and throw him off because you think it's funny.  Also, if you're just dead-set and determined to ride someone's rear end on one of these roads, don't be p'ed off if, when you get back on the paved section and the main road, rocks fly out from the treads of their SUV and smack right into your windshield.  

3. It's okay to use DOWNED trees for firewood in an area, but do not attempt to chop down your OWN tree for firewood.  There are plenty of downed trees around there.  There's no need to go all Paul Bunyan in the area and try to hack down a 14" diameter tree with a camping hatchet.  


I plan on going up there sometime in the next few weekends along with some friends of mine with whom we go hunting, fishing, and camping up in that area and attempt to clean it up.  We will pack out the trash instead of leaving it in bags there.  I just can't believe some folks.  


And then they wonder why day use areas and campsites are being closed down and turned into private property!


----------



## george hancox (Jul 26, 2010)

and they want more of these people on our wma's that we have to pay for.


----------



## chiefsquirrel83 (Jul 26, 2010)

I just got back from there....the folks live up the road from their....I normally go to Bogg's but figured I would try Dicks! I have never in my life seen so much trash...."People and garbage"....it was ridiculous.....beer cans floating in the water....little Honda's blocking the rd....and the worse!!! People taking DUMPS in the middle of the walk ways on the side of the stream....they need to put the day use fee back in place!....i saw GROWN MEN catching trout taking them off the hook and throwing them back in the water via softball underhand toss....the waterfall was covered with fat bodies in bikinis!!!....it was sad!!! I remember growing up....it was a secret only to the real campers and fishermen...now its a public pool....anyways...I ended the weekend with a limit from Bogg's and Frogtown Creeks


----------



## LEON MANLEY (Jul 26, 2010)

The real problem is that these slobs don't care if it gets closed down or not. They will just migrate to the next place and trash it out.

NO HOME TRAINING.       It's not today's kids it's yesterday's parents.


----------



## K9SAR (Jul 26, 2010)

chiefsquirrel83 said:


> I just got back from there....the folks live up the road from their....I normally go to Bogg's but figured I would try Dicks! I have never in my life seen so much trash...."People and garbage"....it was ridiculous.....beer cans floating in the water....little Honda's blocking the rd....and the worse!!! People taking DUMPS in the middle of the walk ways on the side of the stream....they need to put the day use fee back in place!....i saw GROWN MEN catching trout taking them off the hook and throwing them back in the water via softball underhand toss....the waterfall was covered with fat bodies in bikinis!!!....it was sad!!! I remember growing up....it was a secret only to the real campers and fishermen...now its a public pool....anyways...I ended the weekend with a limit from Bogg's and Frogtown Creeks



That's exactly how it was.  

Back when I started going there (1999,) "crowded" meant 6 people.  Yesterday, there were cars parked in the "no parking" section by the bear-proof cans, all in the parking area, down the drive to the parking area, and all along the road (before the gate.)  If you were there when we were, that Honda that was blocking the road was riding our bumper the entire way until they parked.  When we slowed down for the giant washed-out hole in the middle of the road, they almost slammed into the back of us. 

I couldn't believe all of the garbage up there.  Spots that used to be pristine trout fishing areas had battered styrofoam coolers floating in it, beer cans, Gatorade bottles, and everything else.  

I really wish they would smack a day use fee up there like there used to be and perhaps more Ranger activity (though I know some people don't like a whole lot of Rangers encroaching in on their camping fun,) but it sure would be nice if a Ranger could say, "okay - you can't park here blocking everyone."

It's no wonder the EMS units get at least one call a week up there at Dick's Creek!



LEON MANLEY said:


> The real problem is that these slobs don't care if it gets closed down or not. They will just migrate to the next place and trash it out.



Ain't that the darn truth?

That's why we don't go directly to "the" Dick's Creek area.  We take the 'hoe up a ways into more secluded areas with cleaner water/areas.  Heaven forbid someone should actually have to hike/scramble to a spot.


----------



## LEON MANLEY (Jul 26, 2010)

If the DNR would set up and write a few tickets for littering these people would either quit coming altogether or at least not trash it out.

We had a spot that was getting trashed and the DNR set up and while they were watching the litterers, they caught a couple of guys stealing out of the litterer's truck.


----------



## chiefsquirrel83 (Jul 26, 2010)

I saw people with WHEEL BARRELS full of coolers, lawn chairs, floats, BIG CATFISH POLES, etc....Rangers State or Fed need to get up there....I saw one Ranger....didn't even acknowledge anything....drove up then back down....People were stopping in the middle of the road on the paved area fishing!!!! where it is clearly posted "No Fishing" or "No Trespassing"....i am a outdoorsman......I love the country....and I love to play in a swimmin' hole every now and then...but this was just the trashiest people on earth congregating in one spot!


----------



## K9SAR (Jul 26, 2010)

chiefsquirrel83 said:


> People were stopping in the middle of the road on the paved area fishing!!!! where it is clearly posted "No Fishing" or "No Trespassing"....



Saw that, too.  I was wondering if they had some sort of visual impairment not to be able to see the 3 ft. x 3 ft. sign that says "NO FISHING" and "NO TRESPASSING."


----------



## Ballplayer (Jul 26, 2010)

Maybe if the Rangers had to clean up the litter they'd be more inclined to enforce the litter laws/rules.


----------



## birddog99 (Jul 26, 2010)

no offense to gon or any other outdoor news outlet but they do broadcast these places to every tom,dick and harry and give them gps coordinates to get there.if they give them them the info to these places your gonna get alot of lazy people that don't want give the effort to find the places that were once quiet and clean.it has happened to me at several lakes around ga.


----------



## chiefsquirrel83 (Jul 26, 2010)

birddog99 said:


> no offense to gon or any other outdoor news outlet but they do broadcast these places to every tom,dick and harry and give them gps coordinates to get there.if they give them them the info to these places your gonna get alot of lazy people that don't want give the effort to find the places that were once quiet and clean.it has happened to me at several lakes around ga.



TRUST ME....if you saw these people you'd be amazed if they even knew what a computer was if much less READ!....and we give locations because we want other people to enjoy the outdoors and not hide it and keep it for ourselves....that's why we lose land and have jacked up hunting leases because of greedy people....


----------



## MULE (Jul 26, 2010)

I agree with birddog99. I think you would be VERY surprised who all reads this forum. Problems like these will only get worse, as the state promotes more usage on the WMA's  


So which is it? You want to keep it a secret or you want everyone to know about it?



chiefsquirrel83 said:


> I remember growing up....it was a secret only to the real campers and fishermen...now its a public pool....





chiefsquirrel83 said:


> ...and we give locations because we want other people to enjoy the outdoors and not hide it and keep it for ourselves.....


----------



## K9SAR (Jul 27, 2010)

birddog99 said:


> no offense to gon or any other outdoor news outlet but they do broadcast these places to every tom,dick and harry and give them gps coordinates to get there.if they give them them the info to these places your gonna get alot of lazy people that don't want give the effort to find the places that were once quiet and clean.it has happened to me at several lakes around ga.



Dick's Creek is surely no secret.  It's posted on the Dahlonega website.  It's posted on a Georgia Swimming Holes website, etc. 

I guess it'll take someone slicing their foot open stepping on a rusted can or fishing hook or injuring themselves some other way before things get cleaned up.


----------



## chiefsquirrel83 (Jul 27, 2010)

I know that I have a handful of people on my caseload who have been busted up there for Poss. of Meth....sad sad sad!!!!....I think I am going to start hittin' more of the hike in streams


----------



## K9SAR (Jul 28, 2010)

chiefsquirrel83 said:


> I know that I have a handful of people on my caseload who have been busted up there for Poss. of Meth....sad sad sad!!!!



Based on the folks that were present there on Sunday...that doesn't surprise me.

We'll probably head up there this Sunday and do some clean-up on our own.  Maybe others will get the hint (doubt it though.)


----------



## Troy Butler (Jul 29, 2010)

That is sad that is way if  I find a place that is good fishing again I hate to but no one I mean no one will go with me there nor will I tell anyone. I know I like to have my buddies around but I tell two people they tell three people  each and so on no more for me. Troy


----------



## contender* (Jul 30, 2010)

We usually end up with a bag full of trash before we ever set up camp, cleaning up after the slobs that were there before us..Same goes with fishin holes.


----------



## antique41 (Aug 30, 2010)

Just some comments.  I live in Rabun Co and see the tons of trash brought by campers and fisherman.  Wildcat creek looks like a landfill some days.  DNR is so underfunded that it is all they can do to keep up with basic maintenance, much less doing trash pick up of chasing off Wal-Mart people.  I volunteer at 2 state parks up here.  I run trails and pick up trash as I run.  Kills two birds with one run.  And I never tell folks where my favorite trails are.


----------



## Miguel Cervantes (Aug 30, 2010)

K9SAR said:


> We drove up to Dick's Creek (at Chestatee WMA) yesterday, and, of course, Dick's Creek was packed. We drove a little farther up to some of the falls just below the sliding rock, etc. and I couldn't help but notice some things....
> 
> 1. TRASH! TRASH everywhere! Whatever happened to "Pack it in. Pack it out?" I noticed that some people at least made some sort of an effort by bringing large lawn and garden bags, securing them to a tree, and putting their trash in it. Then they left them.
> 
> ...


 


This problem started during the Clinton Administration. He and Al had this hairbrain idea that all of these primitive areas needed to be accessed by all of the public, so many of them got new gravel roads and these fancy squares of crossties and gravel where you HAD to pitch your tent after you paid your usage fee for the day or weekend. 

Unfortunately it also created more work for the understaffed forestry personnel and more trash from all of the city slicker / camper wanna-be's that suddenly showed up.

If they had left well enough alone here's what we would have had; roads maintained for forestry fire vehicles only (proceed at your own risk) pristine trout fisheries, camping anywhere you wanted (except by the stream) and virtually no trash anywhere. Those of us that were around when the forest were managed this way remember how great it was, before the liberal idiots in charge of the government at the time thought it needed fixing.


----------



## LEON MANLEY (Aug 30, 2010)

antique41 said:


> Just some comments.  I live in Rabun Co and see the tons of trash brought by campers and fisherman.  Wildcat creek looks like a landfill some days.  DNR is so underfunded that it is all they can do to keep up with basic maintenance, much less doing trash pick up of chasing off Wal-Mart people.  I volunteer at 2 state parks up here.  I run trails and pick up trash as I run.  Kills two birds with one run.  And I never tell folks where my favorite trails are.



If the DNR would write a few littering tickets for 3 or 4 hundred dollars and a couple of hundred hours of community service picking up the trash at these locations.
 It would get the place cleaned up and the DNR could be on his merry way.

We have a DNR ranger that has plenty of time on his hands going around harassing people that have not broken any laws just because he is  to ignorant to know any difference.


----------



## Dana Young (Aug 30, 2010)

I went up there hunting the other day and could'nt even hardly find a place to park and I have to have a wma stamp just to hunt ther these slobs don't pay and they don't take care of it either. the next time I go to hunt there and can't find a parking place I may just push there little cars in the ditch or creek. there have been several people killed on those rocks and some crippled for life I myself have rescued several and pulled several bodies out of there when I was with lumpkin co fire dept.


----------



## badkarma (Aug 30, 2010)

I was introduced to Dicks/Waters Creek area while attending NGC in the early 90's.  When we went up there to fish there was never anyone around.  I think I remember seeing one other person fishing in all the times I went up there.  Sad.  I haven't been back there in years and it doesn't sound like I have any reason to go now that it is a hillbilly hangout.


----------



## Miguel Cervantes (Aug 30, 2010)

badkarma said:


> I was introduced to Dicks/Waters Creek area while attending NGC in the early 90's. When we went up there to fish there was never anyone around. I think I remember seeing one other person fishing in all the times I went up there. Sad. I haven't been back there in years and it doesn't sound like I have any reason to go now that it is a hillbilly hangout.


 
From my experience "hillbilly's" aren't the problem, it's the buckhead crowd and their ilk that are destroying the place.


----------



## Dana Young (Aug 30, 2010)

It's not us hillbillys it's the city folk and just plain trash


----------



## Steven Farr (Aug 30, 2010)

Dana Young said:


> It's not us hillbillys it's the city folk and just plain trash



Yep.  You hit the nail on the head!


----------



## K9SAR (Aug 30, 2010)

Miguel Cervantes said:


> From my experience "hillbilly's" aren't the problem, it's the buckhead crowd and their ilk that are destroying the place.



Yup, city folk and just plain trash - always saw "hillbillies" at Dick's Creek, but they were never a problem.  

Over the weekend, we found a spot along the Talullah River that has good swimming and fishing, but I'm not spillin' where it is except to responsible folk so it doesn't get trashed like Dick's/Water's Creek.  I sure as heck don't want the spot posted on swimmingholes.org (which I think Dick's Creek is.)


----------



## Miguel Cervantes (Aug 30, 2010)

K9SAR said:


> Yup, city folk and just plain trash - always saw "hillbillies" at Dick's Creek, but they were never a problem.
> 
> Over the weekend, we found a spot along the Talullah River that has good swimming and fishing, but I'm not spillin' where it is except to responsible folk so it doesn't get trashed like Dick's/Water's Creek. I sure as heck don't want the spot posted on swimmingholes.org (which I think Dick's Creek is.)


 

The last time I was at Dicks Creek some preppy idiot in his Volvo was scrubbing scrambled eggs out of his pan right in the creek right above the hole I was fishing. I pulled a couple of trout out of that hole and he stood up and yelled over, "what are you fishing with, I fished all day yesterday and couldn't catch one here." I responded with, "You can't catch them on eggs and a frying pan." and I walked on down the creek.

Idiots..


----------



## demnemisis (Sep 4, 2010)

Dana Young said:


> It's not us hillbillys it's the city folk and just plain trash




Amen brother. thier tags are the give away, Cobb, Gwinnett, Fulton. The spots in thier own neck of the woods are calling them back!


----------



## K9SAR (Sep 6, 2010)

demnemisis said:


> Amen brother. thier tags are the give away, Cobb, Gwinnett, Fulton. The spots in thier own neck of the woods are calling them back!



Try Fulton and Dekalb.


----------



## Dr. Strangelove (Sep 7, 2010)

Dicks creek makes me sad.

Last time I was there, we picked up three bags of trash, including 25 spent shotgun shells at our campsite before we even set up.

Some idiot had driven all the the way from the paved road throwing out beer cans all the way.  

A few spots above us, some folks had about 40 coolers, 10 tents, and all kinds of tarps hanging in the trees, looked like a refugee camp.  They also brought a couch!

After they (the idiot neighbors) stayed up all night shooting firecrackers and pistols, a couple of DNR guys came by to talk to us. We were cooking breakfast in a clean campsite, we gave them the information they requested (about the idiots), they thanked us for being responsible and wished us good luck fishing.  They were most interested in the couch, apparently it's become common to take old household furniture up there, camp with it, then abandon it.

I'm going to start writing down plate numbers and calling the law on idiots like these,  a few bad eggs are ruining the outdoors for the rest of us.  

We lost a lot of private land that was once stocked for trout fishing in NC, landowners who had traditionally allowed the public to fish on their land just tired of people trashing their property.


----------



## K9SAR (Sep 7, 2010)

Dr. Strangelove said:


> A few spots above us, some folks had about 40 coolers, 10 tents, and all kinds of tarps hanging in the trees, looked like a refugee camp.  They also brought a couch!
> 
> We lost a lot of private land that was once stocked for trout fishing in NC, landowners who had traditionally allowed the public to fish on their land just tired of people trashing their property.



I have no problem with tents and tarps and the like.  Fall 2008 when we went up there someone had driven a box truck all the up the road (guess they were lucky and hadn't run across someone going the opposite direction.)

They also had a couch out, some people sleeping in the truck, kitchen table and chairs, etc. 

I think it was in '08 that the Rangers kicked some folks out that had been squatting there for months.

Dick's Creek had a lot more places to camp up there about ten years ago.  I noticed when we went up there in '08 (and recently) the number of NO TRESPASSING signs, etc. nailed onto trees in seemingly public areas.  The camping area right down from there - Waters Creek (?) - where Lowell Dunn built "Falling Waters" used to be public camping.  The reason for closing down that camping area was "lack of use."  That's a bunch of bull-honky because almost every weekend we were up there, people were camping.  

Seems to me the reason was more like "don't want people camping here anymore because they're trashing it" (kind of like the people trying to hack down trees for "firewood" with a hatchet.


----------



## Unicoidawg (Sep 7, 2010)

Miguel Cervantes said:


> From my experience "hillbilly's" aren't the problem, it's the buckhead crowd and their ilk that are destroying the place.





Dana Young said:


> It's not us hillbillys it's the city folk and just plain trash





Steven Farr said:


> Yep.  You hit the nail on the head!



Exactly........ I have lived here my entire life and have been going up to Dick's and many other areas since I was a baby with my folks. It is not the locals causing the problems, the more and more folks that visit the area the more trashed it usually gets. I also worked for a number of years at Unicoi and the locals take more pride in the area than do the "visitors"..... seen it firsthand MANY times.





demnemisis said:


> Amen brother. thier tags are the give away, Cobb, Gwinnett, Fulton. The spots in thier own neck of the woods are calling them back!



Don't forget all the Florida tags in the mix.........


----------



## demnemisis (Sep 10, 2010)

K9SAR said:


> Try Fulton and Dekalb.




I had forgotton about Dekalb as well as FL, I am going by the ones I had seen trashing the area. We followed a couple right back to their cars they threw thier empty water bottles to the ground about 30 yards in front of us. My wife picked up the trash and confronted the guilty party when we got back to the parking area they had no defense of thier actions other than take the stuff she handed over and walk the bag over to the state provided cans.  

I guess it is more of a snap shot of society as a whole than a regional thing as last weekend I watched a car from Dawson county throwing beer cans and Taco Bell wrappers out of their Mercedes window right in front of me.


----------



## Dr. Strangelove (Sep 13, 2010)

It comes down to lack of respect.  People don't respect each other anymore, or even themselves.


----------

