# Another victim of Pigs, Slobs and Covid



## RedHills (Jul 2, 2021)

Drastic measures taken to try and save the N Carolina Mountains

https://www.backpacker.com/news-and...as-closed-max-patch-to-camping-for-two-years/


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## gawildlife (Jul 2, 2021)

One reason I dislike trying to go visit the mountains. I love the mountains but hate crowds.


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## fishfryer (Jul 2, 2021)

A lot of people are just plain nasty and don’t care if they filth up a beautiful place


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## Headshot (Jul 2, 2021)

I hiked through there about 20 years ago.  A beautiful spot being ruined by selfish (in my opinion) people apparently not caring about those that would come to Max Patch after them.  I believe the old saying was take only pictures and leave only footprints. Too bad these people didn't adhere to that.


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## Danuwoa (Jul 2, 2021)

City folks.  Guaranteed.  They’re like locusts.


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## RedHills (Jul 2, 2021)

gawildlife said:


> One reason I dislike trying to go visit the mountains. I love the mountains but hate crowds.


As a kid growing up in Central FL, I can remember my parents saving every nickle they could for that 2 week heat relief in July or August....havent been back nearly as much as Id like. With Family in Hendorsonville we visit, almost makes ya feel guilty to go.


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## gawildlife (Jul 2, 2021)

Back when the eclipse passed over I took the family up to the wildcat creek camp to view it. The camp ground was like any other, no major trash issues and looked good. One day I decided to climb the ridge above the campground. The trash up there was everywhere. I suspect many of the "wilderness" areas are like that. Picked up and neat in the visible areas with the rest swept up the ridge.


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## Old Yapper (Jul 2, 2021)

gawildlife said:


> Back when the eclipse passed over I took the family up to the wildcat creek camp to view it. The camp ground was like any other, no major trash issues and looked good. One day I decided to climb the ridge above the campground. The trash up there was everywhere. I suspect many of the "wilderness" areas are like that. Picked up and neat in the visible areas with the rest swept up the ridge.


Yankees ruin everything.


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## antharper (Jul 3, 2021)

gawildlife said:


> Back when the eclipse passed over I took the family up to the wildcat creek camp to view it. The camp ground was like any other, no major trash issues and looked good. One day I decided to climb the ridge above the campground. The trash up there was everywhere. I suspect many of the "wilderness" areas are like that. Picked up and neat in the visible areas with the rest swept up the ridge.


I love that campground , I’ve camped there a couple times . Last time I was there me and my daughter picked up a bag of trash along the creek while fishing . Just don’t understand some people


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## NCHillbilly (Jul 3, 2021)

Max Patch is only a few miles from my house. You used to could go up there and hardly ever see another human. Lately, it's been a madhouse. Mostly yuppies from Asheville.

I don't really get the reason why so many people want to go up there, anyway. It's just another artificially-cleared mountaintop cow pasture that is pretty much identical to about a thousand more just like it scattered all around the county.


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## NCHillbilly (Jul 3, 2021)

Danuwoa said:


> City folks.  Guaranteed.  They’re like locusts.


Brad, when Clay Newcombe was talking to Roy Clark on his podcast this week and they kept talking about logging and hunting in "the Gulf," that's the big valley that falls off the TN side of Max Patch.


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## Danuwoa (Jul 3, 2021)

NCHillbilly said:


> Brad, when Clay Newcombe was talking to Roy Clark on his podcast this week and they kept talking about logging and hunting in "the Gulf," that's the big valley that falls off the TN side of Max Patch.


I was going to ask you about that.  I was listening going, “What are they talking about?”


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## Old Yapper (Jul 3, 2021)

NCHillbilly said:


> Max Patch is only a few miles from my house. You used to could go up there and hardly ever see another human. Lately, it's been a madhouse. Mostly yuppies from Asheville.
> I don't really get the reason why so many people want to go up there, anyway. It's just another artificially-cleared mountaintop cow pasture that is pretty much identical to about a thousand more just like it scattered all around the county.


They want to go up there to do this:
1.Make a silly grinning selfie picture while flashing the peace sign. (which isn't a memory shot at all, it's just another way of saying "look at us, we are so-o-o kewl")
2. Throw a frisbee (which gathers dust in the garage the rest of the year)
3. Have a cookout and scatter paper and trash
4. Find a birdnest and climb up to "look in it" thereby scaring the mother bird away from the eggs or babies.
5. Meditate in some yoga position while "praying for world peace"
6. Play some loud music.
(I'm sure there are other reasons...none of which make any sense to real outdoorsmen)


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## Danuwoa (Jul 3, 2021)

Old Yapper said:


> They want to go up there to do this:
> 1.Make a silly grinning selfie picture while flashing the peace sign. (which isn't a memory shot at all, it's just another way of saying "look at us, we are so-o-o kewl")
> 2. Throw a frisbee (which gathers dust in the garage the rest of the year)
> 3. Have a cookout and scatter paper and trash
> ...


Yeah!  You left off stacking rocks on top of each other in creeks because they’re so “spiritual”.  I hate these people.


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## NCHillbilly (Jul 3, 2021)

Old Yapper said:


> They want to go up there to do this:
> 1.Make a silly grinning selfie picture while flashing the peace sign. (which isn't a memory shot at all, it's just another way of saying "look at us, we are so-o-o kewl")
> 2. Throw a frisbee (which gathers dust in the garage the rest of the year)
> 3. Have a cookout and scatter paper and trash
> ...


They like to fly kites and drones, too.


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## NCHillbilly (Jul 3, 2021)

Danuwoa said:


> Yeah!  You left off stacking rocks on top of each other in creeks because they’re so “spiritual”.  I hate these people.


I kick over about a thousand of those things a year. The mayfly and stonefly nymphs and salamanders and crawfish appreciate them being back in the creek instead of stacked up on the bank.


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## Old Yapper (Jul 3, 2021)

NCHillbilly said:


> They like to fly kites and drones, too.


Well, the kid in me still likes to fly my kites.....but in open fields in the country where I can sit in my lawn chair and reflect on life and watch my dog run and act like she's a big time "hunter".


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## Danuwoa (Jul 3, 2021)

NCHillbilly said:


> They like to fly kites and drones, too.


??


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## Artfuldodger (Jul 3, 2021)

NCHillbilly said:


> Max Patch is only a few miles from my house. You used to could go up there and hardly ever see another human. Lately, it's been a madhouse. Mostly yuppies from Asheville.
> 
> I don't really get the reason why so many people want to go up there, anyway. It's just another artificially-cleared mountaintop cow pasture that is pretty much identical to about a thousand more just like it scattered all around the county.


I think it's some type of party cultural thing. Otherwise why would so many want to camp on top of each other? The young folks from Atlanta do the same thing. They all go to Yonah Mountain or Blood Mountain. I would love the vistas but I'm not willing to have to camp with a party crowd to enjoy it.
Part of the reason I go backpacking or canoe camping is to get away from people.


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## NCHillbilly (Jul 3, 2021)

Artfuldodger said:


> I think it's some type of party cultural thing. Otherwise why would so many want to camp on top of each other? The young folks from Atlanta do the same thing. They all go to Yonah Mountain or Blood Mountain. I would love the vistas but I'm not willing to have to camp with a party crowd to enjoy it.


The hillbillies and samsquamches and such will get you if you camp by yourself out in the woods.


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## Artfuldodger (Jul 3, 2021)

NCHillbilly said:


> The hillbillies and samsquamches and such will get you if you camp by yourself out in the woods.




A place that I'd like to try is Graveyard Fields but it appears to be overused as well.


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## NCHillbilly (Jul 3, 2021)

Artfuldodger said:


> A place that I'd like to try is Graveyard Fields but it appears to be overused as well.


That's not far from me, either, it's also in my county. It is a beautiful place, or was twenty five years ago. Now it's usually crowded. Same, yuppies from Asheville. It's still worth going to see, along with that whole Black Balsam/Shining Rock/Flat Laurel Creek area. It's better during the week.


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## Artfuldodger (Jul 3, 2021)

NCHillbilly said:


> That's not far from me, either, it's also in my county. It is a beautiful place, or was twenty five years ago. Now it's usually crowded. Same, yuppies from Asheville. It's still worth going to see, along with that whole Black Balsam/Shining Rock/Flat Laurel Creek area. It's better during the week.


One good thing about being retired. Even years ago, I about learned to take leave and go during the week to places. Plus never go camping on holiday weekends.


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## RedHills (Jul 3, 2021)

Artfuldodger said:


> One good thing about being retired. Even years ago, I about learned to take leave and go during the week to places. Plus never go camping on holiday weekends.



I can tell ya the places NCH mentioned werent crowded this past January when my cousin had the brilliant idea to include me in on one of his backpacking excursions! Bout 8" of snow on Flat Laurel one night. Think we were the only idiots there.


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## 1eyefishing (Jul 3, 2021)

There was a smaller campsite near where I bear hunt and camp that was just trashed like that... there was one tent in the middle of it looking like somebody had left for a few days and was planning on coming back next week or so.  I had planned on camping there a couple of nights, but since I couldn't…  In about an hour I'd picked that place clean and stuffed all the garbage inside that tent. Right on top of the sleeping bags. Cast iron and all. The tent was full as a tick when I unstaked it and untied it and drug it off to the edge of the campsite into the brush. No way I could drag it further up the hill to the road. Whenever whoever came back to that campsite they found it as pristine as it could be!


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## NCHillbilly (Jul 3, 2021)

RedHills said:


> I can tell ya the places NCH mentioned werent crowded this past January when my cousin had the brilliant idea to include me in on one of his backpacking excursions! Bout 8" of snow on Flat Laurel one night. Think we were the only idiots there.


You generally don't want to be up at 6,000' here in January. It's the same climate as Canada. Often way below zero with a snowpack and sometimes 100mph+ winds. People from the flatlands don't realize that, and come up here hiking and get in trouble and die about every year. On the flipside, it was 52 here at my place at 2600' this morning. It's nearly 2PM on July 3rd right now, and 69* outside.


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## RedHills (Jul 3, 2021)

NCHillbilly said:


> You generally don't want to be up at 6,000' here in January. It's the same climate as Canada. Often way below zero with a snowpack and sometimes 100mph+ winds. People from the flatlands don't realize that, and come up here hiking and get in trouble and die about every year. On the flipside, it was 52 here at my place at 2600' this morning. It's nearly 2PM on July 3rd right now, and 69* outside.



Heard that! Fortunately, my cuz..is a very seasoned hiker. Think he's done about 75% of the AT. He made sure I was prepared. Interesting enough, he's the one who got cold during the nights storm and we had to cut out first light! So just goes to show...I'll be running around up there for a few weeks after the 12th. If you see a Blue silverado....he picks up after himself


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## srb (Jul 3, 2021)

The trails north east of Maggie Valley  are not to busy the last day or so..Some people here and there,Didn’t see anybody camping about 5 miles in …Weather was gorgeous today!


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## Para Bellum (Jul 4, 2021)

Absolutely disgusting.


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## gawildlife (Jul 4, 2021)

JMO, but in situations like that park rangers should have the authority to be like my old drill sergeants and round everyone up and line them up for an old fashioned police call.
Bet the littering stops after that.
I still field strip and pocket my butts to this day. LOL


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## NCHillbilly (Jul 4, 2021)

gawildlife said:


> JMO, but in situations like that park rangers should have the authority to be like my old drill sergeants and round everyone up and line them up for an old fashioned police call.
> Bet the littering stops after that.
> I still field strip and pocket my butts to this day. LOL


No park rangers on the national forest. Pretty much nobody on the national forest that works for the forest service.


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## gawildlife (Jul 4, 2021)

Dang, I'd pay to see granola eaters rounded up by a bunch of drills. LOL


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## NCMTNHunter (Jul 7, 2021)

Our local governments and tourism boards have pushed the outdoor recreation industry dream until we are at a breaking point of not having anything nice left.  Our forests were way better off back when we logged and manufactured stuff for a living.  Now we just pound all the nice places down to bare root so a few people can make $10.00 an hour selling junk to tourists in town.


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## Doboy Dawg (Jul 10, 2021)

Took my son, daughter, and future daughter in law to Kentucky to the Ark exhibit.  We rafted Chattooga section 4 which was pleasant, if you could get past all the purple and blue haired guides.

They wanted to go tubing in Helen, so we went, even after I swore 2 years ago I wouldn’t do it again.  The kids talked me into it.

I will say with 100% certainty, I will Not tube it again.  You could have walked from tube to tube down the whole length of the tubing area.  It was gridlock like 285 during rush hour.  I saw a guy lose his mind over a dropped iPhone that a Mexican kid picked up.
There was literally near a riot started over this.  Thankfully the kids had managed to get farther down the River than I was.  However my daughter heard the guy going off on this Mexican family.

I was really worried this guy was gonna go postal.  If he had there was no quick way out from the area we were in.

I prayed Lord just get us off this river safely and we’ll never go back.  I might fish it in the winter, but I’ll never go near it again otherwise.

It was really sad to see the River so trashed, I’ve never felt that bad to have been part a of it.

Something has to change there in Helen.  Those outfitters need to be limited on the amount of people allowed.


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## Old Yapper (Jul 11, 2021)

Doboy Dawg said:


> Took my son, daughter, and future daughter in law to Kentucky to the Ark exhibit.  We rafted Chattooga section 4 which was pleasant, if you could get past all the purple and blue haired guides.
> 
> They wanted to go tubing in Helen, so we went, even after I swore 2 years ago I wouldn’t do it again.  The kids talked me into it.
> 
> ...


Nothing will change.
I'd bet a brand new 10 dollar bill that 90% of those you saw were yankee transplants or descendants of yankee transplants
Yankees ruin everything they touch, even their kids are ruined....and they VOTE. Grrrrrrrrrr.


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## Swamp Angel (Aug 9, 2021)

Artfuldodger said:


> I think it's some type of party cultural thing. Otherwise why would so many want to camp on top of each other? The young folks from Atlanta do the same thing. They all go to Yonah Mountain or Blood Mountain. I would love the vistas but I'm not willing to have to camp with a party crowd to enjoy it.
> Part of the reason I go backpacking or canoe camping is to get away from people.


Just a quick count shows about 116 tents in that photo. Still lots of space there, but that doesn't mean it should be used for setting up camp. Fire rings certainly do a good bit of damage, but so do tents that mash down the grass and and leave a mark for days (or even weeks) after being taken down.


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## trad bow (Aug 15, 2021)

Ride down any road(rural or urban) and you’ll see it trashed also. People all over are trashy so don’t except them to change when they travel. Lots of people have no respect for themselves let alone the world around them


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## brownceluse (Aug 29, 2021)

trad bow said:


> Ride down any road(rural or urban) and you’ll see it trashed also. People all over are trashy so don’t except them to change when they travel. Lots of people have no respect for themselves let alone the world around them


Agree. People in general just seem to not really care anymore. The mountains are unique place. My Grandad was born and raised in Cherokee county NC. We didn’t go to the beach growing up. We went to the mountains. The trouble is that tourist being in money. Money ruins everything. My Grandad died when I was 18 at the ripe old age of 94. But I still remember his stories about his life as a boy. Im sitting in a pigeon forge right now. You can’t get on a back road up here without seeing out of town tags. Out of town tags equal money. Sucks but that’s just how it is.


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## RedHills (Aug 29, 2021)

Ron Eller has a good perspective on it..nothing unique about Appalachia,  just a mirror of America in general. But I do feel your "uniqueness", and would agree.


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## NCHillbilly (Aug 30, 2021)

RedHills said:


> Ron Eller has a good perspective on it..nothing unique about Appalachia,  just a mirror of America in general. But I do feel your "uniqueness", and would agree.


I disagree about your perspective on the uniqueness of Appalachia. Southern Appalachia is one of the most diverse landscapes on earth. Central Indiana doesn't give me much of a feeling.


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## RedHills (Aug 30, 2021)

I think maybe you misunderstood, or I wasn't clear in the response. There is nothing "unique" about what has happened to Appalachia concerning industrialization and commercialization. It would be difficult to argue against it's uniqueness as one of the most bio diverse areas on the planet.


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