Mt. San Jacinto: Not a Large Stairmaster Covered With Plants

[cynthia23]

Hi Kathy W! Crazydude's stuff is at around 2500 feet, smack in the middle of the "Shady Slope" (which, as I mentioned, is an utterly crazy place to set up camp...) Because there is not that much or that heavy, in theory, a group of people could also divide his stuff and carry it UP toward the tram, if that is preferred. I already took the propane torch. But no one person is gonna want to hump the whole mess up, that would definitely be too much. Up or down, I don't care, if anybody has a preference--just don't want to tackle it all myself.

Any thoughts here? I will be occupied with other stuff this weekend but am available thereafter ....

[KathyW]

If it's only at 2500 feet, I wouldn't mind going up just that far and bringing some stuff down but I don't want to carry much extra weight all the way up to the Tram.

[cynthia23]

Up or down, I am amenable to any plan. I don't think the extra weight would be too huge though, if divided. Maybe an extra pound? Dunno, any guesses here? But I will go any way you want.

[LAMike]

Sorry if I find this too amusing, but here is the view from the outside:

"Hey Crazy dude didn't make it to the top, and left his equipment behind"
"Hey someone found gasoline in crazy dude's luggage"
"Hey, crazy dude had to be subdued at gunpoint"
(a falacy, by the way)
"Hey, CD actually had a propane tank with him"
"Did you hear, CD had a blowtorch!"
"Have you heard? CD is a crackhead!"
or the short version:
"Hey, CD tried to hike c2c but turns out he's a speedfreak!"
WHEW!
Now it's on to:
"Hey, let's go steal all of his stuff!"
I'm suring there are a few details missing, like... are you turning this stuff over to CD? to the police? leaving him a note? throwing it away for the goodness of all humanity?
PLEASE, write more. This is better than tv! LMAO!
Is this on government land? private land?
Are we talking about abandoned trash or a hazard or what?

[Pilgrim]

While I have found this thread amusing, I think LAMike, you are missing the point. Any hiker who cares about the wilderness will pick up pieces of trash or junk he/she finds while hiking. It is afterall OUR wilderness (i.e. owned by the public for the public good) and leaving stuff on the trail is against Leave No Trace ethics that all the public land offiices (NFS, NPS, BLM) have been advocating. As there is a lack of funding and rangers to properly police/maintain our public lands, it is up to the public to step up and do so. And that is the end result being advocated in this thread.

Crazydude left his stuff months ago and his behavior makes one question the state of his mind. If he cared about his stuff he would have long ago hiked back up and got it. He clearly abandoned it when he chose to continue up without it and then not come back and get it within a reasonable period. His stuff is junk to most people and most people throw junk into the trash not the police. If I left my stuff behind for more then a week (other then from injury), I'd hope someone would have either found some use from it or thrown it away. It only takes a few months for most non-metal materials to break down under the UVs from the sun to be worthless anyway assuming no animal got to it first. I appreciate the concern for our wilderness that cynthia is showing.

[LAMike]

Hi Pilgrim,
I can appreciate all of the concern for fires and ecology, but I feel that there are lapses of communication, hence my question:

Are we talking about abandoned trash or a hazard or what?

I also feel that there are some Huge assumptions going on... but what really matters is, this stuff in one way or another doesn't belong on the trail, so what will be done with it?

You don't have to rationalize "he's crazy so it's been abandoned", or "it's a danger so we need to remove it"... just take it away. Leave a note or something at the bottom "items removed to:" if need be.

And as for
"it does seem fair to assume a fair proportion are drug-users" (nothing personal meant to anyone)
I once hiked with a guy that went in leather street shoes and who's provisions consisted of mcdonald's take-away food... so nothing surprises me about 'ignorant' hikers.

Yes, take the stuff away.
OH, and please continue this thread!!!

[cynthia23]

HI Guys, as requested, I'm continuing this thread! Glad to provide a little amusement (it provides me with another chance to procrastinate on work, so it's a win-win situation!) But seriously, folks ...and seriously, LAmike, reread my first long post more carefully and you will see my reasoning. I happened to go up Skyline the same day Crazydude did, so it's not thirdhand, and as mentioned, I actually humped his propane torch. Of course, I do agree we don't know he used it for tweaking, but here's what we do know: it was there, and it was empty. That absolutely means that the guy was using a propane torch at 2500 feet in a dry brushy canyon. He may just have been using it to heat up his can of Dinty Moore, or, more likely (in this valley) drugs, but it doesn't really matter: the fire hazard of heating up ANYTHING with a propane torch there is completely insane.

Bottomline: if we want to protect Skyline and the mountain from the huge fire danger this year, we would be wise and proactive to do whatever we can to discourage people from camping on the route. Guest and others could probably speak to this more, but it seems to me that in the last year or two there are more homeless type people camping on the lower portion of the trail. As the valley population booms, we can expect more. Anytime you have a wilderness/urban "interface" (i.e. a trail that begins in a populated area easily accessible to anyone on the street), such as Skyline, there are going to be issues such as homeless camping and thus potential fires.

So, you've got to make a judgement call: let's break up his camp (which is apparently abandoned, anyway.) Re whether I have "authority" to do this, again, LaMike, please read my previous posts--I asked both Ranger Eric and George Palomares, a Palm Springs police officer, what I should do, and both advised me to remove the guy's stuff. Again, as previously mentioned, the jurisdiction on the Shady Slope is vague at best--it's probably either BLM or Indian land. Neither are going to help us.

Now, hopefully we can get lots of people to each take one small item from Crazydude's junk pile, and then he and this CrazyPost can vanish into the junkheap of history ....

[LAMike]

Thanks for taking my amusement in stride. I do enjoy reading all the posts.
Since I'm not from the area, I'm sorry to hear about all the influx of homeless people that could be endangering a public hiking area.

Wish I could help clean up the area, but at least I wish you safe journey and thanks for all the rest of us that benefit from your efforts and concern.

PS: I still think it's unfair to label Crazydude as a drug taking maniac, because the rest of us long time drug abusers take offense to being painted with the same brush... KIDDING!

[Cy Kaicener]

Doreen went up Skyline on Saturday and said that someone had painted orange circles on the rocks. - She said that the grafitti can be scraped off.

[Ellen]

Oh good grief -- we can't even escape the graffiti vandals on the trails.

Any idea if a Swiss Army knife is adequate for scraping off graffiti? Shade rock is a great place where a brief rest could also be combined with clean up.

How much of Crazy Dude's stuff is left?

Miles of smiles,
Ellen