Apologies in advance- this blog entry is another complaint about trash on the mountains here. Perhaps the frequency with which we raise complaints here, on social media, and directly to other people, may contribute towards a steadily (but agonisingly slowly) improving attitude - but (But!) it might also just be indicative of the scale of the problem here. We're especially sensitive about the issue right now because of a few egregious instances of careless (maybe even willful) neglect we have witnessed recently. Yongso Falls was in a terrible state - and we even retrieved an old fishing rod, complete with hooks, out of the stream. Jomurak Valley, where we recently camped overnight, was also in a worse condition than first impressions suggested. After pitching our tent, we started unearthing and stumbling across more and more trash (combs, bags, tins, and more). We carried out a bit of extra rubbish, but could not manage it all (and we are talking just about the site we stayed at). Generally, after camping, whatever supplies you carried in are going to be lighter on the way out - so there is no excuse for abandoning your crap on the mountain. On Cheonbosan, today, I saw a tissue tucked into a tree hollow. This irritated me beyond rational comprehension; maybe because I am seeing this lazy, half attempt at dealing with trash more and more. With increasing frequency, I am discovering trash pushed into hollows and crevices, and it is rapidly diminishing my faith in other mountain users with whom we share the mountains here. Korea seems to have a serious addiciton to tissues, wet and dry, which accounts for a lot of the wilderness spoilage. It could be that during the covid-19 outbreak, it may not be the best time to take umbrage with tissue use, but it is a year round cause for concern here.
Rant over. Almost guaranteed that if you visiting the blog section of our site, you're not accountable for the trash, but with so many of our peers failing to meet their responsibilities here, we just want it to be known that at Canyoning Korea, we do care. Last year, we cleaned up Yongsogan Falls. This year, with our Matari Forest School groups, we will do some tidying up on Gwanaksan, and we also intend to revisit Yongso Falls soon too.
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