NOTES ON LOW IMPACT CAMPING

The outdoor experience is always a great way to have a fantastic party.  This weekend should prove that.  You’re safe in the woods now, but how safe are the woods from you?  The environment is a fragile ecosystem that shouldn’t be messed with.  When you’re in the outdoors (this really is a huge open room), you need to respect the land and help preserve natural areas for future users.

You should be aware that you are camping in the New York City water supply watershed.  Some of you may not know that the water you drink in the city is some of the best water available in a metropolitan area anywhere on the planet!!!  It is a fact that the water in the city is virtually untreated when it gets to your tap or shower.  The reason is simple.  Look around you.  Everything is clean, the stream is cold and pure, the wildlife thriving.  Lets not change that.

Here are a few tips on how you can continue this and help keep the Esopus and watershed clean.  This is called low impact camping.  Some of you are already fully informed on this subject.  If so, pass the information around.  But for the others, here goes:

 

• Do not pee, poo, use soap, wash your dishes or dump garbage within 150 feet of any stream, spring or water run-off.  Waste, detergents and foods in the creek can lead to serious problems downstream.  Use the outhouse or go into town to do your dirty deeds.  Sand and a bucket of water can be great for scrubbing pots and pans but remember to dump the waste away from the stream.

• Spring water is safe because it comes out of the ground after the natural filters have purified it but the surface water will carry everything downstream and eventually into the reservoirs that lead to your tap.

• All food must be put away after you have eaten.  It keeps away raccoons, possums, skunks, mice as well as lions and tigers and bears --oh my!-- and sometimes giraffes, elephants, rhinoceros, and other disruptive varmints!

• “Pack in, pack out” means exactly what it sounds like.  Anything you bring in must go back out with you.  That includes beer cans, food scraps, bottle caps, cigarette butts, any plastic products and of course, yourself.  Think of how much it sucks stumbling onto and picking up junk and trash when you’re walking along a path or trail in the woods.  The same applies to us in the Catskills or anywhere else on the planet!

"Pack in, pack out” &” take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints”

are old Appalachian Trail sayings that really do convey the message of low impact camping,

so please adhere to these sayings and enjoy your stay.

Now go take a hike!!!