Leave It Better Than You Found It

Sweep Up the Southeast Volunteer Event

One of the biggest threats to our continued access to public lands is ourselves. All too often, we pull up to a beautiful campsite, only to find that it has been left full of refuse by a previous visitor. In our own travels, we practice Leave No Trace principles, and clean up the trails & campsites we visit, and ensure that we leave them clean for the next person to enjoy. But oftentimes, particularly in popular locations, more needs to be done in order to remediate the damage done by those who do not.

This coming weekend, Dirt Road Tourist will be joining the Venture Unknown Foundation to help out with their bi-annual trail cleanup, Sweep Up The Southeast. Venture Unknown Foundation has dedicated itself not only to cleaning up off-road trails, but were on the ground in Western North Carolina in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Helene, helping to get needed supplies out to people who couldn’t be reached by anybody else. In over 4000 volunteer hours, they have removed over 190,000 Lbs of trash from our natural spaces. This weekend, 13 teams working in 9 states are going to do our best to push that number past the 200,000 Lb. mark.

Matter of fact, if you’re not doing anything on December 13, there is still time to sign up. Head over to the Venture Unknown Foundation website and see if there’s a team that will be working in your neck of the woods. If you’re on Facebook, they have a great group; I’ve been a member for over three years.

For me, this is a chance to give back to a pastime that gives so much to me. Helping out efforts like this one is also critical to keeping our wilderness areas open for recreational use. I’m looking forward to it. Join me on my next episode where I’ll tell you all about it.