This Autumn was beautiful. In all the years I’ve visited then lived Vermont I can honestly say that the colors were the best I’ve seen yet. And even though we’re a bit past peak here, the Tamarack is now at it’s most brilliant shades of bright orange/yellow. People come from all over to take in our Fall colors and that’s all fine and dandy. Just as long as they don’t scare the farm animals we’re okay with that.
Sure, there’s always the odd ones out who decide to stop in the middle of a country road on a blind curve to take a picture and end up having their small car getting into an argument with a local 4WD pick up truck loaded down with firewood (guess which vehicle wins the argument?) but just like out-of-state hunters up here during hunting season, some yearly losses are to be expected after all.
However, there’s one thing I find intolerable with these leaf peepers coming up here and taking in all the beauty the hills, valleys and mountains have to offer.
They throw their trash all over them before they leave.
My wife and I we’re traveling down state today on our regular bi-monthly trip and were appalled at the amount of trash and garbage that was on the sides of Highway 91.
Paper coffee cups, soda cups, Styrofoam coolers, crumpled up McDonalds bags, 2 gallon dispensers of spring Water (guaranteed out of state), entire garbage can sized trash bags stuffed with trash, all strewn along the sides of the highway. You knew it was out of state trash as it increased exponentially as we came nearer to a “Scenic Vista” type pull over or rest area.
The sides of the highways aren’t like this the rest of the year so what does that tell you?
Okay, so not everyone who drives up/over/down to Vermont to view the colors of Autumn are slobs that have no consideration for anyone else but themselves, who feel that’s it’s okay to throw their trash about our dooryards and roadsides but there’s a good number of them. Enough to keep our state workers out there dressed in fluorescent orange, green and yellow vests picking up all of the trash these people leave in their “appreciation” of what they’ve enjoyed by the way of the scenery.
Perhaps we locals should petition the Vermont State Government to institute an ILP season (Inconsiderate Leaf Peeper). Any out-of stater found leaving their trash in anything but a proper trash container or throwing their trash out a moving vehicle for us to clean up later should be rounded up and sentenced to walk the entire length of Highway 91 from the Canadian border to the Massachusetts border picking up all the trash left behind by their fellow peepers.
I suppose there’s a few locals who’d just as soon shoot ‘em and be done with it but the law’s getting pretty touchy about that kind of thing these days. I don’t suppose it would take too long for these violators to find out that there’s not a whole lot of “flat” to our highways once they start their sentence.
We’d be considerate though. We’d start them just after mud season.
Think that would learn them?
That really is intolerable! Now to play the devils advocate, what about all those “normal folk” like myself who may drive hundreds of miles to enjoy the fall foliage and would never think of throwing anything out the car window. What must they be thinking when they see this trash? Do they think it’s from visitors or locals?
.-= Elaine´s last blog ..Hidden Stashes of Fall Foliage =-.
Elaine – Good point. What do they think I wonder? On that note: Fortunately (I guess), the trash didn’t show up until after peak foliage which tells me that at least some of the trash was from those who came up here and “camped out” for foliage season. Unfortunately this is typically the case. So for the normal non-littering folks like yourself who just come up for a couple days during peak, the highways and byways are generally clear.
We still have to clean up the trash though.