A Zion National Park ranger collected 14 pounds of garbage, including nine pounds of human excrement, from the Narrows section of the park/NPS
Visitors who headed to Utah to Zion National Park to explore the iconic "Narrows" during the summer left behind garbage, graffiti, and nine pounds of "poop," according to rangers.
While the popular area was open throughout the summer to visitors, rangers did not do their regular patrols because the Virgin River that flows through the Narrows was carrying a harmful cyanobacteria. Once the toxin risk ebbed this fall, a ranger headed into the area to patrol.
"The graffiti was the worst I've ever seen, it seemed like the entire stretch I walked had something left on the rock: a handprint, a name, and I won't go into detail about the poop," reported "Ranger John. "All in all, I picked up 14 pounds of trash (nine pounds were human waste) and cleaned probably 1,000 handprints or etchings in less than a mile. While it hurts to see such a unique and beautiful place treated like this, I feel honored that I have the responsibility to protect it."
Graffiti has been an ongoing problem in Zion and many other parks. Earlier this month Zion staff issued a press release urging visitors not to leave anything behind but their footprints.
According to the release, nearly every day "staff find words and shapes, carved, drawn, painted (with mud, dirt, pigment, paint), or scratched on rocks and more recently even carved within moss. Over four million people visit Zion every year. Please allow other park visitors their opportunity for discovery, by leaving rocks, plants, archaeological artifacts, and other objects as you found them.”
In a Facebook post Tuesday the park said that "(E)ven muddy handprints can last a long time in a region that gets little rain. Leaving anything behind is not appropriate."
As for the human excrement, the staff said "(R)estrooms are located at most shuttle stops and we recommend using them before starting a trail. Once you leave the trailhead, there are no services. You are required to carry out solid human waste from all canyons in Zion, including the Narrows. Human waste disposal bags (like the silver bags in the photo) are available at the park bookstore and local outfitters."
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Comments
Ok, we all have bodily functions that require expelling toxins (numbers 1 and 2) from the body. Require people to carry "wag bags" with them when bathroom facilities are few and far between. I serve in the Army and we utilize "wag bags" all the time when in the field environment if "porta johns" are not available. Pack your own waste out as well. This is ethical hiking and disease is less likely to spread.
Joshua, everything you said is true. The problem is that the unethical seem to outnumber the ethical, nowadays. If there was a way to confirm, I would bet good money that all that human waste was left behind by folks that had never been in a national park before 2020.
Why would anyone want to leave trash, poop or in any way disrespect public common ground?
If this is the future, we need more rangers on patrol. If there is no money for rangers, we must raise the entrance and/or usage fees to hire more rangers. If the water was too dangerous for rangers, why are they letting the public back there?
There are, it seems, an ever increasing number of damaged self absorbed "humanoids" that we must unfortunately share the planet with. Making a conscious choice to ruin a natural wonder is reprehensibly lowlife.
And let's be realistic. Speaking as a 20-year nurse [now retired], I can tell you that most Americans would rather eat toxic waste than have anything to do with packaging and carrying their own bodily waste. Ten years after retiring I can still clearly recall the first time a full bedpan was thrown in my direction.
Tradgedy of the commons. People don't care and respect common/public land as much as they do private property. https://journals.openedition.org/rga/2084 Perhaps setting up a concession for the Narrows hikes would be helpful?
I've only been to Zion one time, that was back in 2019. We hiked about 1/4 mile up the narrows but that was far enough for me to almost step on a pile of human waste. I thought (hoped) that was not a common issue, but after reading this article I guess it happens more than I'd like to think.