At Backbone Adventures we take Tread Lightly, Leave No Trace and sustainability very seriously, so we do trail cleanups often. We take great pride in making sure the environment is safe and clean for everyone. The nature that Colorado holds is super integral to our state, infrastructure and economy. On top of that, nature is what draws many to our wonderful state and allows so many to experience the beauty and serenity of it. At Backbone we have an employee or two do trail cleanups on public forest land each week. Here we take some of our renters and these are open to the public for enjoyment, where a lot of human involvement meets nature. We take a roll of trash bags and our aim is to fill as many as we can carry on our vehicles to dispose of properly and keep nature and animals safe and clean for the future. We have cleaned things of all types, from bullets, beer bottles and cans, to fishing line, tires, dog toys, broken tents, and even found intact coolers and metal water bottles abandoned for weeks.
We suggest you take proper care of nature when exploring in any variety. Simple steps include, “ pack in, pack out” where you don’t leave trash or belongings on trail. Never feed wild animals or give them your scraps of food, dispose of pet waste safely and don’t leave it on trail, and maintain safe distances of wild animals when possible. These simple tips of not leaving any waste behind and respecting animals goes a long way. Watch our video above on everything we have cleaned and found at the Gordon Gulch Trail and dispersed camping, and hopefully it inspires you to take action.