Naughty List
Post date: Dec 17, 2015 4:05:09 PM
So who's been naughty this year? We usually make a list of those who deserve something closer to a lump of coal in their stockings, thanks to the dumb and/or mean things they've done over the course of the year.
Given the horrific drought we've suffered through over the past four years, first on that list would be those who are careless with fire in the mountains. But while California had another year of terrible fires, at least clueless hikers weren't to blame for the biggest of them, as far as we know.
In fact, we saw people behaving pretty darn well on the many trips we took into the Sierra this year. Nobody hacking at trees, no dogs on the backcountry trails in the national parks, no mindless campers being obnoxious to everyone nearby. No idiots feeding bears, or trying to tame the deer.
The closest we came to an unpleasant experience was at Lower Youngs Lake in Yosemite, when two different groups of campers set up their tents within 75 feet of us on either side. But then, our own tent was so neatly camouflaged by its granite gray color and its clever placement in a small grove of trees that we're pretty sure they never even saw us. As you can see in the photo above right.
So let's just take a pass on the naughty list this year, and just encourage everyone to keep up the good work.
