Mylar Balloons

[Shawn]

I've found a few mylar balloons in the Sierra. One of my first hikes, years back, was to East Lake. As I was peering up to Mount Brewer in awe, I saw an odd reflection which I found the next day to be a balloon. Kind of put a damper on the "I'm really out here" thinking as back country newbie.

Some years later I found the remains of a weather balloon transponder gizmo off trail near White Chief, above Mineral King.

Lastly, Sierra aside, I have found many in the Carrizo Plain. Seems the Plain must be in the direct air current path from Bakersfield or something?

[Wandering Daisy]

Mylar balloons are down on my list of "bad things in the wilderness." They weigh nothing, just pick them up and take them out. In the Wind Rivers we found one with a message inside from a grade school class. It had a phone number but we were not able to track it down.

I know that I should just let everyone "hike their own hike", but it does bother me when: I run into someone, earbuds in, mentally back in and dependent on civilization. Folks on a scenic high pass doing nothing but looking at their cell phones. Or eyes glued to their GPS navigating dot-to-dot. Powerful LED headlamps that shine into my campsite from afar. People so intense in their chit-chat that they miss everything around them. Toothpaste in the streams. **** and TP under a rock. Warm coals left in a fire pit. Food wrap, Kleenex, etc. on the trail. Tin cans in firepits (a lot more awkward to carry out than a Mylar balloon). Soapy lakes. Loud obnoxious groups. Not that all that directly impacts me, but do they realize they are missing the wilderness experience? Maybe they do not even care.

[LincolnB]

Visual pollution is not the only problem with those things - yesterday one started a fire here in San Jose:

https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/06/14/ ... ghway-101/

[LincolnB]

...I know that I should just let everyone "hike their own hike", but it does bother me when: I run into someone, earbuds in, mentally back in and dependent on civilization. Folks on a scenic high pass doing nothing but looking at their cell phones....

I'm that guy! Without the earbuds. Every day I load stuff on my cell phone and head out with the dog. Shifting my attention frequently between technical papers and trees gives me better focus when I'm on task, than spending continuous hours sitting at a computer. And the dog prefers that also.

On a backpack trip I can finally get to that long review paper I haven't had time for at home -