2 Friends, 4,700 miles, 1 mission: Pick up trash!
On U.S. roads there are 6,000 pieces of litter per mile, on average.
Seth Orme and Abby Taylor set out on their bikes for an epic five-month, 4,700 mile trip across the US – during which they cleaned up 2,130 pounds of trash.
Their journey has been documented in the REI film Leave it Better.
(Below is the trailer. Link to the full 20-minute film for free at end of this post).
Background
One of the main seven tenets of Leave No Trace outdoor ethics is to leave it as you found it. Generally, this is a common-sense approach to preserve the natural or historical beauty of private or public land; it should look untouched when you leave it.
But why not leave it better? In 2015 Seth Orme started a project he calls, Packing It Out, a continuous mission to leave the places he and his companions visit not just as they found them, but better.
For the first-ever Packing It Out trip in 2015, Seth thru–hiked the Appalachian Trail (AT) alongside his friends Joe Dehnert and Paul Twedt. Over 2,200 miles, they packed out 1,100 pounds of trash that was found along the trail.
The following year, Seth and Paul continued the project by hiking a grand total of 2,650 miles from the border of Mexico to Canada along the Pacific Crest Trail. On this trip they cleaned up 720 pounds of trash en route.
This year, Seth traded his hiking boots for a bike and recruited his friend Abby Taylor. On April 26, 2017, Seth and Abby set out on a cross-country bike tour to pick up trash along the way.
Epic US bike trip to pick up trash.
Their route took them from Georgia to Washington State, including a circuit of stops at National Forests, scenic areas, campgrounds, etc., hosting trash cleanups and conservation-theme clinics as they rode.
For 5 months, their goal was to explore the country, meet people, spread the word on ‘Packing It Out,’ and continue their message of environmental stewardship.
At each destination, whether alone or with a group, Orme and Taylor cleaned up trash, totaling more than 2,100 pounds over the course of the trip.
What a fantastic trip and a timely challenge to all riders (and people).
I know I have been stopping more often to pick up rubbish on my bike rides. I hope people, both ON and OFF continue picking rubbish and progressing conversations about sustainability, plastic pollution and conversation.
Happy clean bike rides all!
Images, video and content sourced from Wild Confluence YouTube and an article by Logan Watts for Bike Packing.com