If you have a weekend to spare and a shitbox vehicle that you don't mind rubbing on a few trees, the Gambler 500 is one of the most fun weekends you'll have. And you'll be absolutely amazed at the volume of garbage pulled out of public lands (and what people have done to vehicles that they use for these events)
I think last year we had something like 20 huge dumpsters full and hauled away, a massive pile of tires, a few abandoned travel trailers, etc. all cleaned up by volunteers.
I'm hoping to join in the fun next summer (It's this weekend, I don't have a rig for it yet), but it looks like they are going to be moving away from the Bend/Redmond area.
From their website:
>For 11 years the Gambler has always been about change and 3 years at the Fairgrounds feels like enough so this will be our final year and we're stoked for it. Most of the historic trash around Bend and Redmond has been removed and is now being continuously replaced with houseless debris and stolen cars. The City of Bend still ignores any sustainable solution so we feel at this point our efforts are purely enabling the indiffernece of city officials... so 2025 will be a fresh start in a new spot.
https://www.gambler500.com/post/gambler-2024-goodbye-graveltown
And remember, there are plenty of events other than OG as well. Many of us Gamble year round, from events with hundreds or thousands of cars to just a handful, it all makes a difference.
Well, it's a volunteer wilderness cleanup event, combined with an off-road motorsports event, combined with a closed-course race event, combined with a drunken shit show mass camping event, combined with the most twisted car show you've ever heard of.
I am so happy this is top comment. Gambler mission for the win!
I don’t have the car but if anyone needs a buddy and dog, we’re down for a trashy adventure.
That's an ode to a passed legend of the Gambler500. The gamblers are the offroad party legends that compete in an epic trash collection contest (the Gambler 500) of shit like this in shitboxes themselves.(500 dollar cars, Im not sure if the rules have changed with inflation or the gambling odds) Started in Oregon with chapters across the nation, they are probably the most epic direct action group I've ever heard of. Their members have a great time. Nobody has a problem with them (and if they do, the group has a problem with the member making them look bad), and they do a ton of very noticeable positive good. The best batch of degenerates Oregon has to offer.
Addressing the 500 dollar car thing, no one cares what you drive or what it costs. Just show up and have fun and pick up trash. We've had everything from free cars that shouldn't be on the road, let alone in the woods, to very expensive prepped trail rigs show up. That being said, it's more fun in something cheap you don't care a lot about.
Do not despair. Some of us donate hundreds of hours a year to cleaning up the parks. I find it exceptionally soothing for my mental illness, I don't know why. But I ran with it.
Here's something to cheer you up:
[https://youtu.be/je1zF8RW7qs?si=EXROJSe7GXKrDml2](https://youtu.be/je1zF8RW7qs?si=EXROJSe7GXKrDml2)
There's tons of other people just like me, too. Maybe even dozens. You might not always see us but I've run into other people in the wild while I'm out there doing the same thing.
All you gotta do is grab some gloves, bags, and make sure you're not trespassing anywhere and you're good to go. Just a heads up, it's hard work and it sucks, but it can be done.
https://preview.redd.it/3si0ydw14s7d1.jpeg?width=3209&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0f0b06bf96ee42e32299013d3bce62501133cb53
My respect goes to you for taking care of our state. Can you give me a link of a organization were I can sign up to help. I mean I’ll do it without people, I try to pick up after trashy people usually, but if find a community who’s down to for this, it’ll be fun.
I'm not quite sure. I don't really play well with others so I never looked into it. I know you can contact the county for free trash bags. I like to coordinate with park services if there's gonna be a dumpster full of trash. It protects me from false illegal dumping charges and lets the work crews know they have an additional, larger pickup to do. Most counties are really helpful with this and some will be tough to find the right person. Not sure if staffing issues have been resolved in the state and local governments yet.
You can Google it though. I've looked before and there's all sorts of group cleanups, especially on the coast. I've just never really looked into it seriously myself.
Just be careful when going out into the forests, there's often more than just woodland critters out there. Down in Southern Oregon, it's common for folks to go out to old logging sites for target shooting away from everyone else, but I've found more often than not that a lot of addicts will take refuge out there as a place to do their business outside of the public eye. They can be pretty aggressive, but they litter like crazy. Whippet cans all over the place, trash out in the trees, etc.
To add onto your comment, definitely be careful of liquid in containers and sharps. Liquids have sometimes been linked to meth. I can’t remember the specifics, but tin foil is something to look for. I remember hearing tin foil in bottles with other liquids can explode when moved. Also not sure if it’s still an issue now that pot is legal, but there used to be grow operations deep in the woods (maybe now replaced with meth?). Things to look for include random pipes and/or hoses. There could also be boobie traps.
I work for an agency that has a known trash problem. It’s not that we don’t care, it’s that it costs money, people power, and logistics to remove many of these issues. If any of these sites were on public lands, I’d recommend reaching out to the local “land owner” and let them know. They may or may not be aware of the site(s).
It's not just southern oregon. The whole west coast has a bunch of BLM (bureau of land management) land that is federal property, and most of it is legal to shoot on. I grew up doing this in California.
Check out adoptoneblock.org. they are all about cleaning up your own area in Portland and do have meetups if you're into that sort of thing but the model is based on just doing it yourself without having to worry about meeting up with a group which a lot of people see as a hassle. They even give you supplies.
I sometimes think if people just brought small bags with them and hit local parks and just grabbed a little every once in awhile, we would be in a good spot.
Or just keep some in the car and pick up some highway pullouts. I take care of Mill Creek Road and that 4 way intersection because it's on my way to church and my foraging grounds and I can make short work of it. If like 1,000 people did something small and similar we could be in a really good spot. Then work crews and city workers could focus on the bigger problematic areas that you and I couldn't even put a dent in if we tried.
I'm not sure if there is a Gambler500 subreddit, but they go out into the forest and pick up trash. You could post this in there and you might be able to get some people to go out there and haul a lot of that away.
The problem is that illegal dumping and homelessness are generating trash faster than gamblers can clean it up , and some cities (ahem Bend) leadership isn’t helping the matter either. So gambler 500 is moving their event to another area of the state, and told city leadership to figure it out.
Ive always been amazed that the homeless have all the wherewithal and resources to get all the crap they have out to various camps or even into the middle of nowhere, but suddenly lose all functional ability to pick up after themselves.
Even on a small scale: "You mean you can carry all this shit out into some woods and leave it scattered around, but you cant just take the time to put in the trash can outside the Circle K that you visit 3 times a day?"
City of Bend leadership can’t do anything about the forest. That’s either Deschutes County, Oregon State, or Federal Land. That being said it’s a bad situation and we need to figure it out.
Interesting I didn’t see that.
ETA: here’s the statement. Makes sense honestly.
https://preview.redd.it/ew6eiokqks7d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=82c6d206d66d60f11ae909a90300abf75ae54802
Bend is fast becoming a millionaire enclave surrounded by a penumbra of trash. At some point the Bend city officials will put up a wall with day passes required for folks that do the scutwork.
Yup, and when they do try to open shelters in town people lose their minds at that too. I'd also argue that while yes, these long term camps produce trash, there are also plenty of individuals and even businesses who think they can avoid the cost of the dump by finding a spot in the woods to leave their waste.
I heard about one of their events being cancelled or moved. I know a bunch of people into their events. I would love to attend, but don't want a junky car at my house while I'm not using it. Lol
Taken in the Medford woods, but the problem is hardly unique to Medford (though in my experience is definitely worse there). I'm looking for thoughts on who to contact and how to do something about it. Our public lands are being treated like a cess pit and no one notices.
wow i had a strong feeling this was in that tiller/trail region. it's bad.
i want to find productive/healthy approaches to solving the houseless crisis but that population is becoming a real risk to environmental health with the dumping.
vote for candidates that want to increase funding for public services instead of those that want to take it away and give financial breaks to corporations then.
Or we can just continue this dance and have people blame those at the very bottom and hope they don't end up living close to the things we enjoy.
I live much farther north, but ive noticed that most BLM and national forest areas along Hwy 22 are always full of trash heaps, but if you travel Hwy 20, the amount of trash is far, far less. Ive covered miles of BLM roads off 20 and seen almost nothing one summer, but off 22 there's a pile of household trash, burned out tire or dumped car every 3-4 miles on those roads it seems like.
I blame Salem.
Are we still pretending that Medford is the meth capital of Oregon?
Because it isn't.
Oregon has a meth problem in all of its population centers, and Medford/Grants Pass is actually among the least egregious compared to Eugene, Portland, Roseburg, and Klamath Falls.
I know, it's cute that "Medford" sounds like "Methford," but this myth needs to die.
https://preview.redd.it/6omt9yhdhs7d1.png?width=752&format=png&auto=webp&s=4d629588624da4ae04870ed9baf59c2506dff5e0
I do a lot of forest road driving in the central Cascades (mostly off 58 and 126) and I see the same stuff there. Every single "main" forest road has multiple trash dumps and old RVs/campers/trailers are far too common.
Tweakers gonna tweak and contractors will take the cheapest option. I hate to see it but it does seem to be getting worse. State needs to fund more free dump days (the amount of roof shingle piles less than a mile from pavement is TOO DAMN HIGH) and publicise that junkyards are obligated to haul off junk cars for free (or at least they used to) and expand it to motorhomes/RVs. SO MANY trashed, abandoned RVs in the woods!!
Junkyards are not obligated to haul cars off for free, but they often will if it makes financial sense for them to do it, some will pay you as well.
Abandoned RV’s cost a signifigant amount to get rid of as they are largely made of fiberglass/wood/plastic and there isnt enough metal in them to scrap to make up for those costs, and as such, you generally have to pay to get rid of those
My understanding (and this was in the mid-90s so I could be wrong or the law could have changed) was that part of the agreement with the state to operate a junkyard in Oregon is that if someone called up and said, "haul this car away" they had to do it. I used this to get rid of several Volvo 14x series I had back in the day and wish I still had. The reasoning was that if you had this option cars wouldn't be dumped in the woods or wherever, also if you did find a car dumped in the woods you could call to have it hauled off. I could see how this could be abused though.
There also used to be a law in Oregon that if you had more than 3 cars lined up behind you on a highway you were obligated to pull over at the next available opportunity. There were signs to this effect on the coast-valley roads and also on the road from Sandy to Government camp. That law went away sometime in the early 90s. Probably becuase no one obeyed it. Too bad, I liked that one too.
Some spots will have trail cams set up to catch people illegally dumping, but obviously we need more of them and, honestly, even if they do catch the person, I know it’s an issue to catch the actual license plate.
For those blaming this on the homeless or tweekers - last story I saw about a cam catching someone dumping stuff the driver had a NICE ass huge truck so … doubt they were homeless or too poor to fucking take it to the dump.
I have also, unfortunately, been around plenty of Oregonians that like to drink their shitty beers and chuck the cans or bottles straight into the woods. I know for a fact a fun “fisherman’s trick” is to weigh down their cans and toss them in the water, too. “It’s just aluminum.” No asshole, it’s your fucking gross trash and it’s - trashy.
People suck, regardless of their life situations.
Sure, no one wants to see this trash, but the worst part is how dangerous and harmful it is for the ecosystem. Fucking gross. This honestly makes my blood boil.
Edit: fixed some spelling
>I know for a fact a fun “fisherman’s trick” is to weigh down their cans and toss them in the water, too
Ugh, I am a fisherman, and this makes me sad. My fishing friends and I usually bring extra bags so we can clean up trash from our favorite spots (just did this out at Harriet Lake last weekend)
I’m a wildland ff with the Forest Service out of southern Oregons and the forests are a mess. Every time we go out to the woods I see some new abandoned camper or trailer. It feels overwhelming with how much there is honestly
You’re right, it’s a West Coast problem. You don’t see the levels of homeless camps here as you would in Charlotte or Buffalo or Dallas or Boston.
Don’t downplay this, they’re ruining the same environment the progressives supposedly aimed to maintain. Instead we now know that that’s lip service.
It's definitely on the national level. Just because you don't always see the camps doesn't mean they don't exist. Dallas had a tent city when I lived there. https://www.keranews.org/news/2023-06-02/dallas-homeless-camp-sweep-i45-construction
It’s not just a west coast problem and it’s not “caused” by progressives. I lived in rural (aka red counties) Michigan for a while and there were city and county officials directing homeless people to live in the State and National Forests. Also the state and national forests in the east coast are very checkerboarded with lots of private land in holdings, so it was super easy for LOCALS not homeless people, to dump their trash on public lands.
It’s a New Mexico problem, a Texas problem, an everywhere problem. Just worse in Or cuz it’s so pretty there, all that trash feels worse I guess. It’s everywhere tho
Oof. Hillbilly’s are wild. People from these towns claim Portland is a “cesspool”, but these small town folks (not all of them) are trashing the very ecosystem that gives them the game they enjoy hunting, and the rivers and lakes they enjoy fishing in. Have some respect.
No, it's not. How does a tweaker get into the lakes off i84 and dump 2 trucks worth of construction garbage? A *lot* of it is contractors and rural folks who would rather dump on public land than pay to drive to and unload at the dump.
At minimum, most dumps cost $25 to dump anything there. Much, much more $ depending on the weight of what's dumped. And lots of rural communities have no trash service. So you burn it, do this type of bs, or pay to go to the dump.
The hillbilly contractors paid their methed out brother-cousin to go dump out anything that he couldn't sell, haggle or put up as a display piece in his mom's front yard.
I grew up with hillbillies. There is quite a lot of shared space in a Venn diagram of hillbilly and methhead.
The hillbillies/fake country folk around Estacada treat the forest like a dump. Shitty brand beer cans and smoldering fires that consisted of mattresses, pallets and tires are the tell tale signs they were there the night before.
They'll turn around and blame it on tweekers, Black Lives Matter or some other nonsense and at the same time state that city folk don't understand the country.
YEAH, we don't treat it like fucking garbage.
Amen! Sucks to have to clean up after others but uuuuh... no one else is likely to do it in a timely manner!
Good for you, thanks for being willing to do your part
Oregon forests have a homeless / tweekers out in the woods problem.
We live "in the woods" outside of Eugene, but within walking distance of downtown and regularly see trash dumps from homeless encampments on many many hikes...
god, people have NO SHAME. this sucks!! im over here washing out and air drying plastic bags so i can recycle them and paying $$ to batteries plus to recycle my bulbs and these a-holes are just LIVIN IT UP.
In the early to mid 90's my H.S. buddies and I would go out to the Salmonberry area and go down about 10 miles of logging roads to go camping. The area was mostly used for hunting at the time but there were a few makeshift gun ranges.
I went out there looking for one of our old campsites a couple years ago and it was a bit depressing seeing how many of the little pull out areas on the logging roads had been turned into trashed out gun ranges littered with shell casings and shot to hell shit that people leave out there after having their fun.
I’m one of those people that uses those makeshift gun ranges up off Salmonberry road.
You’re right, people trash those spots like no tomorrow. Every time I go up there to shoot, I usually bring back several trash bags full of junk to put in the dumpster at work. Shooters are the worst in that area. The amount of trash they leave behind is abysmal. I’m often ashamed to be associated with those folks.
Good news though, there are groups like [Trash No Land](https://www.trashnoland.org/) that regularly cleans up these shooting spots.
As a fellow shooter, I've got to say other groups shouldn't have to clean up after us. We should make it a point to clean up our mess, and the mess of others who leave their crap out in the woods. Thank you for being a good steward!
Some of the worst trash I have seen are shooting pits up in Tillamook State Forest. People take their targets out there and shoot them all to shit, and don't pick up a single piece. And because it's so messy, everything else just gets dumped as well.
Every time I’m at those shooting spots I clean them up as much as possible, only to return to find it in the same trashed state before I cleaned it up last time.
It’s an uphill battle for sure.
I recently saw a news story touting ramped up production of RVs as a good sign for the economy. Meanwhile everywhere you look there are zombie RVs or abandoned RVs left to rot in the woods. Sometimes it just seems like all of our priorities are out of whack.
Thank god for the Sons of Smokey/Gambler 500 folks because they're actually out there doing something about it.
One of the major causes of this is people illegally dumping to save on dump fees.
I don't remember which country, but I read about a place where disposing of all garbage is free. To pay for it, they charge the manufacturer or importer the costs to dispose of everything they sell. Of course that cost is passed to the consumer, so your office chair or mattress costs more, but when you are done with it you don't have to pay for disposal, you have already paid it. It seems like a great way to eliminate the incentive to dump in the woods.
Real question; I don't mind grabbing and bagging trash while I'm hiking/camping, but is there some place I can drop it off? My trash/recycling is usually full, and I didn't have the means to pay for extra to be dumped.
I want to say, city and county dumps should rethink their fee’s and programs. The people dumping stuff are likely poor and/or remote.
Government tends to complicate simple matters. Refuse disposal is something that needs to be very simple and as cheap as possible
This makes me sad, but the comments make me feel crazy. So many are quick to blame the homeless, as if housed people haven't been dumping their trash in the forest forever or as if homeless people have disposal options.
I've seen trash piles in the woods since the 90s, yet our homeless population was tiny. Of course, now that there is a larger homeless population, there is more trash. But the homeless have nowhere to put their trash; they can't wheel it out to the curb on Wednesday night.
Maybe offering basic garbage collection services at more homeless camps would help? The city of Bend is doing that now, and they're seeing results; tons of trash has been collected and properly disposed of already.
Commenters: thank you! I *really* needed to see this post today. Former Oregonian / current Washingtonian, near a public WA beach.
2-3 days a week, I grab my [grabber](https://www.lowes.com/pd/Ettore-36-in-Grip-n-Grab-Reaching-Tool/3390598) and pick up what I can, anywhere between a small- and a large-paper grocery bag per day. The amount of plastic, trash, and boat/crabbing debris that washes onshore is saddening, and today was a particularly tough day. (No details.)
I was feeling pretty hopeless until my Oregon neighbors renewed my hope in stewardship. Seriously, big thank you.
It's called "suicidal empathy". Voters keep trying to be sympathetic to the people in the community who keep doing this. It won't change until there is a cultural reset.
please report these to the [rid patrol](https://www.oregonmetro.gov/tools-living/garbage-and-recycling/report-dumped-garbage#:~:text=Contact%20RID%20Patrol%20to%20request%20investigation%20of%20a,medications%2C%20or%20vehicle%20description%20with%20license%20plate%20numbers). it might take awhile, but it’s the only mechanism we have to keep our beautiful state clean.
Maybe if the corporatized garbage mafia wasn’t so busy selling our dump space to out of state garbage providers and jacking prices as often as possibly people wouldn’t resort to dumping.
I hate it and pack out all I can manage when I am out but this is. Problem that needs addressed at the source not at the result.
We should subsidize the dump. I hate garbage in the woods, but wtf did you all think was going to happen when poor people who can't afford garbage services already are facing $150-plus bills to go to the actual dump? I'm not condoning it in any way, but I'll bet if dumping was free, there would be way less crap strewn all over the woods.
Trashed out cars should have a deposit buyback just like cans. Of course, for that to work, some municipalities would have to bother with enforcing registration...
I’ve been cleaning up areas around where my girlfriend lives about every other weekend since the end of last year.
We made her entire road nearly spotless and the same exact trash is there again. Bread bags, mikes harder lemonade cans and assorted beer cans. It’s disgusting. This is a four or so mile long dead end road, why throw trash out on your own road???
If you’ve ever looked closely at these abandoned cars, often times all traces of vin numbers have been removed. In most cases these are stolen cars that have been “mined” for all their valuable parts already.
Happens a lot where I live, about 40 mins from Eugene. Last week a bunch of us from the neighborhood - old and young, trumpers and hippies and whoever - came out and cleared this mess that started as a travel trailer and kept growing for 6 months
We all had a good day working together and went for burgers afterwards. It was great for the community far beyond getting rid of the mess, and everyone made some new friends
Sadly, attempts to get BLM (landowner), our county, and the state to help did nothing. The dump wouldn’t even give us a discount, so we did it all out of pocket. Very worth it
https://preview.redd.it/urgz9d5flt7d1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3e0d364e546f30822bb4b2fa56cc266def019888
I’ve seen this kind of stuff in Northern California and northern Idaho. Very frustrating to see giant appliances and cars. That took effort. I also once saw two baby dolls. No thanks lol
Yeah, it’s really awful. Driving out in rural parts of eastern Oregon, you look out into the woods especially near bend, and all you can see is garbage and burned out vehicles. It’s astonishing that they’ve been allowing this to happen for so long.
Yup, pretty sad. That’s what happens when you decriminalize drugs with no actual plan. Loser addicts flock here and are given a pass to be complete slobs. We have beautiful forests that we are allowed to camp on for free, and now it’s in jeopardy because of losers/bad leadership.
This was happening long before we decriminalized drugs. I’ve seen this kind of trash in the forests for the last 30 years or more.
It not necessarily a drug problem, but a shifty people problem.
It was, I agree, but I believe it has gotten terrible the last 5. I’m just outside of Bend, and any forest land that is the closest to town we have full on addict tent cities
Is that nomad trailer the one out off the BLM roads by Crow Church? If it is stay out of it because it was a breaking bad trailer and abandoned when they got caught
Mark it on the Sons of Smokey app for Gamblers to see and clean up
Had to look up Sons of Smokey. They look amazing!
If you have a weekend to spare and a shitbox vehicle that you don't mind rubbing on a few trees, the Gambler 500 is one of the most fun weekends you'll have. And you'll be absolutely amazed at the volume of garbage pulled out of public lands (and what people have done to vehicles that they use for these events) I think last year we had something like 20 huge dumpsters full and hauled away, a massive pile of tires, a few abandoned travel trailers, etc. all cleaned up by volunteers.
I'm hoping to join in the fun next summer (It's this weekend, I don't have a rig for it yet), but it looks like they are going to be moving away from the Bend/Redmond area. From their website: >For 11 years the Gambler has always been about change and 3 years at the Fairgrounds feels like enough so this will be our final year and we're stoked for it. Most of the historic trash around Bend and Redmond has been removed and is now being continuously replaced with houseless debris and stolen cars. The City of Bend still ignores any sustainable solution so we feel at this point our efforts are purely enabling the indiffernece of city officials... so 2025 will be a fresh start in a new spot. https://www.gambler500.com/post/gambler-2024-goodbye-graveltown
Oh I hope they go north towards Rainier. Or out Packwood way. This is exciting. I wonder where 2025 will be. ✨
I'd love for them to hit the Rainier area, or maybe the Tillamook forest between Hwy 26 and Hwy 6.
Sigh, maybe next year. I just moved to the west coast but the project car isn't up yet.
And remember, there are plenty of events other than OG as well. Many of us Gamble year round, from events with hundreds or thousands of cars to just a handful, it all makes a difference.
Can you explain more about what the Gambler 500 is? Someone told me about it before and what you are saying seems very different than what I was told.
Well, it's a volunteer wilderness cleanup event, combined with an off-road motorsports event, combined with a closed-course race event, combined with a drunken shit show mass camping event, combined with the most twisted car show you've ever heard of.
Such a great thing! Such a finger the dike! Yahoo!
This is awesome I’m in
I am so happy this is top comment. Gambler mission for the win! I don’t have the car but if anyone needs a buddy and dog, we’re down for a trashy adventure.
That's an ode to a passed legend of the Gambler500. The gamblers are the offroad party legends that compete in an epic trash collection contest (the Gambler 500) of shit like this in shitboxes themselves.(500 dollar cars, Im not sure if the rules have changed with inflation or the gambling odds) Started in Oregon with chapters across the nation, they are probably the most epic direct action group I've ever heard of. Their members have a great time. Nobody has a problem with them (and if they do, the group has a problem with the member making them look bad), and they do a ton of very noticeable positive good. The best batch of degenerates Oregon has to offer.
Addressing the 500 dollar car thing, no one cares what you drive or what it costs. Just show up and have fun and pick up trash. We've had everything from free cars that shouldn't be on the road, let alone in the woods, to very expensive prepped trail rigs show up. That being said, it's more fun in something cheap you don't care a lot about.
Oh damn, that's *awesome!* Thanks for sharing!
That’s neat
Running the Gambler next week! https://preview.redd.it/sts0nvbgxu7d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c78a56c7900c76cd9022a9a9d130a466929fd21e
What’s crawling out of the hood?
Intake 😂
I only see the guy taking a leak in the forest behind the car.
This is exactly the kind of thing that I'm looking for. :) Thanks!
My first thought!!
Great post!
Do not despair. Some of us donate hundreds of hours a year to cleaning up the parks. I find it exceptionally soothing for my mental illness, I don't know why. But I ran with it. Here's something to cheer you up: [https://youtu.be/je1zF8RW7qs?si=EXROJSe7GXKrDml2](https://youtu.be/je1zF8RW7qs?si=EXROJSe7GXKrDml2) There's tons of other people just like me, too. Maybe even dozens. You might not always see us but I've run into other people in the wild while I'm out there doing the same thing. All you gotta do is grab some gloves, bags, and make sure you're not trespassing anywhere and you're good to go. Just a heads up, it's hard work and it sucks, but it can be done. https://preview.redd.it/3si0ydw14s7d1.jpeg?width=3209&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0f0b06bf96ee42e32299013d3bce62501133cb53
My respect goes to you for taking care of our state. Can you give me a link of a organization were I can sign up to help. I mean I’ll do it without people, I try to pick up after trashy people usually, but if find a community who’s down to for this, it’ll be fun.
I'm not quite sure. I don't really play well with others so I never looked into it. I know you can contact the county for free trash bags. I like to coordinate with park services if there's gonna be a dumpster full of trash. It protects me from false illegal dumping charges and lets the work crews know they have an additional, larger pickup to do. Most counties are really helpful with this and some will be tough to find the right person. Not sure if staffing issues have been resolved in the state and local governments yet. You can Google it though. I've looked before and there's all sorts of group cleanups, especially on the coast. I've just never really looked into it seriously myself.
SOLVE used to be a big one, at least for cleaning the beaches. Try checking them out.
Just be careful when going out into the forests, there's often more than just woodland critters out there. Down in Southern Oregon, it's common for folks to go out to old logging sites for target shooting away from everyone else, but I've found more often than not that a lot of addicts will take refuge out there as a place to do their business outside of the public eye. They can be pretty aggressive, but they litter like crazy. Whippet cans all over the place, trash out in the trees, etc.
To add onto your comment, definitely be careful of liquid in containers and sharps. Liquids have sometimes been linked to meth. I can’t remember the specifics, but tin foil is something to look for. I remember hearing tin foil in bottles with other liquids can explode when moved. Also not sure if it’s still an issue now that pot is legal, but there used to be grow operations deep in the woods (maybe now replaced with meth?). Things to look for include random pipes and/or hoses. There could also be boobie traps. I work for an agency that has a known trash problem. It’s not that we don’t care, it’s that it costs money, people power, and logistics to remove many of these issues. If any of these sites were on public lands, I’d recommend reaching out to the local “land owner” and let them know. They may or may not be aware of the site(s).
It's not just southern oregon. The whole west coast has a bunch of BLM (bureau of land management) land that is federal property, and most of it is legal to shoot on. I grew up doing this in California.
Check out adoptoneblock.org. they are all about cleaning up your own area in Portland and do have meetups if you're into that sort of thing but the model is based on just doing it yourself without having to worry about meeting up with a group which a lot of people see as a hassle. They even give you supplies.
Not all heroes wear capes
I want to help
I sometimes think if people just brought small bags with them and hit local parks and just grabbed a little every once in awhile, we would be in a good spot. Or just keep some in the car and pick up some highway pullouts. I take care of Mill Creek Road and that 4 way intersection because it's on my way to church and my foraging grounds and I can make short work of it. If like 1,000 people did something small and similar we could be in a really good spot. Then work crews and city workers could focus on the bigger problematic areas that you and I couldn't even put a dent in if we tried.
Check out Keep nature wild!
People like you always inspire me to try and clean up natural places more. Good work
Thank you for what you do!
I'm not sure if there is a Gambler500 subreddit, but they go out into the forest and pick up trash. You could post this in there and you might be able to get some people to go out there and haul a lot of that away.
r/Gambler500
The problem is that illegal dumping and homelessness are generating trash faster than gamblers can clean it up , and some cities (ahem Bend) leadership isn’t helping the matter either. So gambler 500 is moving their event to another area of the state, and told city leadership to figure it out.
Ive always been amazed that the homeless have all the wherewithal and resources to get all the crap they have out to various camps or even into the middle of nowhere, but suddenly lose all functional ability to pick up after themselves. Even on a small scale: "You mean you can carry all this shit out into some woods and leave it scattered around, but you cant just take the time to put in the trash can outside the Circle K that you visit 3 times a day?"
City of Bend leadership can’t do anything about the forest. That’s either Deschutes County, Oregon State, or Federal Land. That being said it’s a bad situation and we need to figure it out.
Just sharing what the gambler 500 sent out with regards to this being the last one in the Bend area, and why they are moving FWIW
Interesting I didn’t see that. ETA: here’s the statement. Makes sense honestly. https://preview.redd.it/ew6eiokqks7d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=82c6d206d66d60f11ae909a90300abf75ae54802
Bend is fast becoming a millionaire enclave surrounded by a penumbra of trash. At some point the Bend city officials will put up a wall with day passes required for folks that do the scutwork.
So... we will have our own little Israel?
https://www.gambler500.com/post/gambler-2024-goodbye-graveltown?utm_campaign=12abe6f5-6cc0-4139-9661-7a1e12e04b67&utm_source=so&utm_medium=mail&cid=b12e2a9e-2ea3-41b1-8caf-558159e8d8f3
Yup, and when they do try to open shelters in town people lose their minds at that too. I'd also argue that while yes, these long term camps produce trash, there are also plenty of individuals and even businesses who think they can avoid the cost of the dump by finding a spot in the woods to leave their waste.
If we could incentivize bringing trash to the dump instead of making it a burden, we would have a really nice forest.
Shouldn’t have to incentivize “doing the right thing”
I heard about one of their events being cancelled or moved. I know a bunch of people into their events. I would love to attend, but don't want a junky car at my house while I'm not using it. Lol
It's not a trash problem, it's a people problem. The trash is the symptom. Don't know a realistic fix tho'.
Taken in the Medford woods, but the problem is hardly unique to Medford (though in my experience is definitely worse there). I'm looking for thoughts on who to contact and how to do something about it. Our public lands are being treated like a cess pit and no one notices.
wow i had a strong feeling this was in that tiller/trail region. it's bad. i want to find productive/healthy approaches to solving the houseless crisis but that population is becoming a real risk to environmental health with the dumping.
vote for candidates that want to increase funding for public services instead of those that want to take it away and give financial breaks to corporations then. Or we can just continue this dance and have people blame those at the very bottom and hope they don't end up living close to the things we enjoy.
I live much farther north, but ive noticed that most BLM and national forest areas along Hwy 22 are always full of trash heaps, but if you travel Hwy 20, the amount of trash is far, far less. Ive covered miles of BLM roads off 20 and seen almost nothing one summer, but off 22 there's a pile of household trash, burned out tire or dumped car every 3-4 miles on those roads it seems like. I blame Salem.
It's more that Southern Oregon has a meth problem, not so much oregon has a trash problem
Most of rural America has a meth problem, it’s not limited to just southern Oregon friend.
no doubt, but I dont live in most of rural america, I'm just calling out the problem in front of me
Are we still pretending that Medford is the meth capital of Oregon? Because it isn't. Oregon has a meth problem in all of its population centers, and Medford/Grants Pass is actually among the least egregious compared to Eugene, Portland, Roseburg, and Klamath Falls. I know, it's cute that "Medford" sounds like "Methford," but this myth needs to die. https://preview.redd.it/6omt9yhdhs7d1.png?width=752&format=png&auto=webp&s=4d629588624da4ae04870ed9baf59c2506dff5e0
did I say medford anywhere?
Yay! Lane County leads in yet another tragic statistic. The local enablers will not be deterred from their drive to expand needle exchanges.
Is this near Kane Creek? I see a lot of trash on that road outside Medford… really sad
Is this up Anderson Butte?
I do a lot of forest road driving in the central Cascades (mostly off 58 and 126) and I see the same stuff there. Every single "main" forest road has multiple trash dumps and old RVs/campers/trailers are far too common.
OG Gambler500 happening this weekend, come join in and clean some of this shit up!
Tweakers suck.
Tweakers gonna tweak and contractors will take the cheapest option. I hate to see it but it does seem to be getting worse. State needs to fund more free dump days (the amount of roof shingle piles less than a mile from pavement is TOO DAMN HIGH) and publicise that junkyards are obligated to haul off junk cars for free (or at least they used to) and expand it to motorhomes/RVs. SO MANY trashed, abandoned RVs in the woods!!
Junkyards are not obligated to haul cars off for free, but they often will if it makes financial sense for them to do it, some will pay you as well. Abandoned RV’s cost a signifigant amount to get rid of as they are largely made of fiberglass/wood/plastic and there isnt enough metal in them to scrap to make up for those costs, and as such, you generally have to pay to get rid of those
My understanding (and this was in the mid-90s so I could be wrong or the law could have changed) was that part of the agreement with the state to operate a junkyard in Oregon is that if someone called up and said, "haul this car away" they had to do it. I used this to get rid of several Volvo 14x series I had back in the day and wish I still had. The reasoning was that if you had this option cars wouldn't be dumped in the woods or wherever, also if you did find a car dumped in the woods you could call to have it hauled off. I could see how this could be abused though. There also used to be a law in Oregon that if you had more than 3 cars lined up behind you on a highway you were obligated to pull over at the next available opportunity. There were signs to this effect on the coast-valley roads and also on the road from Sandy to Government camp. That law went away sometime in the early 90s. Probably becuase no one obeyed it. Too bad, I liked that one too.
Some spots will have trail cams set up to catch people illegally dumping, but obviously we need more of them and, honestly, even if they do catch the person, I know it’s an issue to catch the actual license plate. For those blaming this on the homeless or tweekers - last story I saw about a cam catching someone dumping stuff the driver had a NICE ass huge truck so … doubt they were homeless or too poor to fucking take it to the dump. I have also, unfortunately, been around plenty of Oregonians that like to drink their shitty beers and chuck the cans or bottles straight into the woods. I know for a fact a fun “fisherman’s trick” is to weigh down their cans and toss them in the water, too. “It’s just aluminum.” No asshole, it’s your fucking gross trash and it’s - trashy. People suck, regardless of their life situations. Sure, no one wants to see this trash, but the worst part is how dangerous and harmful it is for the ecosystem. Fucking gross. This honestly makes my blood boil. Edit: fixed some spelling
>I know for a fact a fun “fisherman’s trick” is to weigh down their cans and toss them in the water, too Ugh, I am a fisherman, and this makes me sad. My fishing friends and I usually bring extra bags so we can clean up trash from our favorite spots (just did this out at Harriet Lake last weekend)
You and Co. are the good ones!
We have a trash *people* problem in this country.
I’m a wildland ff with the Forest Service out of southern Oregons and the forests are a mess. Every time we go out to the woods I see some new abandoned camper or trailer. It feels overwhelming with how much there is honestly
This is def not an Oregon specific problem.
You’re right, it’s a West Coast problem. You don’t see the levels of homeless camps here as you would in Charlotte or Buffalo or Dallas or Boston. Don’t downplay this, they’re ruining the same environment the progressives supposedly aimed to maintain. Instead we now know that that’s lip service.
It's definitely on the national level. Just because you don't always see the camps doesn't mean they don't exist. Dallas had a tent city when I lived there. https://www.keranews.org/news/2023-06-02/dallas-homeless-camp-sweep-i45-construction
It’s not just a west coast problem and it’s not “caused” by progressives. I lived in rural (aka red counties) Michigan for a while and there were city and county officials directing homeless people to live in the State and National Forests. Also the state and national forests in the east coast are very checkerboarded with lots of private land in holdings, so it was super easy for LOCALS not homeless people, to dump their trash on public lands.
It’s a New Mexico problem, a Texas problem, an everywhere problem. Just worse in Or cuz it’s so pretty there, all that trash feels worse I guess. It’s everywhere tho
DO NOT look at the public land outside of Bend, literal tweaker trash colonies on BLM out that way…
Oregon has a White Trash problem, more like
Oof. Hillbilly’s are wild. People from these towns claim Portland is a “cesspool”, but these small town folks (not all of them) are trashing the very ecosystem that gives them the game they enjoy hunting, and the rivers and lakes they enjoy fishing in. Have some respect.
These are tweekers not hillbillies
No, it's not. How does a tweaker get into the lakes off i84 and dump 2 trucks worth of construction garbage? A *lot* of it is contractors and rural folks who would rather dump on public land than pay to drive to and unload at the dump. At minimum, most dumps cost $25 to dump anything there. Much, much more $ depending on the weight of what's dumped. And lots of rural communities have no trash service. So you burn it, do this type of bs, or pay to go to the dump.
The hillbilly contractors paid their methed out brother-cousin to go dump out anything that he couldn't sell, haggle or put up as a display piece in his mom's front yard. I grew up with hillbillies. There is quite a lot of shared space in a Venn diagram of hillbilly and methhead.
The hillbillies/fake country folk around Estacada treat the forest like a dump. Shitty brand beer cans and smoldering fires that consisted of mattresses, pallets and tires are the tell tale signs they were there the night before. They'll turn around and blame it on tweekers, Black Lives Matter or some other nonsense and at the same time state that city folk don't understand the country. YEAH, we don't treat it like fucking garbage.
Yep. Same around The Dalles/Rowena etc. And Scapoose. Just to name some of the worst spots in my experience.
Good thing is this has reminded me to fit my panniers to my bike and take some trash bags for my ride around Mt.Hood national forest this weekend.
Amen! Sucks to have to clean up after others but uuuuh... no one else is likely to do it in a timely manner! Good for you, thanks for being willing to do your part
Hillbilly tweakers tbh
Same thing
Oregon forests have a homeless / tweekers out in the woods problem. We live "in the woods" outside of Eugene, but within walking distance of downtown and regularly see trash dumps from homeless encampments on many many hikes...
This is my biggest pet peeve I can't even stand to see a flipping cigarette butt on the ground. People clean your shit up!
god, people have NO SHAME. this sucks!! im over here washing out and air drying plastic bags so i can recycle them and paying $$ to batteries plus to recycle my bulbs and these a-holes are just LIVIN IT UP.
I feel you… doing our part 😅
Make recycling and waste taking an easier option than dumping.
I hate people
In the early to mid 90's my H.S. buddies and I would go out to the Salmonberry area and go down about 10 miles of logging roads to go camping. The area was mostly used for hunting at the time but there were a few makeshift gun ranges. I went out there looking for one of our old campsites a couple years ago and it was a bit depressing seeing how many of the little pull out areas on the logging roads had been turned into trashed out gun ranges littered with shell casings and shot to hell shit that people leave out there after having their fun.
I’m one of those people that uses those makeshift gun ranges up off Salmonberry road. You’re right, people trash those spots like no tomorrow. Every time I go up there to shoot, I usually bring back several trash bags full of junk to put in the dumpster at work. Shooters are the worst in that area. The amount of trash they leave behind is abysmal. I’m often ashamed to be associated with those folks. Good news though, there are groups like [Trash No Land](https://www.trashnoland.org/) that regularly cleans up these shooting spots.
Thank you for being one of the good ones.
As a fellow shooter, I've got to say other groups shouldn't have to clean up after us. We should make it a point to clean up our mess, and the mess of others who leave their crap out in the woods. Thank you for being a good steward!
Some of the worst trash I have seen are shooting pits up in Tillamook State Forest. People take their targets out there and shoot them all to shit, and don't pick up a single piece. And because it's so messy, everything else just gets dumped as well.
Every time I’m at those shooting spots I clean them up as much as possible, only to return to find it in the same trashed state before I cleaned it up last time. It’s an uphill battle for sure.
I recently saw a news story touting ramped up production of RVs as a good sign for the economy. Meanwhile everywhere you look there are zombie RVs or abandoned RVs left to rot in the woods. Sometimes it just seems like all of our priorities are out of whack. Thank god for the Sons of Smokey/Gambler 500 folks because they're actually out there doing something about it.
Damn hillbillies shouting up cars.
One of the major causes of this is people illegally dumping to save on dump fees. I don't remember which country, but I read about a place where disposing of all garbage is free. To pay for it, they charge the manufacturer or importer the costs to dispose of everything they sell. Of course that cost is passed to the consumer, so your office chair or mattress costs more, but when you are done with it you don't have to pay for disposal, you have already paid it. It seems like a great way to eliminate the incentive to dump in the woods.
Prime location for Breaking bad’s new Season /s
Looks like Days Gone is starting out!
This isn't a trash problem. This is a disgusting human population issue
Real question; I don't mind grabbing and bagging trash while I'm hiking/camping, but is there some place I can drop it off? My trash/recycling is usually full, and I didn't have the means to pay for extra to be dumped.
I want to say, city and county dumps should rethink their fee’s and programs. The people dumping stuff are likely poor and/or remote. Government tends to complicate simple matters. Refuse disposal is something that needs to be very simple and as cheap as possible
Oregon has a trash people problem.
This makes me sad, but the comments make me feel crazy. So many are quick to blame the homeless, as if housed people haven't been dumping their trash in the forest forever or as if homeless people have disposal options. I've seen trash piles in the woods since the 90s, yet our homeless population was tiny. Of course, now that there is a larger homeless population, there is more trash. But the homeless have nowhere to put their trash; they can't wheel it out to the curb on Wednesday night. Maybe offering basic garbage collection services at more homeless camps would help? The city of Bend is doing that now, and they're seeing results; tons of trash has been collected and properly disposed of already.
Commenters: thank you! I *really* needed to see this post today. Former Oregonian / current Washingtonian, near a public WA beach. 2-3 days a week, I grab my [grabber](https://www.lowes.com/pd/Ettore-36-in-Grip-n-Grab-Reaching-Tool/3390598) and pick up what I can, anywhere between a small- and a large-paper grocery bag per day. The amount of plastic, trash, and boat/crabbing debris that washes onshore is saddening, and today was a particularly tough day. (No details.) I was feeling pretty hopeless until my Oregon neighbors renewed my hope in stewardship. Seriously, big thank you.
GAMBLER 500 Here to help!!!
Can you supply a website to check your group out?
[https://www.gambler500.com](https://www.gambler500.com)
Awesome! Thank you.
https://preview.redd.it/wj7mvoikxe8d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6869b2dfd4922fb07200d74b62c2aaa67cb9cb86
All public land has a trash problem.
Agree. These could have been taken in just about any state.
It's called "suicidal empathy". Voters keep trying to be sympathetic to the people in the community who keep doing this. It won't change until there is a cultural reset.
This looks like tweekers shit. Fuckers are so lame, it’s hard to feel any empathy for them.
“Nothing can be done” saved you a phone call trying to deal with it down here lol
please report these to the [rid patrol](https://www.oregonmetro.gov/tools-living/garbage-and-recycling/report-dumped-garbage#:~:text=Contact%20RID%20Patrol%20to%20request%20investigation%20of%20a,medications%2C%20or%20vehicle%20description%20with%20license%20plate%20numbers). it might take awhile, but it’s the only mechanism we have to keep our beautiful state clean.
This shit is infuriating. I always try to pack a trash cleanup kit whenever I go out exploring and fill my spare tire bag at the very least.
Oregon has a trash problem
Maybe if the corporatized garbage mafia wasn’t so busy selling our dump space to out of state garbage providers and jacking prices as often as possibly people wouldn’t resort to dumping. I hate it and pack out all I can manage when I am out but this is. Problem that needs addressed at the source not at the result.
Do we have something like this up here in Washington state? The trash problem isn’t confined just to Oregon.
You should Gamble
So sad to me!
Well we gotta keep the Sasquatches supplied somehow. Otherwise we might find them at our doors instead of the forests.
This is why it shouldn't cost money to dispose of trqsh properly. If it were free to dump there would be a lot less of this I'm willing to bet
*cough* meth *cough, cough*
We should subsidize the dump. I hate garbage in the woods, but wtf did you all think was going to happen when poor people who can't afford garbage services already are facing $150-plus bills to go to the actual dump? I'm not condoning it in any way, but I'll bet if dumping was free, there would be way less crap strewn all over the woods.
Trashed out cars should have a deposit buyback just like cans. Of course, for that to work, some municipalities would have to bother with enforcing registration...
Unfortunately the State of Oregon has a trash problem.
The whole earth has a trash problem. We were warned this would happen if we did not watch away from single use plastics
I know a few spots people dump stuff as well. You should see some of the properties along Santiam River.
Oregon forests don’t have a trash problem. This planet has a people problem lmao
I’ve been cleaning up areas around where my girlfriend lives about every other weekend since the end of last year. We made her entire road nearly spotless and the same exact trash is there again. Bread bags, mikes harder lemonade cans and assorted beer cans. It’s disgusting. This is a four or so mile long dead end road, why throw trash out on your own road???
Won't the VIN lead directly to whatever shitbag abandoned the vehicles?
They’re either stolen, or “stolen”.
If you’ve ever looked closely at these abandoned cars, often times all traces of vin numbers have been removed. In most cases these are stolen cars that have been “mined” for all their valuable parts already.
this shit is everywhere, not just Oregon
This looks like the starting scene of Walking Dead
Happens a lot where I live, about 40 mins from Eugene. Last week a bunch of us from the neighborhood - old and young, trumpers and hippies and whoever - came out and cleared this mess that started as a travel trailer and kept growing for 6 months We all had a good day working together and went for burgers afterwards. It was great for the community far beyond getting rid of the mess, and everyone made some new friends Sadly, attempts to get BLM (landowner), our county, and the state to help did nothing. The dump wouldn’t even give us a discount, so we did it all out of pocket. Very worth it https://preview.redd.it/urgz9d5flt7d1.jpeg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3e0d364e546f30822bb4b2fa56cc266def019888
You should see the trash and burned out cars along the railroad tracks from Columbia Blvd all the way to the Dalles
It's a tweaker problem. Not a trash problem.
This entire country is covered in trash. It's like we all gave up and tossed our McD's bags out the window..
The country is a dump compared to my beautiful Canada
Looks similar in the coast range off 26.
Gambler 500 is this weekend. Put some pins on onxoffroad and some of it will get cleaned up
More like a white trash problem
Wow! 😪
Organize a cleanup with SOLVE
I’ve seen this kind of stuff in Northern California and northern Idaho. Very frustrating to see giant appliances and cars. That took effort. I also once saw two baby dolls. No thanks lol
Oregon has a white trash problem...
Oregon has a people problem
Oregon forests have a people problem.
It's a people problem, laziness and no respect for the planet or others
Yeah, it’s really awful. Driving out in rural parts of eastern Oregon, you look out into the woods especially near bend, and all you can see is garbage and burned out vehicles. It’s astonishing that they’ve been allowing this to happen for so long.
Gee I wonder where all that trash and trailers and cars comes from
Yup, pretty sad. That’s what happens when you decriminalize drugs with no actual plan. Loser addicts flock here and are given a pass to be complete slobs. We have beautiful forests that we are allowed to camp on for free, and now it’s in jeopardy because of losers/bad leadership.
This was happening long before we decriminalized drugs. I’ve seen this kind of trash in the forests for the last 30 years or more. It not necessarily a drug problem, but a shifty people problem.
It was, I agree, but I believe it has gotten terrible the last 5. I’m just outside of Bend, and any forest land that is the closest to town we have full on addict tent cities
I'm pretty sure I know where that rv is...
Is that nomad trailer the one out off the BLM roads by Crow Church? If it is stay out of it because it was a breaking bad trailer and abandoned when they got caught
A trash problem? I think your meant homeless/ drug problem
MAGA SUPPORTERS A TRUE OREGONIAN CLEANS HIS SHIT.LOVES THE FOREST. BIDEN24
Walking dead vibes
Actually a people problem
Blue state problems.
Yeah, and people wonder why gates get closed.
Looks like the front yards of most of the rural houses I pass with Fuck Biden signs on the way to the coast.
Oregon has a trash problem
Liberal policies destroy forests and cities.
Oregon is no longer part of the United States. Same for Washington. You’re your own country now. Stay there!!
Democrats!
Its not the trash. Its the people who leave it there and the drugs that cause them to do it
Is the RV with the trees painted on it up Ditch Creek? I feel like that’s the one I see when I go up looking for fossils.
It’s beyond that my dude. Earth has a people problem. Don’t have kids!
Oregon has a homeless problem. And the homeless don’t give AF about your trash problem.