Pet peeves in the outdoor

What behavior by your fellow trampers really irritates you? My number one pet peeve is people not cleaning up after themselves. I hate arriving at a hut to find food scraps, mess, paper, food stains etc. left all over the place. Not only is this un hygienic it also attracts mice and rats, and who wants a big old rat running over their face at 2 am in the morning. Dirty pigs! I also keep finding burnt cans in hut fireplaces: I'm happy for you to burn the food them out but take the bloody things with you afterwards!

well you wanted to know so at the moment, it's plageristic trampers who dont offer any apology for blogging other peoples work on the internet as their own work....

Snoring. I know everyone has the right to sleep in huts but if I knew that I snored I would take a tent and spare a hut-full of exhausted trampers a frustrating and wakeful night. Sleep deprivation also increases the possibility of mistakes the following day and nobody wants a weary tramper to have a fall or worse due to a lapse in concentration... Thank god for earplugs but they are not so effective with impressive fortissimo snoring.

I snore sometimes (haven't figured out how to predict). But last Saturday night I pulled a mattress outside about 15-20 metres away under the trees (second night in a row after being the only person on Friday), only to be followed by several other people who decided to set up near me, one in particular of whom next morning decided to make a big deal about me snoring that night. It's not as if they hadn't had a wide and open part of the world to choose from. I don't usually dislike people because of little stuff like this, though, and I think it's risky to be carried away in this type of forum where negative stuff gets easily misinterpreted. Wilderness Magazine asked the same question a few months back and basically just provoked a flame war.

Sounds rather unfair when you'd been so considerate. It's a sensitive subject for sure. Ear plugs usually do the trick nicely but there are limits :-) Good idea to make them part of the 'essential kit'.

To be honest I wasn't outside because of snoring so much as that it was just an awesome night to be outside, just with a mattress and a warm sleeping bag. I just thought it was on the nose to make a big deal of how much he supposedly suffered all night when he wouldn't have been there if it weren't for copying what I was doing, and it would have been so easy to drag himself elsewhere at any time in this massively wide campsite. :)

Post menopausal tramping clup virago's that need to organise and direct everybody in a hut whether they are in the same party or not

Snoring. Opps sorry It might not of been me though. On the topic of messy trampers though its not always the ones you expect. I mentioned this before but Powel hut 2 years ago 2 partys of young adults who had consumed there first 6 packs before reaching the hut and continued consuming till early hours ( I fell asleep anyway so cant complain about them. Others from my group may if they chose to though) Following morning they cleaned up impeccably but a mother and son there at the same time left a huge mess.

"Post menopausal tramping club virago's that need to organize and direct everybody in a hut whether they are in the same party or not" Funny you say that. We arrived at Huxley Forks hut with that optimistic hope that we would have the hut to ourselves (not being selfish, but it’s nice sometimes) 1/2 an hour later a hunter and his wife and their Jack Russell arrived. They were a nice easy going couple who slotted into the hut readily. So all is well with 5 of us, plus dog, in our 6 bunk hut :) About another hour later a group of at least 10 older trampers arrived and set up their tent city outside. One of the group, a tough old lass, entered the hut and didn’t return our greeting but sought out the last bunk and proceeded to insist that my son move to a top bunk to make the lower bunk available for her (which he would have done anyway if she hadn't entered like a steam roller) They had obviously had a long day because we didn’t see them at Monument Hut. It turned out they had left their minivan at the gate by Huxley Lodge and walked 8km(approx.) up the road on a stinking hot day. When I told her it was a public road and we had opened the gate and driven our 2WD to within 500m of Monument Hut her face took on a mixture of anger and resentment. In a complete fluster she started cooking her dinner and spilt hot water everywhere which added to her mood. All the while she was giving Jack Russell the evils, so the hunter, sensing the mood, consigned him to the top bunk with him. She then chastised the hunter for having his dog with him and “was that allowed over here” (She was Australian). I chipped in and said we didn’t mind and it was a hunting block and dogs were allowed (carefully avoiding the fact that dogs aren’t really allowed inside huts. He was a cool dog though) We left her to it and went for an evening walk part way to Brodrick Hut, and when we returned she had turned in for the night. I got that she was tired and I admired her spirit but a smile and hello to other occupants in a hut goes a long way as an introduction, and can set the mood.

"I chipped in and said we didn’t mind and it was a hunting block and dogs were allowed (carefully avoiding the fact that dogs aren’t really allowed inside huts. He was a cool dog though) " Ive only seen a couple of people let there dogs in and generally they dont cause much issue although its not allowed for good reason. Dog smell does go through everything but the biggest issue Ive had with a dog was at Waitawaiwai. Owner said the dog would cry and howl all night if put out and it had seemed a reasonable dog. It was a somewhat overweight black lab. 4 or 5 times during the night it got up for a walk round the hut. toe nails tat tap taping on the wooden floor. So often attitude makes so much more difference to how you see someone and react to them than anything you actually do. Being grumpy definatly sours any chance of a friendly encounter but a hot day and extra 8k walk you wernt expecting can never help the mood. They were set up to stay out though and knew they wouldnt fit in the hut. Only other thing I can think of is large partys arriving late at a small hut Powel hut the 2nd mid winter snow on the ground in the mid 80s capacity 18 There were 23 at 8pm an hour after dark when a group or 12 scouts arrived. Cow creek capacity 6 there were 5 of us 3/4 the way through cooking dinner when a family of 5 turned up. If they had been earlier we could of put a fly up outside but it had just started raining. We managed but that hut is cosy with 10 sleeping in it.