Photo taken: May 11, 2016
Where I live, there are no mountains. In fact, there are barely any hills. Illinois is supposedly one of the overall flattest states in the US… so around here, if we want non-monotonous topographical scenery, we have to make it ourselves. Many years ago, the local Native Americans erected burial mounds which are one of the few legitimate tourist attractions on the east side of the St. Louis metro area. Pictured above is a much different kind of manmade burial mound…. namely, our local landfill. Constructed of billions upon billions of bags of trash collected over the past decades, this time capsule of modern living will be the talk of the alien archaeologists who stumble upon the remains of this planet many centuries from now. But for now… it’s just part of our beautiful landscape. Mount Rubbish is just breathtaking in the winter…
Evil Squirrel's Nest 
Well, reaching the summit of Mount Rubbish is definitely now on my bucket list.
It makes Mt. Everest look like a bump in the road in comparison. What’s thin air, bitter temperatures, and deadly chasms when you have the extreme challenge of surviving a climb up trillions of tons of rotting garbage?
It looks like they’re still working on it. (I’m guessing those shapes on the peak are adding trash and dirt still?) Maybe someday Mount Rubbish will have some elevation to it!
This has me curious about where Washington’s trash goes because I don’t know of any landfills anymore. We probably ship our garbage to China and then pretend we’re so green we don’t have any. That seems to be how the good old green and oh-so-enlightened state of Washington rolls.
Yep, they’re still piling it on… and I guess will continue to pile it on until the air at the top gets too thin…… or all that garbage ends up mudsliding back down into the city.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t dump it out in the ocean. Remember the infamous “garbage barge” from sometime in the 80’s that just kept sailing from port to port because nobody wanted it?
I don’t remember the garbage barge! That seems like the kind of story that would have captured my imagination too. I’ll have to see if I can find anything on it now. I’m curious about how long it sailed around unwanted. I picture it looking dejected as it leaves yet another harbor, as if barges can look dejected.
I was partially right about Washington’s trash. We send our recycling to China and our garbage to a landfill in Oregon.
Mount Rubbish could put itself to good use in the winter with a ski slope or two for beginners although skiing down a slope into the traffic might not be a good idea after all…………..never mind.
Pam
Well, they could try adding a “Skier Crossing” sign on the highway… I’m sure that would get people to slow down! We’ll have Buster try it out first…
I don’t currently live near any mountains. As much as I miss them, though, I’d settle for not having mountains than to have a man-made monstrosity like a mountain of garbage. Yikes!
Just think of it as recycling through topographical enhancement! It’s our redneck way…
Dump always leave me feeling introspective and a bit sad. All that stuff…
And half of that stuff may still be good…