The winner: Dwayne Huddleston, Deer Trail: Just got back from archery elk hunting in the Flattops. I’ve been going up that road for 20-plus years. The sign is on Road 16, designated a Scenic Byway. The landowner used to run a saw mill at the base of the creek, and used debris and trash to fuel his furnace that ran the grinders and other machines.
Ann Holmes, Oak Creek:
“Litter Grinds my Axe” was just one of the many witty blue and white signs the Routt County Road and Bridge department put up along county roads a couple years ago. However, it appears that they have been taken down after some locals complained about how the signs were almost as ugly as what they were trying to prevent. In any case the two such signs I passed on a daily basis are both gone.
It appears these signs have been removed after a local resident complained that the one reading “Littler Bites” was not only an “ill-suited glaring blue color, but the language upon it is offensive and unnecessary the ‘do not litter’ sign is more unsightly than the problem it proposes to prevent,” wrote Robin Stone on the Steamboat Pilot blog in May 2008. The “Litter Bites” sign was on “gorgeous River Road,” just outside Steamboat Springs and she found it glaringly inappropriate.
Some of these anti-litter signs were corny and contained jokes only locals would understand. Besides this one your photographer found, others read “Don’t Trash WZ,” which refers to how locals used to identify with the “WZ” on their license plates. You weren’t considered a local unless you had one of the older style license plates where Routt County’s prefix was “WZ.”
Dave Wyss, Westminster: The “Litter Grinds My Axe” sign is along highway 16, a few miles outside Phippsburg, heading west to Dunckley Pass. This is one of our favorite camping areas. At the end of our camping trips, we ensure our campsite is always cleaner than when we arrived by spending only a few minutes picking up after others. I am sure my sons will pass this tradition along.
Debbie Meadors, Denver: That sign is outside Phippsburg. We go on that road all the time to go fishing. I agree that litter grinds my butt. We always have to pick up after other people who leave, and leave their litter sitting around the lakes. Remember, this is Colorado. Be proud.
