GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — When most people think of a desert the image in their minds is a place much like the Sahara, with rolling hills of sand and palm trees. However, the image of the desert in the Grand Valley is completely different.

In addition to a recreation area, the desert north of Grand Junction has been a dump to those looking to get rid of items and those too lazy to take it somewhere else.

“I think people see it as a free dumping ground instead of paying to have them disposed of properly,” said Kris Adams, Public Lands volunteer coordinator for the Grand Junction Bureau of Land Management.

On Halloween, a group of volunteers joined the BLM with support from the Grand Mesa Jeep Club and the Western Slope ATV Club to set out and pick up what careless others have left behind.

“(After looking at the trash) you become appalled at humanity,” said Jim Reed, member of the Western Slope ATV Club.

Also on clean-up duty were three students from local high schools who were volunteers with the Americorps program, which gives students who complete a set number of hours $1,000 for college.

Adams estimates the volunteers were cleaning from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

“With all our work, we didn't cover any ground at all and there's so much more left. A thousand people could spend a whole day out there and still not get it all,” Reed said.

The Western Slope ATV Club volunteers were especially helpful because the ATVs helped pull larger items that probably could not have been taken out otherwise.

Volunteers found items such as soda bottles, spray paint cans and plastic bags, but were surprised when they found things like refrigerators, several broken children's toys, computer monitors, and even a child's bicycle.

“The fact that people are leaving spray paint cans out there doesn't surprise me but the fact that they are dumping off refrigerators pisses me off. That's what they have landfills for,” Reed said.

As to when they will regroup and clean up again, Adams guesses it will be sometime in the spring because of winter conditions making cleaning up difficult.

Reed says he will most definitely be participating in the spring clean-up and urges anyone who wants to volunteer in this project to visit volunteeroutdoors.org.