I used to work for the Forest Service patrolling these "ninja sites" as you call them.
We called them dispersed sites, as in not consolidated into a single area. They are
perfectly legal to use, and will likely still be legal way into the future, but you're right
Keith - we need to keep these places clean. I can't tell you how many people would
tell me (lie to my face) that they would clean up their site when they left and then leave
ALL of their trash, refuse, etc, behind. I even gave these people a large garbage bag to
put all their trash in! If I was lucky they would use the bag so that at least all I had to
pick up was the bag, but usually I had to clean up dispersed garbage in the dispersed
site (see the picture of my engine with a day's haul of garbage here:
)
On the other hand, however, there were people who cleaned up the garbage left by others
in the sites they were staying in. I once came across a retired couple who had cleaned
up the worst site on the forest, filling the entire bed of their pickup truck. We sent them
an official certificate of appreciation for their effort. I also had a group of young adults (18-20)
ask me for extra garbage bags so they could clean up more trash - and they did this before
they knew I was handing them out!