A Scottish mountain volunteer has expressed his shock at the state hikers and campers left a popular bothy in the Highlands.
The shelters are vital for helping to offer refuge and places to sleep for those in need – however, they are often left open to abuse.
Neil Reid, 64, took to Twitter to share his outrage after spending hours dealing with the rubbish and human waste left at Corrour Bothy in the Cairngorms.
The Mountain Bothies Association volunteer, who is based in Kirkcaldy, posted on his personal Twitter feed: "Just some of the rubbish and abandoned food and kit we burned and carried out from Corrour Bothy in the Cairngorms this weekend.
"Spent three hours burning rubbish! And that was on top of our intended task of restacking sacks of human waste.
"Hate to say it, but some folk really don't deserve to use bothies."
In the photos, Corrour, which is used regularly by walkers on the route between Braemar and Aviemore, was covered in plastic wrappers, leftover food and used hiking equipment.
With volunteers only able to visit sporadically due to its remote location, Neil expressed his frustration that they are only heading there to deal with the maintenance of the building and not other people's rubbish.
"The use of Bothies is becoming more popular," He said. "And it can be a problem if people don't keep on top of looking after them, it can get really bad.
"Saturday was the worst I'd seen it for a long time, with a depressing amount of rubbish and abandoned food and kit.
"We spent three hours redding the bothy up and burning food, rubbish and abandoned clothes, then walked back out with sacks laden with the unburnable rubbish and kit. Really very disappointing.
"Carrying out someone else's rubbish isn't what we are there for, volunteers are there to maintain the bothy and make sure it's usable.
"We'd gone up to do some maintenance on the toilet, which took us an hour, but then dealing with the rubbish took us another three hours."
The reaction online has seen people join in to express their own anger at the state of such a vital bothy.
Neil added: "Everybody is outraged at it because people who understand the bothy system, know how vulnerable bothies really are.
"They are out there and they are not staffed. We only get to go to Corrour quite a lot because we have to maintain a toilet there."
His reaction was perhaps worsened by the fact the rubbish had only gathered over a month, as that was when the last volunteer had visited and left the bothy "spotless".
The outdoor expert has plenty of advice for people looking to do the walk and are wanting to understand how to look after the bothies.
Neil said: "Less experienced groups are taking too much stuff and after spending the night there, they can't face carrying the weight the next day.
"We'd also tell people to travel light where they can, and to take their rubbish with them when they leave.
"Most importantly, don't leave food or supplies for other people as this can attract mice and lead to any food just going to waste and adding to the problem.
"It only takes one person to leave rubbish and it can snowball.
"If you aren't sure you can use the Mountian Bothies Association group for advice, and there are lots of hillwalking groups too you can chat to."
Another useful resource he highlights is Mountaineering Scotland's 'Tak it Hame' campaign which can be found online and offer plenty of tips and insights on how best to help maintain these vital buildings and their beautiful surroundings.
As Neil points out: "Always try to leave the bothies as you found them."
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