Temperatures made a rare midsummer surge into the 90s in the Bay Area earlier this week, and as San Franciscans flocked to Baker Beach to cool off, they left behind a trail of trash. Lots of trash.

"Baker Beach was one of several park sites with excessive trash due to the additional visitation. For every full can, there were at least three times as much trash overflowing next to it," said Shalini Gopie, a spokeswoman for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

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Park maintenance workers ultimately collected 60 cubic yards of trash from Baker Beach, according to Gopie — enough to fill three large dumpsters, she said.

"The park did notice less garbage in park areas where trash cans were limited," said Gopie.

Some people posted photos of the striking trash mounds to Reddit, prompting venting from commenters frustrated with the park visitors for failing to take their trash with them when they leave.

"People are terrible," wrote user YikingViking.

"Then they proceeded to go home and post about how filthy our city is on social media," wrote user ericgtr12 of the litterers.

Others felt it could have been worse.

"I'd much rather it piled up at the gate by the road instead of scattered across the beach for the tide to suck away," wrote user CorvidaeSF.

Getting the public to do the right thing can be a challenge, Gopie suggested.

"National Park Service units always encourage visitors to pack it in and pack it out, but they have come to rely on public agencies such as ours for these services," she said. "Everyone struggles to encourage refuse responsibility, recycling, and sustainability while ensuring a safe public experience."

Filipa Ioannou is an SFGATE staff writer. Email: filipa.ioannou@sfgate.com | Twitter: @obioannoukenobi