PCTA Toilet Paper Survey

[DLP]

The PCTA did a Toilet Paper Survey and asked 2013 thru hikers, "How do you plan to dispose of your toilet paper?"
http://www.pcta.org/2013/pct-toilet-...-survey-14994/

How would you respond to this survey?

1) Hide it under a rock. Good enough for Reese Witherspoon - good enough for me.

2) I'll go old school and burn it. Whadda ya mean "Burn Ban"?

3) Bury it. 4-6" deep... or 2" or 12"... something like that.

4) Pack it in, pack it out. I got my double baggies all ready. AND my wag bags... for the ultimate in "Pack it in, pack it ALL out!"

5) Toilet paper? Who uses TP!?!?! I subscribe to the Andrew Skurka Poo Clinic method. Got a water bottle for that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwmwxkD86Ec

6) A combo of methods.


I was actually shocked that some AT thru hikers were going to use some of the least LNT TP disposal methods (under a rock, burn, etc) on the PCT. How can this be?

Then I recently met my first real life AT thru hiker. Met The Brain http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=484667 when he was on a training/shake down hike preparing for the PCT. I was shocked to find that he only pooped in a cat hole TWICE on the whole AT and used privies practically 100% of the time. It is possible to do the whole AT and poo in a privy the whole way? I've pooped in more holes than many AT thu hikers? No way this can be true!

OKAY... that explains a LOT. This might be why PCT thru hikers who have previous AT experience might be clueless about pooping in California!

I have actually been wondering about this for over a year! lol

[bemental]

I'm about two weeks into an AT thru and only pooped in two holes. And at that, the soil was soft enough to dig with my boot and a stick.

I've got one of those titanium pooper shovels but I haven't had to use it yet.

[Walkintom]

I made it all the way from Springer to the Hudson River without using a cat hole.

[DLP]

That is cracking me up.

I pack my TP out if I'm dry camped. But sometimes I just carry in 2 more cups of potty water when I dry camp. Or I use no TP and a water bottle if near water. TMI, I know.

I had a falling out with a backpacking partner because she was burying wetwipes, and I am hardcore - You gotta pack those out. They won't decompose.

I asked a Sequoia park ranger, "When I pack my used TP out, do I have to keep it with my trash in my bear can at night?" Poor Park Ranger kind of threw up in his mouth, just a little, and said, "I don't know how to answer that..." A Yosemite Ranger would have given me a definitive, "Yes, put it in your bear can" or "No. That is not necessary".

[Slo-go'en]

Provided there is no forest fire risk, how is burning TP not LNT? It turns 98% of the TP into carbon ash, no different then a burnt piece of wood. What little is left gets buried with the poo.

[DLP]

Things are different in the West... "A Texas man has been ordered to pay $2.7 million in restitution for burning used toilet paper that sparked a wildfire, scorching nearly 83 square miles of a national forest in New Mexico."
http://www.texasmonthly.com/story/to...ns-53000-acres

A man started a fire burning toilet paper in the 1980s in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in southern California during the annual big horn sheep count. There are other reports of fires with the same cause in George Creek Canyon on the Inyo National Forest in 1979, and the Narrows Fire on the Angeles NF in 1997.
http://wildfiretoday.com/tag/toilet-paper/

Burning TP has been bad in CA for a very long time. Smoking is also banned during extreme fire danger. I've gotten the impression that smoking is pretty common on the AT.
http://www.nps.gov/seki/learn/nature...strictions.htm

Our NORMAL weather pattern is that it rains a little in April and won't rain again until October or November. The Sierras and PCT get more rain in the summer, but is often a half hour of hail in the afternoon. But, forest fire risk is high here every summer... even in normal rain/snow years.

[DLP]

We had 5,000 forest fires burn in CA last summer. A normal year is "only" 4000 fires. Fire danger is high here all the time, but especially high during the drought. http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/l...923-story.html

When you pick up your permits in Yosemite or Sequoia or Kings Canyon the Rangers specifically tell you that the law is "Pack your used TP out". If you choose to disobey this law, and burn the TP and accidentally start a fire, you will be liable for the cost of fighting that fire.

It is illegal to bury TP in Yosemite, Kings and Sequoia. Don't know the fine if you caught burying.

It is kind of odd... I can't imagine being on the East Coast and having it rain 4-6" a month during the summer. And visa versa... East Coasters can't imagine the forest fires and dry that we have here.

[swjohnsey]

5..............................

[Slo-go'en]

It is kind of odd... I can't imagine being on the East Coast and having it rain 4-6" a month during the summer. And visa versa... East Coasters can't imagine the forest fires and dry that we have here.

Yep, that's why I live in the east although accident of birth had a lot do to with it. I'm just hoping you all don't have to move here! If I ever do get out west, I think I'll stick to Washington where they still get some rain.

[Spirit Walker]

When I hiked the PCT, I packed out the TP. Given the dry conditions, paper doesn't disintegrate. With the high risk of fire, I would never burn TP. Before my hike, I really resisted the idea, but once out there, it wasn't a big deal.

[Coffee]

Packing out TP is no big deal at all. I actually prefer using catholes to using a typical privy. Most privies are pretty nasty and I'd rather be out in the woods. It only takes a few minutes to dig a hole.

[tim.hiker]

When using a cat hole one must have good balance or things can get a kind of of crappy.. lol

[Malto]

On the PCT I did a variety of methods. If there wasn't a major fire danger, I burned the TP and mixed them with the poo. Occasionally I buried or carried out if burning was too risky. I can't imagine how careless you would have to be starting a fire while burning TP.

[Miner]

It's pretty easy to pack out your TP in a zip lock dedicated for that purpose. After you've been on the trail awhile, you aren't using that much. The way some people respond to the idea you'd think it was toxic waste which really has me curious about their trail diet. I pack out my TP in most places out west. Some places even mandate it.

The fact is due to the dry environment and/or high elevation which has a short growing season, along most of the PCT, it takes TP a long time to break down compared to the wetter low elevation of the AT. Do the rest of us a favor and pack it out out when you visit the west.

[bamboo bob]

On other posts it's been mentioned biodegradable TP sold by coleman. I tried it and it does disappear in about three weeks. Is it legal on the PCT? At your favorite store. They have wipes too. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Coleman-Bi...-Pack/13848682

[swisscross]

On other posts it's been mentioned biodegradable TP sold by coleman. I tried it and it does disappear in about three weeks. Is it legal on the PCT? At your favorite store. They have wipes too. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Coleman-Bi...-Pack/13848682

All TP is biodegratsble.

[Traveler]

All TP is biodegratsble.

That presumes perfect biodegradation conditions. In the west these days, those conditions may be months away from when the TP is buried or strewn around. Wipes as a rule are not biodegradable and are a larger issue. These are manmade fiber materials that do not disperse in water and are causing a lot of problems not only in the back country by careless disposal, but are clogging components in wastewater collection and septic systems as well.

It really is best to pack it out and get it into the landfill. If you are going to bury it, be sure its beyond 8" deep to reduce the chance ground animals will dig it out.

[DLP]

All TP is biodegratsble.

Yes, but it is still illegal to bury it in my California State and Nat'l parks.

[DLP]

The fact is due to the dry environment and/or high elevation which has a short growing season, along most of the PCT, it takes TP a long time to break down compared to the wetter low elevation of the AT. Do the rest of us a favor and pack it out out when you visit the west.

Not to mention, increased use on the JMT and PCT. Packing it out really not that bad, and just becomes "normal". It used to be accepted to bury garbage, but that is no longer the case. With education, pretty much nobody buries trash any more. Same with TP in the West... except that it is not yet "normal" and many people still bury TP.

[Sheriff Cougar]

Okay, maybe I am missing something here. How do you poop and not use toilet paper or some kind of wipe? How do you just use water? I need the gory details.