PCTA Toilet Paper Survey

[DLP]

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.

Do a first wipe with a leaf or rock or snowball or something you find in the forest. Take a water bottle and pour with one hand and wash with soap and water with the other. MOST humans on Earth do not have nor use TP and most of the world's population use water. Thus the mandate in many cultures to eat with the right hand and use the left hand for bathroom functions. Liberate yourself from Toilet Paper

It actually works really well with soap and water. Also prevents chafing and monkey butt.

Video description - Mike Clelland! not me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwmwxkD86Ec


http://ultralightbackpackintips.blog...let-paper.html

[Sheriff Cougar]

Do a first wipe with a leaf or rock or snowball or something you find in the forest. Take a water bottle and pour with one hand and wash with soap and water with the other. MOST humans on Earth do not have nor use TP and most of the world's population use water. Thus the mandate in many cultures to eat with the right hand and use the left hand for bathroom functions. Liberate yourself from Toilet Paper

It actually works really well with soap and water. Also prevents chafing and monkey butt.

Video description - Mike Clelland! not me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwmwxkD86Ec


http://ultralightbackpackintips.blog...let-paper.html

Thanks for the explanation DLP.....I never would have known..... :-)

[MuddyWaters]

If you are slim and in shape, in full squat position, there is little collateral damage. A little natural material, followed by a tiny tiny bit of tp is all thats necessary. Mix contents of hole with dirt, add water and tp and stir up. The small amt of tp disintegrates into mix. Cover with dirt and duff.

[swisscross]

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

Oops on the spelling...
I was commenting on Bamboo Bobs post of Coleman's bio TP. Marketing gimmick.

Being on the east coast I bury, pack out wipes. I use one wipe to clean myself to prevent monkey butt.
I would never consider burying if illegal, dry or alpine environment.

You mentioned National Parks....don't now of such pack out only restrictions in SNP or GSMNP.

[DLP]

Thanks for the explanation DLP.....I never would have known..... :-)

TMI and gory details... but this cartoon shows the water being poured in front. I pour it down my back side.
http://ultralightbackpackintips.blog...let-paper.html


GSMNP "All toilet paper, sanitary napkins, and tampons must be packed out. Do not bury them."
http://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisi...omplete4-2.pdf

I'm pretty sure, despite your wet ground and good decomposition rates, the burying of TP isn't working too well for you in the East, either.

[DLP]

Email sent to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy

GSMNP backpacking rules specifically state to pack out toilet paper and not to bury it. http://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisi...omplete4-2.pdf

Currently, one of your websites states, "Push toilet paper to the bottom of the [cat]hole, and leave your stick in the hole". This directly contradicts the GSMNP rule.

I believe that the ATC should begin advocating the packing out of TP as the only way of disposal. There are many reasons why the burying of TP is not working on the AT.

Long ago, it was acceptable for backpackers to bury garbage. With education and time, burying trash is now unthinkable for 99% of backpackers. I sincerely hope that, in the future, the packing out TP will be as normal as packing out our other trash.

Thank you.

[Coffee]

What are folks eating on the trail that produces the need for disgusting toilet paper cleanup? I don't know about everyone else, but I'm not eating three enchiladas, rice, beans, guacamole, and chips out on the trail. My typical trail diet of oatmeal, nuts and dried fruit, pasta/rice type dinners, and candy tends to produce ... cleaner results. I'm also mindful of what I eat the day before a trip starts, and the night before resuming the trail if in town...

[DLP]

What are folks eating on the trail that produces the need for disgusting toilet paper cleanup? I'm not eating three enchiladas, rice, beans,

LOL!

I did eat 2 microwave Amy's Bean burritos for lunch at Spooner Lake on the TRT... omg... I very nearly didn't make it out of my tent the next morning. I could eat two bean burritos at home and it doesn't cause a bathroom emergency. I think that it might be the activity?

More gory details... Throwing open the outhouse door!

I eat a normal hiker diet - minus the chocolate: oatmeal, dried fruit, nuts, white flour tortillas, pb&j, tuna, pasta, cheese, some candy (but not a lot) etc.

My husband and sister - they can eat the same stuff and say that they have very "clean" poops. They could get away with one square of TP. Not me. The smell is not bad... but the consistency... definitely not "cleaner results". I dig my catholes the night before when I can because everything is so "fast".

I've never had giardia or e. coli or anything like that. When I get home, everything goes back to normal. I think that it must be the activity. I've never done a thru hike... don't know if things would normalize after a month.

PS... like 2 corn lily leaves or 2 thimble berry leaves are usually good enough, and then a wash with water... so maybe it isn't as bad as I think?

[Sasquatch!]

I prefer not to play with my poop or carry **** laced items with me in my backpack. So, I bury it. It paper, not big deal. The DEET dripping off your sweaty skin does far more ecological damage.

[Sasquatch!]

Also, where are you people getting all this extra water to blast your azzes clean? Where does the blast spray end up? On your clothes? To be determined?

Do you people not understand the confluence of hiker diet and hairy man ass neccesitates toilet paper? Are you all hiking around with ****ty azzes?

What the difference between a leaf and toilet paper? Do you bury the shat covered leaf after youre done?

Personally, I dont have a whole lot of choice where I take a dump. That just kind of violently happens when hiking. Sorry, thats the reality. I don't dig a hole and crap in it. Wherever the urge suddenly and violently overwhelms me I do my thing and bury it as well as possible, AND then I cover what I buried with a rock.

Ever try and dig into solid granite? Doesnt work too well.

[Sasquatch!]

Then give your hiker pals a big shatty hi-five when youre done. Rinse and repeat.

[Sasquatch!]

Sorry. I just hiked the Deep Creek area. The first thing I saw when walking up to the hot springs was some chick taking a dump. Literally.

Most hikers do their best to be as sanitary as possible. Most everyone else doesnt. This is why I employ a 1lb First Need XLE water filter.

[Traveler]

I prefer not to play with my poop or carry **** laced items with me in my backpack. So, I bury it. It paper, not big deal. The DEET dripping off your sweaty skin does far more ecological damage.

Others don't want to play with or be sickened by your poop either. Carry out is LNT best practice. Beyond that, the PCTA discourages the burying of TP due to the relative time it takes for it to break down in thin soil and the shallow cat holes that are frequently the cause of paper blooms. This adds to the fecal contamination of downhill water sources when small animals dig up TP or its exposed by erosion or due to shallow covering. Someone has to pick this stuff up or others will become sick, its a far better practice to police your own as opposed to others doing it for you.