Absolutely, which is why there is a complete overreaction to this story. No, it doesnt make sense to most people on this site because the vast majority would have no issue finding there way back and if they didn't do it immediately then they would figure it out. To LWs point, there is no other known case of this happening on the AT.
enemy of unnecessary but innovative trail invention gadgetry
Wowsers! Somebody was sharp shootin me bout "head scratchers" a while back. Lol! Happy M-day to all you fellow vets out there. Please, close this thread - it's embarrassing. Love to ya all.
Semper Fidelis
I say keep your pack with you and pay close attention to the route you take to your cathole site 200 or more feet from the trail. That way you can easily head back to the trail and no bear or person or other critter will have messed with your pack while you were making your deposit. But in the unlikely event you can't easily (or even with great concentration and deductive skills) find the trail again, at least you have your pack with you containing shelter, food, compass, map, maybe even GPS, and other things you might need at that point.
Can you dig it?
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200-400 feet from a water source is the most important distance to know. 6" cat hole to bury your poop is equally important. If you're on trail away from water and you get the urge then you can start scoping spots.
I'll begin looking for privacy and generally don't need to go more than 50' off trail to have privacy and not poop on the AT. This has been the case since Georgia until my current location in VA.
I sometimes take my pack and sometimes leave it on trail. I haven't thought about a bear running off with it, but so far I've only seen two bears. Both at night in the woods when I was alone night hiking. It's probably best to take your pack with you so you don't lose anything and have a bear pay the consequences.
I've gotten into a rhythm where I poop in the morning using a privy at the shelter I wake up at. I'm stoked cause it's one less thing to think about during the day when you're crushing dem miles.
If you poop in the woods, please please please be aware of nearby water sources and bury your poop and TP. Pack out wipes and trash. Coming into Bland, VA - I literally saw a giant pile of **** on the trail with like 5-7 soiled SBUX napkins on top. Ridiculous.
U bury tp?
It lasts forever. It turns up.
There is a faster deteriorating tp, to avoid RV's waste systems clogging up.
I pack out the tp, wipes, and trash in an Opsak.
I put tp in hole with deposit , add water, swirl with stick. It dissolves.
Of course its only a couple squares. Not handfuls
Last edited by MuddyWaters; 05-31-2016 at 23:05.
Packing out poopy toilet paper in plastic just means it will wind up in a landfill somewhere, enshrined in plastic. Which will prevent it from breaking down there. Also, most of us don't want to have such a long and intimate relationship with our poop.
"Katahdin barada nikto."
It ends up in the septic tank, without the Opsak.
No, I do not re-use the Opsak.
This is what I do reasonably near where people could be hiking and camping, because they look for a campsite just off the trail.
I will try the dig deeper add-water-and-stir method.
I had never heard of that before.
So you toss the opsak in trash after each trip? Seems counter intuitive....plastic never breaks down...already in our life time....I get packing out ship tickets in dry arid environments out west but if buried on the east coast it breaks down fairly quick...
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Already=atleast
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I am in the West. What are packing out ship tickets?
Another word for tp.....
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I'm fairly regular, even when on the trail. I know the times of day that I need to be thinking about TCOB. If I'm on the trail and said time is approaching, I will scout out the biggest, gnarliest, most prominent tree I can find and use that as a land mark for getting back to the trail. Situational awareness is key as well. I get into a trail trance when walking sometimes and have to remember to focus before just lollygagging off into the brush.
"I am learning nothing in this trivial world of [humans]. I must break away and get out into the mountains to learn the news." --John Muir
I leave my poles on the trail (unless it looks like a really steep downhill to where I can go) just so people know someone is out there. But never my pack.
AT Leapfrogging in 2016i (Central Virginia next) http://walkinghometodc.wordpress.com
Since I tend to be more than a little scatterbrained, if I'm going off trail temporarily (to camp, or take a Deuteronomy 21:13, or scope out what looks like a potential view, or get water, or whatever), I try to make it a habit of presetting my compass to the approximate way back and wrapping the lanyard about it in the direction I have to turn on the trail when I get there.
The last time I can remember being VERY happy I'd done that was a couple or three years ago, when I'd found a nice campsite maybe 300 feet off a trail, and woke up in the morning having absolutely forgotten what direction I'd arrived from. I was puzzled, too, because my compass seemed to show a ridiculous direction, but I was simply on one of those meanders where Trail North is actually southeast. When I followed the compass line back to the trail, it was right where I'd left it.
I always know where I am. I'm right here.
Dig cathole. Poop. Wipe. Deposit TP in cathole. Replace dirt. Scatter foliage over site. Here's the thing...microbes. Worms. Etcetera. Paper disintegrates. In a thousand years, which is the blink of an eye of the cosmic clock, it'll be nice clean dirt. I'm not packin' it out. It's stayin' where it's layin'
My ex-wife is directionaly impared. If I'm in her car and say turn north she most often does not understand. Even left or right can sometimes be an issue. I'm ADHD, so I can kinda understand.
If you are directionally impared, take the necessary steps to protect yourself. We are not all equal in everything.