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cakeman21k
12-16-2004, 10:37
Not for nothing here but what is it that drives AT hikers to take pictures of all the privy's they have known & loved? It seems like every photo collection I look at includes several pictures of privy's.I mean don't most of the folks in the hiking community love to get outdoors because a love of the natural world? What's even remotly natural about a privy?
Its going to give people the idea that the one of the most notable things on the AT are its privy's! Either that or people will think that hikers are really twisted tortured soul whose idea of a good time includes visiting privy's!
:jump

rocket04
12-16-2004, 10:39
Its going to give people the idea that the one of the most notable things on the AT are its privy's! Either that or people will think that hikers are really twisted tortured soul whose idea of a good time includes visiting privy's! Well... yeah! :D

MDSHiker
12-16-2004, 10:42
"Hey, this shelter has a privy! WooHoo!!"

The Old Fhart
12-16-2004, 10:45
I have photographed almost all the outhouses on the A.T. and thought they would make a great calendar. There already are several calendars of outhouses. Check here (http://www.animail.com/calendars_outhouse.html) for starters.

Youngblood
12-16-2004, 10:48
cakeman21k,

Have you seen some of the privys? A lot of thought and creativity went into some of them... a lot of work went in to all of them.

Nodays when I am on the AT I take pictures of the shelters but not the privys... it is just a personal choice.

Youngblood

TREE-HUGGER
12-16-2004, 10:49
Well I guess you have a point. I dont think I ever noticed it. But I think it's true..... Two months ago for my birthday, my wife gave me a matted and framed picture of the privy called "Fort Relief" at Antler Campsite. It's hanging on the wall in my bathroom right now. Privy's are a wonderful thing when the knees are stiff and the rain is coming down.

cakeman21k
12-16-2004, 10:56
while I have not visited all of the privy's on the AT (about 300 miles worth of em), the question is more about what motivates a hiker. I mean when I tell freinds they should visit whitebalze or Trail Journals and look at the pictures in order to understand why I love hiking, I am afraid they will get the wrong idea about the motivations of me & my fellow hikers. Maybe it would be a good idea for a forum where we could all discuss the relative merits of the various privy's

:D

The Old Fhart
12-16-2004, 11:13
Tree-Hugger For another photo of Fort Relief, click here. (http://www.whiteblaze.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/2395/password/0/sort/1/cat/500/page/13)

Cakeman21K, I have about 179 photos in the gallery and 3 or so of them are outhouses. To ignore that privys are a very important part of some hikers lives is a load of crap. :) Sorry for the pun, couldn't hold it. Also not having an edit won't allow me to wipe out my mistakes. I take photos of everything, maybe I'm just anal.

Seriously, the A.T. experience is the sum of all your experiences whether they be hostels, thumbing into town, animals, flowers, day hikers, outhouses, companions, etc.. I cherish all those moments, even the violent storms and cold nights, and wouldn't trade them for anything.

In 1987 it was freezing at Fontana and I remember the couple having supper in the outhouse there because it was electrically heated. Should have got a photo of that!

Rain Man
12-16-2004, 13:42
... hikers are really twisted tortured soul whose idea of a good time includes visiting privy's!

I take pics of all the shelters and privies that I pass, and post them in my Gallery.

But analyzing WHY??? Too existential fer me!!!
:sun
Rain Man

.

grrickar
12-16-2004, 14:14
When you are on the trail it's the little things that make you happy: a nice shelter, good tent site, sunshine, spotting an animal, etc. etc.

My last section hike was all about grape Koolaid. I wanted grape soda and Kool Aid so bad when I was on the trail I stocked up every time we came to a place that had it. Now, ask me if I have drank either since I came back from my hike - NOPE.

I guess you could attribute the privy pics to the fact that you look at things differently when on the trail. I know I did.

Footslogger
12-16-2004, 14:27
At first it's just the thought of a privy in a campsite that gets hikers going. Later on the hikers become a tad more discriminating and search out the ones with real seats in them.

In 2003 we had a hiker who had a "Privy Rating System". She had a list of criteria and would give every privy either a 1, 2, 3 or 4 star rating ...with 4 STAR being the best. It became a highlight of the 2003 AT season, to arrive in a campsite and check out the shelter register to see how the privy had been rated prior to your visit !!

Hey, trail life is simple and it's the little things in life that matter when your priorities are what to eat, where to find water and where to sleep !!

'Slogger
AT 2003

Alligator
12-16-2004, 15:25
Tree-Hugger For another photo of Fort Relief, click here. (http://www.whiteblaze.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/2395/password/0/sort/1/cat/500/page/13)

Cakeman21K, I have about 179 photos in the gallery and 3 or so of them are outhouses. To ignore that privys are a very important part of some hikers lives is a load of crap. :) Sorry for the pun, couldn't hold it. Also not having an edit won't allow me to wipe out my mistakes. I take photos of everything, maybe I'm just anal.
...
Hahahahaha still laughing:clap

Alligator
12-16-2004, 15:34
"Hey, this shelter has a privy! WooHoo!!"
My sentiments exactly. Or arriving after dark "Score I found the privy!" Normal people will never understand about getting excited to find a pit toilet. While digging a cathole is not a big deal, sometimes the timing just doesn't work out--too many rocks and roots (now that name makes more sense;) ), too much caffeine. City folks won't get it until they have had to dig one.

grrickar
12-16-2004, 19:08
Moudering privys are much improved over the old outhouse style pit design. If you have ever used a non-mouldering privy you would know exactly what I was talking about. In Boy Scouts the latrines at summer camp were disgusting.


I've only hiked from Hot Springs to the NOC, but Cosby Knob gets my vote for the best privy on that section.

Footslogger
12-16-2004, 19:16
Moudering privys are much improved over the old outhouse style pit design. If you have ever used a non-mouldering privy you would know exactly what I was talking about. In Boy Scouts the latrines at summer camp were disgusting.


I've only hiked from Hot Springs to the NOC, but Cosby Knob gets my vote for the best privy on that section.=======================
You need to hit the one at Thomas Knob Shelter in VA. Has a solar powered panel to accelerate decomposition of waste. High Tech man ...

'Slogger
AT 2003

Uncle Wayne
12-17-2004, 06:26
Moudering privys are much improved over the old outhouse style pit design. If you have ever used a non-mouldering privy you would know exactly what I was talking about. In Boy Scouts the latrines at summer camp were disgusting.


I've only hiked from Hot Springs to the NOC, but Cosby Knob gets my vote for the best privy on that section.

Have to agree, the ones at summer camp were so bad some of the boys would go all week and not "take a dump"! Cosby Knob being the best and Tri Corner being the worse through the Smokies in October of 03. The one at Tri Corner was so bad I didn't even take a picture of it!

As far as pictures of AT privies, I've always thought we needed a separate section for Privy photos. :)

Jaybird
12-17-2004, 06:29
Not for nothing here but what is it that drives AT hikers to take pictures of all the privy's they have known & loved? It seems like every photo collection I look at includes several pictures of privy's.I mean don't most of the folks in the hiking community love to get outdoors because a love of the natural world? What's even remotly natural about a privy?
Its going to give people the idea that the one of the most notable things on the AT are its privy's! Either that or people will think that hikers are really twisted tortured soul whose idea of a good time includes visiting privy's!
:jump


i enjoy ALL of the trail's moments...including that walk to & taking the photos of the privies! Hey,....most times....you dont have a privy around....enjoy! :D

cakeman21k
12-17-2004, 07:55
Hey I appreciate a good privy at the end of a day just as much as the next hiker! But what is it makes hikers feel the need to share these things with the world? I even saw a picure of Hammock Hanger sitting on one! (no offense to HH I lover her posts & journals) I mean aren't there some things that don't need to be shared?:D
while I realize that hiking is all about getting back to nature I just wonder about why people need to share pictures of everyplace they had a good dump?
PS Its kind of entertaining to read how passionate folks can get about an outhouse. Does everyone think of their significant other with such warm feelings too?:p

Bloodroot
12-17-2004, 08:22
cakeman21K "..........why people need to share pictures of everyplace they had a good dump"

Why? Visiting a privy is a special time of the day. I agree, especially when you hold off all day to reach one that's near a shelter. We all know that digestive/excretory processes change while living trail life. Like others, it's the simple things out there you enjoy that nobody could come to appreciate unless they were in that situation. Simple minds deserve simple pleasures ;)

Footslogger "In 2003 we had a hiker who had a "Privy Rating System".

Man what I wouldn't give for you to see some of the porta johns over here. The rating system would have to change from 1-4 to 1-10. Some real trophies. I'm sure Sgt. Rock can relate.

cakeman21k
12-17-2004, 08:31
I guess it could be worse, at least I haven't seen any pictures of the inside of any outhouses! and if anybody has such pictures please DO NOT post the links
lol:D

Bloodroot
12-17-2004, 08:39
LMAO...why not? Then you could distiguish what was on the Trail Menu for last night. Tuna...nope, beans.......hmmm....nope. Ahhh, ramen again!

cakeman21k
12-17-2004, 08:44
Bloodroot

LMAO...why not? Then you could distiguish what was on the Trail Menu for last night. Tuna...nope, beans.......hmmm....nope. Ahhh, ramen again!
<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

Speaking of things that don't need to be shared, thanks for loading up my head with THAT image

LOLOLOLOL

:clap

Bloodroot
12-17-2004, 08:57
"Speaking of things that don't need to be shared, thanks for loading up my head with THAT image"

I couldn't resist!:jump

uscgretired
12-17-2004, 11:07
On my first section hike of the AT, starting from the approach trail at Amicalola, in May of 2000, I had the pleasure of using a privy on what I believe was Hawk Mountain. The privy faced an open range of Georgia Mountains, it was a beautiful day, the vista before me was like a photographers dream shot. I was listening to a radio station out of Atlanta and at the exact momemt I sat on the privy, the song "Georgia On My Mind" came on. As an added bonus, someone had left a roll of Charmin in the privy. Talk about a surreal experience. At that point I knew why I was out on this trail and that I would come back again. I beleive that if I had not had that experience I might not have returned to do section hikes for the next 4 years and I will be back again for 2005. Hail to the Privy's! :clap

cakeman21k
12-17-2004, 11:27
On my first section hike of the AT, starting from the approach trail at Amicalola, in May of 2000, I had the pleasure of using a privy on what I believe was Hawk Mountain. The privy faced an open range of Georgia Mountains, it was a beautiful day, the vista before me was like a photographers dream shot. I was listening to a radio station out of Atlanta and at the exact momemt I sat on the privy, the song "Georgia On My Mind" came on. As an added bonus, someone had left a roll of Charmin in the privy. Talk about a surreal experience. At that point I knew why I was out on this trail and that I would come back again. I beleive that if I had not had that experience I might not have returned to do section hikes for the next 4 years and I will be back again for 2005. Hail to the Privy's! :clap
OK so now we have gone from outhouse's being a vital part of the hiking experience to an outhouse being the reason why someone continues to hike????????
I guess this is what "Hike Your Own Hike" is really all about!!!!!!!
LMAO

Bloodroot
12-17-2004, 11:45
uscgretired - "a roll of Charmin"

Was it two or three ply? This bit of info really helps in determining comfort level of your experience. Just kidding.

Newb
12-17-2004, 12:52
If it wasn't completely off the "AT" topic I'd post pictures of my Iraq privy experience. We occupied an Iraqi airbase to find that the Iraqis had no indoor toilets functioning. We had to use a horrid slit trench outhouse. Then after we built our own outhouses (some funny photos there, too) people began to decorate our new two-seater. We called it the Taj-ma-crap.

Bloodroot
12-17-2004, 13:05
What was the name of this occupied air base? Or where was it near?

Newb
12-17-2004, 14:49
Kirkuk. I went in with the TALCE unit that set up air ops. I posted a photo in the photo section under the "other -non trail" section.

Rain Man
12-17-2004, 16:41
... The privy faced an open range of Georgia Mountains, it was a beautiful day, the vista before me was like a photographers dream shot. I was listening to a radio station out of Atlanta and at the exact momemt I sat on the privy, the song "Georgia On My Mind" came on. As an added bonus, someone had left a roll of Charmin in the privy. Talk about a surreal experience....

Sounds like a moving experience!!!!!!!!!!!

And yes, does sound like the Hawk Mountain Shelter (roughly 8 miles NOBO of Springer).
:sun
Rain Man

.

SavageLlama
12-17-2004, 21:11
This is one of my fav's.. the six-sided Cloudland Privy on the AT/LT in southern VT.

http://www.aldha.org/images/cloudlan.gif

http://www.andrewskurka.com/assets/AT02/vt/privy.jpg

wacocelt
12-17-2004, 22:15
My favorite privy experince was while going soBo in 00', at the shelter just before Hanover NH. They were in the process of moving the privy, so all that was there was a seat, in the dappled sunshine, on a very comfortable September day. I sat there reading for, well, let's just say I had completed my business but was very content to have my arse on porcelin and my head in the clouds. And yes, theres are pictures, which none of you will ever see! :D

Valmet
12-19-2004, 09:32
This post is a hoot. After crapping in cat holes for days on end a good outhouse is such a reward. I grew up in a very rural area, we did not have a indoor bathroom until I was 7 years old. So a outhouse to me brings back memories as a child. So if you want to take a picture, take them. You do not have to have some primordal reason, jut want a memory.

cakeman21k
12-19-2004, 11:05
This post is a hoot
Well It was intended to be a hoot so I am glad it accomplished that aim.

However back to the original question; far be it from me to try and tell people what they should or should not take pictures of, I just wonder why so many hikers feel the need to share those pictures with the world at large?

I wonder if it were possible to post smells on the internet would people feel the need to post that aroma that can only be obtaind thru several days of trail life so that everyone could share the experience?

It makes me think that hikers are a lot further off the beaten path of life than I realized. Especially after reading some of these posts!!!!
:D

celt
12-19-2004, 13:17
I've always thought we needed a separate section for Privy photos. :)

I second that.


This post is a hoot
Well It was intended to be a hoot so I am glad it accomplished that aim.
It sure is


I just wonder why so many hikers feel the need to share those pictures with the world at large?
For all the variety in the hiking community I feel that most of my ideosyncrasies aren't unique, just the way I've got them combined is unique so when I share a silly hiker fetish on WB I usually know someone will identify.


I wonder if it were possible to post smells on the internet would people feel the need to post that aroma that can only be obtaind thru several days of trail life so that everyone could share the experience?
Oh that is a scary idea and I think some hikers might be into it. Both on the posting and "reading" end.




Look at all the effort people put into making their home bathrooms more than just a place to "take a dump" and it should be less of a mystery why some people are creative about privy design. Its the creativity that appeals to some photographers. Creative privies no doubt pre-date creative indoor WC's. If I were house shopping and perusing house pictures on-line I wouldn't suddenly loose interest in an attractive home because I saw a picture of the toilet. My final opinion: if you have to ask, you probably won't understand.

Footslogger
12-19-2004, 13:28
Look at all the effort people put into making their home bathrooms more than just a place to "take a dump" and it should be less of a mystery why some people are creative about privy design. Its the creativity that appeals to some photographers. Creative privies no doubt pre-date creative indoor WC's. If I were house shopping and perusing house pictures on-line I wouldn't suddenly loose interest in an attractive home because I saw a picture of the toilet. My final opinion: if you have to ask, you probably won't understand.================================
Well said Celt ...and how the heck are you. Remember our brief meeting at the shelter just south of the Kennebeck ?? You were correct about the timing and I made it in time (just barely) for the ferry.

'Slogger
AT 2003

zenribbits
12-19-2004, 13:35
Actually I was thinking to myself the other day that it would be nice if the shelters that had a privy were blatently listed on the mileage/ shelter chart.While planning our stops, we have been trying to take advantage of those shelters that come with a throne. :D

celt
12-19-2004, 13:42
================================
Well said Celt ...and how the heck are you. Remember our brief meeting at the shelter just south of the Kennebeck ?? You were correct about the timing and I made it in time (just barely) for the ferry.

I remember well, I was impressed you'd arranged a private ferry. After my hike, on a whim I searched for you on Trailjournals because I needed to know if you made it. I was glad to hear you did. Pierce Pond Shelter it was... Pierce Pond: some kind of composting privy, probably a mouldering type. Sorry Caveman21K, no picture.

DebW
12-19-2004, 15:27
I'm a big fan of privies too. My only wonder is, why do they have doors? Who would want to shut themselves inside a small dark smelly place? Best to enjoy a view and some fresh air while on the thrown. I've noticed many privies have a large rock by the door which is handy for propping it open, so clearly many people like a view.

steve hiker
12-20-2004, 02:35
My only wonder is, why do they have doors?
To keep the bugs away from er, sensitive areas?

cakeman21k
12-20-2004, 08:05
To keep the bugs away from er, sensitive areas?

You are not trying to suggest that there are no bugs in the privy's are you?????

lmao

The Old Fhart
12-20-2004, 12:28
DebW-"I'm a big fan of privies too." Actually, most privies I've been in could use a big fan! The visual your statement conjures up in my twisted mind is a little bizarre though. :)