Walnut Mountain Shelter

[Joe Merchant]

Walnut Mountain Shelter was a surprise. It was very small - barely big enough for two tall people (> 6'). We had to sleep "longwise". It was leaky with a makeshift tarp duct taped to the underside of the tin roof (tarp was falling down). It was full of healthy looking mice. It had no table or benches. The bear cables were problematic with one that would not reach the stay clip. The privy was ok but had no mulch. Walnut Mountain shelter is within a mile of Round Mountain road so repairs and resupply should be fairly easy. I guess I was spoiled by the shelters in GSMNP. All said, I was still grateful for the shelter just a little surprised. I was glad a group needing shelter did not stop by!

[CrumbSnatcher]

last time i stayed there the shelter had a huge 2 foot wide hole in the floor, you must of hit it after the repairs :-)
welcome to WB

[Pedaling Fool]

The privy was ok but had no mulch.

All privies are disgusting -- go natural :)

BTW, by mulch, are you talking about the bucket of duff for putting in the privy after your business? I stopped using privies a while ago, but IIRC, you're suppose to fill the bucket if it's empty, correct? Can't expect a maintainer to do that. Or maybe it's not that type of privy, I don't know.

[Joe Merchant]

Yeah, all privies are disgusting. Cat holes are the way to go I suppose. In the Smokies the privies had buckets of mulch (looked store bought almost, not just leaves off the forest floor) so I guess I had unrealistic expectations. In the future should I fill the bucket with leaves? FYI, Standing Bear hostel uses store bought cedar chips for their privy mulch.

[Joe Merchant]

Thanks for the welcome CrumbSnatcher!

[Pedaling Fool]

In the Smokies the privies had buckets of mulch (looked store bought almost, not just leaves off the forest floor) so I guess I had unrealistic expectations. In the future should I fill the bucket with leaves? FYI, Standing Bear hostel uses store bought cedar chips for their privy mulch.Yes the buckets are suppose to be filled with leaves and stuff off the forest floor. It would be too much for maintainers in most shelters to renew the contents; I'm not sure how long a 5 gallon bucket of duff lasts, but I'm sure it's not long in the thru-hiker season.

There's nothing special in store bought mulch, the whole idea is to increase the carbon level (brown compostables) and to create air gaps to further promote the growth of microorganisms.

http://www.weblife.org/humanure/chapter3_7.html

[theoilman]

I think I read a laminated instruction sheet at a privy in VA last year, that the 'duff' is supposed to be the second layer, that is, scratch the top loose leaves from the forest floor, then fill the bucket with the layer just under the loose leaves, so it is already started to break down.

Please confirm if this correct.

[Pedaling Fool]

I think I read a laminated instruction sheet at a privy in VA last year, that the 'duff' is supposed to be the second layer, that is, scratch the top loose leaves from the forest floor, then fill the bucket with the layer just under the loose leaves, so it is already started to break down.

Please confirm if this correct.
I think you're probably correct, from what I remember. Like I said in post #3, I've stopped using privies, they're just too disgusting, but I think I remember reading something about collecting duff below the top surface of leaves.

In my opinion it doesn't really matter. The problem I see with privies is that they require maintenance, i.e. turning the carbon material into the pile; simply dumping duff on top of a pile is not sufficient. I don't blame to clubs on this problem, it's just an inherent problem of the nature of decomposition. The simple fact is, when you drop a handful of duff into the pit, most of it falls to the side (of the "Mountain's Peak" :)), so every load people contribute is not being mixed well with the handful of duff previously deposited.

The only composting privies I've seen that receives the level of attention required for proper decomposition of large amounts of crap are the ones in the Whites, but they have the maintainers stay there at the shelters and privy maintenance is a big part of their job.