View Full Version : Privy Issues
Roughly how frequently are the AT privies inspected/cleaned? Have been to ones that were clean and others that were full almost up to the seat! The folks that clean these places out are truly special folks and deserve a special place in heaven! Anyone on here ever had this pleasure and was wondering how they go about it and then where they actually put the waste? Guess I'm concerned with it possibly contaminated water sources and how long it takes to break down.
Ox97GaMe
06-30-2013, 18:00
There is no set answer for this question. It depends on the hiking club, the number of users, and the type of privy.
In the Smokies, privies are checked on a regular basis by the ridgerunners. When the bin is 85% full, we get a crew scheduled to 'move' the privy. We use the 3 bin composting style. Some privies that are near popular sites (like Icewater Springs) need to be moved every 4-5 months. Others like Derrick may go as much as 9-12months between moves. After the bins have had time to decompose (12-18 months), they are emptied and the organic material is dispersed into the woods. The old design used in the park requires 4-6 people to move, as the entire housing unit has to be slid from the current full bin to the empty bin. The new design can be moved by 1 person, as only the seat is moved to the open bin. The 3 privies beteen NOC and Fontana, and 4 privies in the park have been converted to this new type. The plan is to have all privies in the park converted to this new style in the next 5-7 years.
I dont know if clubs still have the old pit privies. Moving one of these was a major undertaking. A new hole needed to be dug, usually 6-8 ft deep. The housing structure was then moved over the new hole and the old hole was 'capped'.
There is no set answer for this question. It depends on the hiking club, the number of users, and the type of privy.
In the Smokies, privies are checked on a regular basis by the ridgerunners. When the bin is 85% full, we get a crew scheduled to 'move' the privy. We use the 3 bin composting style. Some privies that are near popular sites (like Icewater Springs) need to be moved every 4-5 months. Others like Derrick may go as much as 9-12months between moves. After the bins have had time to decompose (12-18 months), they are emptied and the organic material is dispersed into the woods. The old design used in the park requires 4-6 people to move, as the entire housing unit has to be slid from the current full bin to the empty bin. The new design can be moved by 1 person, as only the seat is moved to the open bin. The 3 privies beteen NOC and Fontana, and 4 privies in the park have been converted to this new type. The plan is to have all privies in the park converted to this new style in the next 5-7 years.
I dont know if clubs still have the old pit privies. Moving one of these was a major undertaking. A new hole needed to be dug, usually 6-8 ft deep. The housing structure was then moved over the new hole and the old hole was 'capped'.
Thank u for all u do and for taking the time to explain the process.
shelterbuilder
06-30-2013, 18:38
Oh, boy! Thanks for opening up such a $h!++y subject. There isn't really a single, unified set of regulations that deals with this issue from Georgia to Maine - and therein lies the big problem. (It's been some time since I looked at the regulations for states other than Pa., so if things have changed, someone please correct my ignorance.) If the Federal Government (i.e. - the National Park Service) has a site on federal land, then it can claim "federal supremacy" over local laws and do as it pleases - and it seems to be moving in the direction of so-called "moldering privies", which seem to be very effective at reducing waste into a stable end-product. BUT, in places where the land is owned by the state, then that states' regulations apply. (In some southern states, the regulations were at one time county regulations - don't know if that's still the case). In Pa. (where I live), there is NO DIFFERENTIATION between "front-country sanitation" and "back-country sanitation" - the state regulations assume road access, pressurized running water, and electricity at all sanitary facility sites, and that assumption causes no end of trouble for back-country sanitation. So, we are left with very limited options: clivus systems (which tend to overload and shut down when too much urine is added); composting systems (which require an operator to "muck around" once a week in order to make the system work); and (in the very few places where road access is possible) sealed vaults (which must be pumped out on a regular basis). (Note: the moldering system fits our state's definition of a "failed treatment system", because it allows untreated sewerage to come into contact with the ground.) Where any of the old "one-holers" may exist, if they are "grandfathered out" of the existing regulations, they continue to operate as long as they stand, but once torn down, existing regulations must be followed for the new privy.
In the Smokies, privies are checked on a regular basis by the ridgerunners. When the bin is 85% full, we get a crew scheduled to 'move' the privy. We use the 3 bin composting style. Some privies that are near popular sites (like Icewater Springs) need to be moved every 4-5 months. Others like Derrick may go as much as 9-12months between moves. After the bins have had time to decompose (12-18 months), they are emptied and the organic material is dispersed into the woods. The old design used in the park requires 4-6 people to move, as the entire housing unit has to be slid from the current full bin to the empty bin. The new design can be moved by 1 person, as only the seat is moved to the open bin. The 3 privies beteen NOC and Fontana, and 4 privies in the park have been converted to this new type. The plan is to have all privies in the park converted to this new style in the next 5-7 years.
How many shelters in the Smokies still have no privy....just a "Toilet Area"?
Lone Wolf
07-01-2013, 06:03
privies and shelters and the area around them are disgusting. avoid them
privies and shelters and the area around them are disgusting. avoid them
Agree 100% some of those areas look like a dung field--with dug up areas--toilet paper sticking up out of the ground etc. Makes u wonder about water sources anywhere near these areas!
Slo-go'en
07-01-2013, 11:58
I had to go find a stick to "de-cone" a number of privies on my hike this spring. When the pile is just about to touch your butt when you sit down, its time to do something about it.
kidchill
07-01-2013, 16:32
I got freaked out by privies within the 100 mile wilderness (starting SOBO) and vowed to NEVER use them again. I think I used maybe 2 more privies the rest of the hike...Dirty hikers go in, touch everything, crap (all over the seat, walls, rims, sides, etc), wipe their bums, then touch everything not already covered in pooh on the way out...It's essentially a bacterial/viral bomb in the woods...I would recommend getting a woods-pooh technique down from the get-go...Here's a link to my blog with some tips on how to pooh in the woods...It's in the latter part of the post. http://ghettohiker.wordpress.com/2012/08/18/odds-n-ends/
Ox97GaMe
07-01-2013, 16:42
Jeff,
Along the AT, there are 3 shelters and campsite #113 that do not have composting privies in the GSMNP. There are no plans to construct privies at these other locations.
Pedaling Fool
07-01-2013, 16:57
How many shelters in the Smokies still have no privy....just a "Toilet Area"?
As of a few years ago there were 5 shelters without privies and 7 that have them, total of 12 shelters, not including the Hilton, which technically isn't in the smokies.
Pedaling Fool
07-01-2013, 16:58
Jeff,
Along the AT, there are 3 shelters and campsite #113 that do not have composting privies in the GSMNP. There are no plans to construct privies at these other locations.
As of a few years ago there were 5 shelters without privies and 7 that have them, total of 12 shelters, not including the Hilton, which technically isn't in the smokies.
Whoops, didn't see Ox's post. I imagine his info is the up to date info.
I had to go find a stick to "de-cone" a number of privies on my hike this spring. When the pile is just about to touch your butt when you sit down, its time to do something about it.
Had that happen twice---and agree its not a pretty site!
Ox97GaMe
07-01-2013, 18:15
For clarifiation..... Birch Springs (#113), Mollies Ridge, Russell Field, and Davenport Gap are the shelters on the AT that do not have privies.
Laurel Gap and Kephart are the shelters not on the AT that do not have privies.
How anyone in their right mind could even touch the door of one of those things much less go in and sit down, completely escapes me. They oughta just stick em in a shelter since I cant usually tell the difference anyway.
Nasty. Nasty. And more Nasty.
just eat plenty of oatmeal and no coffee and you will not have to worry abt outhouses