Many years ago there was a movement to make every mile of the AT, ADA compliant. Go figure.
You've got to be kidding me! What a ridiculous notion. There is a guy whose life's mission is to go into food establishments, find ADA violations, and then sue. He's sued hundreds of times. I think people may start with good intentions, but then hubris takes over and they forget why they started.Originally Posted by Mother Natures Son
It is what it is.
Indeed. Several years ago I ran into a slightly overweight guy at LeConte shelter who hiked up there with an above knee prosthesis. He had a heck of a time getting there. Pretty awesome to see.
I would contend that this same hiker would have been able to "make do" with a non-ADA compliant privy and/or shelter.
Lonehiker (MRT '22)
The stainless steel handrails in GSMNP privies crack me up. Anyone who is able to get to one of those can use the privy without handrails.
Which makes you wonder why the shelters are not shutdown by the same health department that requires bald chefs to wear hair nets while cooking.
Hikers with spina bifida, paralysis, etc, and are being carried need extra room in toilets and need hand rails.
I'm all for a strategically-placed privy. Better a single large hole filled with doo-doo, which is covered over when full, than five thousand little holes, dug God-knows-where, and with toilet paper flowers strewn about....
Long-distance aspirations with short-distance feet.... :jump
That's a latrine...
The GSMNP uses Moldering (Composting) Privies. There's no "hole in the ground".
While not a perfect description, I would describe a moldering privy like this:
Build a platform built about 4 feet off the ground with the perimeter below the privy lined with chicken wire (keeps the stack of poop in place and keeps wild animals out).
The platform has three "stations", and the seat is rotated from station to station as the space under the seat fills with poop/tp/mulch.
Start with the seat in Station 1. As Station 1 gets full, move the seat to Station 2.
When Station 2 gets full, move the seat to Station 3 and spread what remains of the the now composted waste from Station 1 around the area like fertilizer.
Continue the process moving the seat back to Station 1 and spreading around the composted waste from prior stations.
There's never a hole dug nor a hole that gets filled.
The combination of open-air design and composting process keeps the smell down.
Since this is the mountains, the platform is usually build on the side of a hill where a small bridge allows you to walk from ground level to the platform.
Last edited by HooKooDooKu; 08-15-2018 at 14:57.
Those little holes, properly mixed with damp microorganism containg topsoil, are totally gone in days.
Unlike a big cesspool
And to be quite honest, in some places, if you just crap on surface, hogs will eat it overnight. I observed this on my hunting lease..... Probably work for gsmnp too.
Last edited by MuddyWaters; 08-15-2018 at 15:04.
Way too many visitors to GSMNP, and that's quick way to spread pathogens... (there's already enough problems getting people to properly bury their waste... we DO NOT need people to just start pooping on the ground and leave it there).
Last edited by HooKooDooKu; 08-15-2018 at 15:13.
Making poop soup...I was looking for that article the other day.
A good example of this is Russell field shelter...
it doesn't (or at least it didn't the last time I was up there about 6 years ago) have a privy and the surrounding area is just a mine field of poop and toilet paper..
its not so much ADA compliance as it is making the AT comply with Federal laws as in multiple laws dealing with accessibility. this is a legal requirement that is not going away - here is a document from the ATC on the subject
http://www.appalachiantrail.org/docs...sign-guide.pdf
the accessibility laws have brought about changes in privy and in lean-to design and even design of AMC huts in NH.
changes in lean-to design
https://journeys.appalachiantrail.or...nable-camping/
changes in privy design including the accessibility required by law
https://www.appalachiantrail.org/doc...rsn=6322f827_6
Galehead hut accessibility
https://www.nytimes.com/2000/08/17/u...rs-matter.html
i know everybody likes to laugh at the idea of a wheelchair accessible privy on the AT but this is out of the control of the local trail clubs its federal law and as such must be followed. morally its the right thing to do, not everybody is so lucky in health as most of us here.
and before you say it no they are not going to pave the trail...
What we need in this world is a marked-off area, say in Siberia or the Nevada Desert, where there are no laws, no government and no rules. Anybody can go, anybody is welcome back into society (if they obey the law) but in that area no government will interfere in any way. That way privies in the back country, socialism, anarchism, white supremacy, Islamism, Trumpism, liberalism and modern art can have a good, honest-to-God battle royale, no holds barred and see what happens. It'd be curious to see what would happen.
But I reckon I got to light out for the Territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she's going to adopt me and sivilize me, and I can't stand it. I been there before.
Been done. Purge, etc.
You can get the movies from Amazon.
I’ll stick to the places that I’ve found over the years. Much tamer.
Wayne
We have those set aside areas in the US, we call them Designated Wilderness areas. To the balance of your suggestions, I doubt anarchy will solve much given its history, but good luck with that~
[QUOTE=HooKooDooKu;2219430]"Nice idea, but does not belong in the back country and should not be maintained by volunteers!!!"
Yeah, pretty ignorant graffiti. However, as one who abhors concentrated camping, maybe that's what the author was lashing out at. On my through hike two years ago I slept in or near shelters twice. I never used one of those composting toilets. From those two shelter experiences, I considered anywhere within a 200 meter radius of a shelter to be contaminated and unhealthy. Stealth camping, that's where it's at. Fire away.
This graffiti was at a shelter compost toilet in GSMNP.
Stealth Camping is illegal in GSMNP as you are required to camp at designated campsites.
In the case of AT thru-hiker permits, you're required to camp at the shelters on the AT. IF the shelter is full, the AT thru-hiker can camp in the general vicinity of the shelter.
Yes. The privies are built by the Smoky Mountain Hiking Club who maintain them with help from the ridge runners.
I think there were two ridge runners this season.
I have always wondered how they collect and transport all that waste and what they do with it? Anybody know how they handle the job?(slight pun intended,sorry...)
We all all indebted to those who do the task and never get any credit or thanks-SO THANKS GUYS!
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