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  1. #1
    Registered User SL_amani's Avatar
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    Default Bathroom business

    This is an essential question: how does one go about expelling excrement while hiking the trail? Is the protocol simply to walk a certain distance from the trail? I hope that I don't have to carry a duce vessel with me; that would be terrible. BTW, do people use the term "duce" on the trail? Because on all of my wilderness experiences, the term duce is more than ubiquitous.
    Thanks,
    Shane

  2. #2

    Default

    Yes , when you gotta go, you gotta go, so the protocol would be to get as far off the trail and way from streams or other water sources as possible , dig a 6 inch hole (or best you can) with whatever you can dig with (some carry little plastic spades for such but I use the heel of my boot and dont see the need for anything else) and try your best to get it in the hole and cover it up with dirt and I usually try and put something like rocks or sticks etc over it (helps to prevent some other poor hiker (or their dog) from stepping or using that same spot if ya know what I mean ?) otherwise you would have to use the few privies (or gazebo`s as Sam Waddle and I painted on the one at Jerry Cabin lol ) there are (yuck), otherwise hold it until the next town ! At least that`s better than climbers who have to do it in a ziplock baggie and pack it into a waterbottle and pack it out,, omg, not for me !
    Hope this helps,
    RAT

  3. #3
    Registered User Pokey2006's Avatar
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    Default

    Get used to the idea of doing your business in a privy (outhouse), and chances are you'll rarely have to dispose of your own excrement. In nearly six months, I think I only had to bury mine maybe three times.

    If you do need to do your business away from a bathroom or shelter with a privy, it's not that bad. There is information somewhere about exactly how deep to dig your hole (six inches???) and how far from the trail you have to go. I can't remember in feet or yards...I always just went as far as I could possibly go from trails, campsites and water sources.

    Protecting water sources is the most important -- make sure you are not up hill or too close to water, especially a spring which should be kept as pristine as possible. Amazing how many people ignored this rule.

    Also, pack out your toilet paper. Even biodegradable toilet paper gets dug up by wild animals, and is really disgusting for any other hikers who might stumble upon it.

    Hope that answers your question, or hope someone else here has the answer. Good luck!

  4. #4

    Default

    This may be the most important question i've seen on whiteblaze.
    The AT is perhaps one of the better trails for people burying their waste. (by waste i mean excrement) I say this because one of the only things i didn't like about the Pyrenees high route was the fact that the Europeans do NOT seem to bury much of theirs. Also in Nepal, it is rarely buried as far as i can see.
    It is not only very unhealthy to NOT bury it, but very, very unsightly. (and smelly)
    It is so important to bury your waste. And not just with a bootheel deep hole. I use a sturdy stick and try to dig at least a 6-8" hole. My goal is usually to dig it deep enough that a dog is not going to dig it up. (although i realize that dogs can smell these things much better than us)
    I then cover it (when i can) with a rock and then all the dirt i dug out, and then try my best to blend it in with the surrounding terrain. This is after going well off the trail.
    After seeing some of these countries where people don't seem to care or bother, it makes me try harder to keep my home country as natural looking as possible.
    Also, the alternative (with the huge numbers on the AT) is that the ATC or NPS or AMC will oneday make us carry it all out (like they do in the Grand Canyon for instance) and I am not a fan of that.
    I believe with a little extra effort on every hikers part, we can keep the woods the way that nature builds them.
    This talk about holding it until you get to town is perhaps a joke. It's not going to happen except for the most strong willed. Instead of trying to hold it, just learn how to do it best and dig a little deeper than you think is necessary and we'll keep our woods clean. (please)

  5. #5

    Red face

    wag bags are becoming more popular. carry them in empty, and carry them out more fullerer. I've not used these and probably won't. I prefer the old-school poo-prop method, when a privy is not around. And as always, taking great care to get "it" in the hole I've dug. I don't know how else to say it, but you have GOT to bury your business. Enough said.

    I enjoy Number 2 for the challenge it always presents me. At home is one thing, but in the wilderness you have so many things to take into consideration. Off a rock, or off a tree? In sight of a view, or out of sight from view? Is it raining? Is it sunny?

  6. #6
    Registered User Frolicking Dinosaurs's Avatar
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    As others have said - bury your business in a 6" hole at least 200 yards from a water source. I usually try to find a rock that is about 5 - 8" across to place on top of my deposits. As Pokey says, the moldering privies along the AT make burying one's business less likely to be necessary.

  7. #7
    Donating Member/AT Class of 2003 - The WET year
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    Quote Originally Posted by SL_amani View Post
    This is an essential question: how does one go about expelling excrement while hiking the trail? Is the protocol simply to walk a certain distance from the trail? I hope that I don't have to carry a duce vessel with me; that would be terrible. BTW, do people use the term "duce" on the trail? Because on all of my wilderness experiences, the term duce is more than ubiquitous.
    Thanks,
    Shane
    =====================================

    Well ...the worst thing you can do is "hold it". To my knowledge there is no official protocol regarding wilderness defication. Just get out of sight, drop trou and let er rip.

    'Slogger
    The more I learn ...the more I realize I don't know.

  8. #8
    Registered User scope's Avatar
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    Default regnant

    Quote Originally Posted by SL_amani View Post
    BTW, do people use the term "duce" on the trail? Because on all of my wilderness experiences, the term duce is more than ubiquitous.
    Thanks,
    Shane
    'ubiquitous' ?????? - you must be studying for the SAT !!!
    "I wonder if anyone else has an ear so tuned and sharpened as I have, to detect the music, not of the spheres, but of earth, subtleties of major and minor chord that the wind strikes upon the tree branches. Have you ever heard the earth breathe... ?"
    - Kate Chopin

  9. #9
    I hike, therefore I stink.
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    Default

    There's nothing worse than hiking in the winter and having a sudden, irrepressable call of nature and not being able to find an unexposed place to do the business! When there's not a leaf on a tree or bush it can be hard to find a place to squat in privacy. Now I know why dogs have that look on their face when they go in a public park...they can feel all those eyes on them...
    If you don't have something nice to say,
    Be witty in your cruelty.

  10. #10

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Newb View Post
    There's nothing worse than hiking in the winter and having a sudden, irrepressable call of nature and not being able to find an unexposed place to do the business! When there's not a leaf on a tree or bush it can be hard to find a place to squat in privacy. Now I know why dogs have that look on their face when they go in a public park...they can feel all those eyes on them...
    There's one thing worse: stepping in someone elses problem when you are in the woods (like possibly Footsloggers above) shame on you! Bury it, deep!

  11. #11

    Default

    Read this book.
    “Only two things are infinite; The universe and human stupidity,
    And I’m starting to wonder about the universe.”
    Albert Einstein

  12. #12

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Footslogger View Post
    =====================================

    Well ...the worst thing you can do is "hold it". To my knowledge there is no official protocol regarding wilderness defication. Just get out of sight, drop trou and let er rip.

    'Slogger
    That splains it...I thot the GA woods started looking a lot cleaner just about the time Slogger moved to WY.

  13. #13
    Donating Member/AT Class of 2003 - The WET year
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    Quote Originally Posted by max patch View Post
    That splains it...I thot the GA woods started looking a lot cleaner just about the time Slogger moved to WY.
    =============================

    OUCH !!

    'Slogger
    The more I learn ...the more I realize I don't know.

  14. #14

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    Lightbulb from the ATC website...

    Quote Originally Posted by Footslogger View Post
    .... To my knowledge there is no official protocol regarding wilderness defication. Just get out of sight, drop trou and let er rip.
    Oh? No official protocol?

    From the ATC web site--

    "... Many A.T. shelters have privies, but often you will need to "go in the woods." Proper disposal of human (and pet) waste is not only a courtesy to other hikers, but is a vital Leave No Trace practice for maintaining healthy water supplies in the backcountry and an enjoyable hiking experience for others. No one should venture onto the A.T. without a trowel, used for digging a 6"-8" deep "cathole" to bury waste. Bury feces at least two hundred feet or seventy paces away from water, trails, or shelters. Use a stick to mix dirt with your waste, which hastens decomposition and discourages animals from digging it up. Used toilet paper should either be buried in your cathole or carried out in a sealed plastic bag. Hygiene products such as sanitary napkins should always be carried out."
    http://www.appalachiantrail.org/site...Sanitation.htm

    And--
    "Dispose of waste properly. Bury or pack out excrement. Pack out all trash and food waste, including that left behind by others. Do not bury trash or food, and do not try to burn packaging materials in campfires."
    http://www.appalachiantrail.org/site...e_No_Trace.htm

    Just go to the ATC web site and do a search for "waste."

    Official enough fer me! But common curtesy and decency would be enough of a guideline, even if there weren't official ones.

    RainMan

    .
    [I]ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: ... Defile not therefore the land which ye shall inhabit....[/I]. Numbers 35

    [url]www.MeetUp.com/NashvilleBackpacker[/url]

    .

  15. #15
    Formerly thickredhair Gaiter's Avatar
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    here is Leave No Trace's link on disposing of waste http://www.lnt.org/programs/lnt7/dispose.html
    Gaiter
    homepage.mac.com/thickredhair
    web.mac.com/thickredhair/AT_Fall_07

  16. #16
    Donating Member/AT Class of 2003 - The WET year
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    [quote=Rain Man;261302]Oh? No official protocol?

    =================================

    Well ...didn't know the original poster was asking about privies.

    And yes I agree about common courtesy. I didn't mean to imply that it was a wherever/whenever situation.

    I made my way from Springer to Katahdin in 2003 and observed both common sense and common courtesy with respect to nature's call.

    My initial reply was in regard to the "urgency" of the situation.

    'Slogger
    The more I learn ...the more I realize I don't know.

  17. #17
    Registered User homebrew's Avatar
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    Default poo-poo-pee-do

    Wow! So much to do over pooping in the woods. Just follow the normal 200 ft. from water, go behind a tree at least 50 feet off the trail. I ditched my orange trowl in my second town stop-waste of carry weight. Use your boot heel or a stick and kick a quick hole in the dirt, Crap, paper on top, a little pee to hold it all down, kick dirt on top or just bury it with a handful of leaves and sticks. The likleyhood that someone wiil end up in the exact same spot and step in it are nil. Oh, if your near a shelter just use the privy no matter how much it smells.

  18. #18
    Addicted Hiker and Donating Member Hammock Hanger's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Newb View Post
    There's nothing worse than hiking in the winter and having a sudden, irrepressable call of nature and not being able to find an unexposed place to do the business! When there's not a leaf on a tree or bush it can be hard to find a place to squat in privacy. Now I know why dogs have that look on their face when they go in a public park...they can feel all those eyes on them...
    There was a morning when I was hiking along minding my own business when all of a sudden I had to GO, and NOW!!! I dropped my pack and made a dash into the woods. I got as far away from the trail as nature would let me and then ,,,, Well, as I pulled up my drawers and covered my business, I turned to see a man sitting on a rock with his back turned. He was within complete eye shot of ME!!! I walked back out to the trail where I had left my pack and hiked on. The trail made a 90% turn and I was now headed towards the guy on the rock. When he heard me coming he turned around. He said, Good Morning and hiked on. I know he got a shot but was a gentleman and didn;t mention it. I hate when the trail turns or there are no leaves on the trees... but when nature calls it CALLS!!!
    Hammock Hanger -- Life is my journey and I'm surely not rushing to the "summit"...:D

    http://www.gcast.com/u/hammockhanger/main

  19. #19
    Registered User Pokey2006's Avatar
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    Oh, a nightmare! It's bad enough when someone comes along while you're doing a tinkle, but that....that's just way too private!

  20. #20
    Formerly thickredhair Gaiter's Avatar
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    there is nothing worst than knowing your close to the shelter, but your body has to GOOOO! and once your done, you walk for another minute and there is the shelter w/ a nice privy, much closer than you thought!
    Gaiter
    homepage.mac.com/thickredhair
    web.mac.com/thickredhair/AT_Fall_07

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