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  1. #21
    Registered User Papa D's Avatar
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    No shovel necessary - scout out a sturdy stick or rock which should do the job fine. You can also add some mulch over your cat-hole to essentially increase the depth a bit and stomp it down too.

  2. #22
    Registered User Snow>TP's Avatar
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    I dont think its a mrore fear more gear thing at all and I have heard "blah blah blah," is the most dropped item in the first 100 miles. Ive gone boot, stick, and rock and I know the shovel is the best at getting as close to 6 inches as the situation provides.

    The most important thing is to dig and bury please. Ive worked as a ranger and thru hikers have gotten an awful reputation in some areas for not wanting to take the time to dig. TP flowers dont smell great and no one wants to stop and smell them. No excuse for surface poops 3 feet from the trail.


    Also dont forget, when you done, before you cover, give the poop stew a stir. Really helps decomposition.

  3. #23

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    I third or fourth the snow stake it is more functional for me than a plastic trowel. We have an i-pood too which works well but is a bit heavy for my tastes, especially on trails with so many privies,

  4. #24
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    Should be a poll.

  5. #25
    Registered User Papa D's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Snow>TP View Post
    I dont think its a mrore fear more gear thing at all and I have heard "blah blah blah," is the most dropped item in the first 100 miles. Ive gone boot, stick, and rock and I know the shovel is the best at getting as close to 6 inches as the situation provides.

    The most important thing is to dig and bury please. Ive worked as a ranger and thru hikers have gotten an awful reputation in some areas for not wanting to take the time to dig. TP flowers dont smell great and no one wants to stop and smell them. No excuse for surface poops 3 feet from the trail.


    Also dont forget, when you done, before you cover, give the poop stew a stir. Really helps decomposition.
    I certainly agree about getting it deep, stirring the poop up a bit, and poking it down deeper in the hole. I also (usually) just wrap a little TP around some leaves - this gives you the soft sanitary feel and bulk in your hand without the extra wad of t.p. -- I think that all of this can be done equally (and sometimes better) with a sturdy stick or pointy rock. I keep a 1 oz piece of Dr. Bronners soap in my TP zip-lock too - just put a few drops or water on your hand from your water bottle and a scrape of soap - really much better hygiene than hand sanitizer stuff.

  6. #26
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    I recently went hiking with a former thru-hiker and he laughed at me when I broke out the old orange shovel, saying that noone carried those on the trail.... and then proceeded to borrow it from me to perform his business. I don't know anything that does the job quite the same. As for touching poo with the shovel... seriously? I am never lending out my shovel again! lol Definitely do push the poo to the bottom with a stick. If you dug deep enough, covering with dirt and patting down should be no "risk".

  7. #27
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    Resurrecting this thread because I was looking for some info on using trowels. In the past, I have used sticks, my heels, and more recently my poles, and I think it's impossible to get a hole anywhere near the appropriate depth in less than what feels like an eternity. Sticks break, and even in nice soft dirt they can't get through the roots. Same for using the poles -- and I don't like bashing my poles into the hard ground and stones. Using my heel just ends up hurting my heel more than making an appropriate hole. So I want to carry a trowel. And I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm honestly considering buying a titanium trowel, because yeah I snapped one of the orange ones in my own backyard (no, I wasn't going poop in my backyard....) Also those ounces are starting to count.

    So my question isn't whether or not to use a trowel, nor what kind of trowel to use...but where do you keep it? Just dangling off the back of your pack? That sounds irritating. Or in a pocket, assuming you have one? I suppose I'm smart enough to figure out some way to lash it to a pack, but I was curious as to what others do.
    fortis fortuna adjuvat

  8. #28
    Getting out as much as I can..which is never enough. :) Mags's Avatar
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    Take a trowel in high use areas at the very least.

    There are too many TP blossoms in high use areas such as The Colorado Trail. Too many for the amount of people claiming a stick,pole or the back of their shoe is fine. Various trowels are now well less than an ounce...closer to a half ounce, really.

    Here's the one I use FWIW. Small enough to fit into a ziplock. There are other similar ones for about the same price.
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  9. #29
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    Quote Originally Posted by QiWiz View Post
    Use your digging implement, whether it be a trowel or not, to make a hole to go in, not to manipulate your s**t. This avoids the aromatic and bacteria laden trowel problem. The red plastic trowels break easily when subjected to actual use in real backcountry. I personally always bring a really light titanium trowel. Not at all heavy, cuts through small roots easily, and nearly indestructible. A guy named QiWiz sells them. Really nice. He has a post about them in the Selling Used Gear Forum. ; )
    So, would one of this characters trowels work as a tent stake?
    "It's fun to have fun, but you have to know how." ---Dr. Seuss

  10. #30
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mags View Post
    Take a trowel in high use areas at the very least.

    There are too many TP blossoms in high use areas such as The Colorado Trail. Too many for the amount of people claiming a stick,pole or the back of their shoe is fine. Various trowels are now well less than an ounce...closer to a half ounce, really.

    Here's the one I use FWIW. Small enough to fit into a ziplock. There are other similar ones for about the same price.
    TP blooms and digging implements are two separate issues.

    It is quite possible to dig a proper hole with a stick or a hiking pole (I don't claim that most people are in fact digging a proper one, just that it is achievable with a little bit of effort.) I used a trekking pole for this purpose for years, though I recently switched to an REI snow stake which I will admit is much better at the task.

    When you see a TP bloom from the trail you are seeing evidence of someone who couldn't be bothered to even move off trail an appropriate distance, and in my experience said TP blooms don't show any evidence of an attempt to bury them.

    If the people leaving the TP blooms bothered to move 100/200 feet off trail like they are supposed to, then it is unlikely that the average hiker would notice them regardless of whether they were buried the proper 6-8 inches.
    Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.

  11. #31
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    After I typed that last response I had to stop for a minute and ask myself exactly why it is that I am openly discussing pooping in the woods with a bunch of strangers on the internet.

    Hikers are weird.
    Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.

  12. #32
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    "Hikers are weird"...probably why I feel so much at home with them.

    Thanks for the link, Mags.
    fortis fortuna adjuvat

  13. #33
    Getting out as much as I can..which is never enough. :) Mags's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sarcasm the elf View Post
    TP blooms and digging implements are two separate issues.

    It is quite possible to dig a proper hole with a stick or a hiking pole (I don't claim that most people are in fact digging a proper one, just that it is achievable with a little bit of effort.)
    Most don't.

    Bring the trowel.

    Please.

    And, while much of the Appalachian soil is better for digging, a lot of places are not without some sort of digging implement.

    On a CDT project, I had the great "pleasure" of finding someone less-than-diligent adherence to digging a proper hole. And it was decently off- to the side of the trail, too.
    Last edited by Mags; 07-28-2016 at 12:38.
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  14. #34
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mags View Post
    Most don't.

    Bring the trowel.

    Please.

    Shoot, all this time I thought it was Don't forget to bring a towel!

    (And to be clear, my comment was specific to the A.T. I have very limited experience hiking in more arid environments and would alter my practices as approproate.)
    Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.

  15. #35
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    So my question isn't whether or not to use a trowel, nor what kind of trowel to use...but where do you keep it? Just dangling off the back of your pack? That sounds irritating. Or in a pocket, assuming you have one? I suppose I'm smart enough to figure out some way to lash it to a pack, but I was curious as to what others do.
    My pack has lots of pockets. I store my trowel in a plastic grocery bag, inside of a second grocery bag, stuffed in a vertical pocket on the side of my pack.

    Off topic, it's been interesting watching TSA try to figure out what my trowel is for.

  16. #36
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    Now that's funny.
    I think.
    Maybe not....
    fortis fortuna adjuvat

  17. #37
    Getting out as much as I can..which is never enough. :) Mags's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sarcasm the elf View Post
    Shoot, all this time I thought it was Don't forget to bring a towel!
    I like this towel myself...

    Paul "Mags" Magnanti
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  18. #38

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    Quote Originally Posted by illabelle View Post
    My pack has lots of pockets. I store my trowel in a plastic grocery bag, inside of a second grocery bag, stuffed in a vertical pocket on the side of my pack.

    Off topic, it's been interesting watching TSA try to figure out what my trowel is for.
    buryin' the body's o'coarse.

  19. #39
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    I will carry a clean trowel to dig my hole.

  20. #40
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    There are many shovels
    But this is my shovel.....



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