Noticing viii - pooping in the woods

According to Leave No Trace principles, there are basically three ways to poop in the woods:

(1) use a designated outhouse or wilderness toilet
(2) dig a cathole ☞ 6–8 inches deep, 200 feet from water sources
(3) pack it out: strictly speaking, the best option—and as mandated, for example, at Mt. Whitney and Denali (in my own personal experience)—is use of WAG bags (not necessarily the brand linked to, but this idea)

Click here for a very good discussion of these techniques, including rationales for each option.

Toilet paper? Okay to use in outhouses and wilderness toilets; should be packed out rather than buried in a cathole (unless the TP is known to be biodegradable); definitely goes in the WAG bag.

Never just squat, poop, cover the poop with TP and then with a big rock. That's just gross. And never leave your TP (or worse, a wet-wipe). Even if you think you've hidden it from view, animals will likely drag it out and strew it around. It makes for an unpleasant experience for anyone coming after.

Why do I mention this today? Because I spent the day with two other wilderness rangers repairing the top of one wilderness toilet at a primitive camp on the Big Sur River, and digging the hole for a second one.

Toward the bottom of our three-foot-deep, two-by-two-foot square, hole we found an old wet-wipes package, in all its enduring plasticness. Which told us: this spot had been used before for the very same purpose. But guess what? The human waste that had been left there, well buried for many years, had decomposed—composted—beautifully! It was just rich, dark soil that we were digging in today. There was no yuck factor. Human waste does break down. But it needs to be done right.

Here are some photos. (Click to see large on black.)

We loosened the dirt in the hole with shovels,
then dumped the dirt out with whole organic tomato cans.

Stringers (sturdy pieces of wood) were placed
under the toilet, then filled in with rocks and dirt.

Lynn on the finished box!

No trash . . . like the trash we found confirming the
earlier toilet's site.

The Big Sur River.

Heading back through camp toward the Pine Ridge Trail

Crossing the Big Sur