ANY walk along any campsite or hiking trail PROVES that no one takes care of their own poop. There are three sites on Canyon lake/Salt River in Arizona that are suitable for camping. Beer Can Point has a compost toilet but the other two are basic flat areas. Both are unusable because people poop on the ground and leave their mess. At Russ Cove, the ONLY flat area is always covered in human poop. And not just in one place but someone goes to 12:00 and poops on the ground, leaving their TP there to blow into the brush. The next person looks at that pile and goes to 6:00 and does exactly the same. The Third person goes to 3:00, the fourth to 9:00 and so on, each person choosing a different spot as far away from the other piles as they can until the ONLY FLAT SPOT is littered with poop.
And as no one even thinks of this until they are ‘crowning’, there is no time to dig a cat-hole and as described above, no one does that!
So, for those of you who are actually honest, what is your paddle-toilet-system?
I have two. #1 in my poop Tube I made for about $12. This is accompanied by a dry bag containing: large coffee filter, tp, wet wipes and kitty litter. This is for pooping only. #2 is for the ladies and is a drybag that contains: tp, wet wipes, zip-lock baggie for used tp and is for peeing only. Obviously, being a guy, I don’t need to wipe, I just shake and zip.
The poop tube is designed to fit behind my seat so I made two, one for my CD Whistler and one for Shawna’s Perception Carolina. She left both at the comport toilet at Blue Ridge a couple weeks ago so I must make replacements.
What is your toilet system when you go out and please do not pretend that you dig a cat-hole as this is logistically and observationally untrue. I have challenged many a person to show me and they ALL had an excuse why they could not at that time.
Wag bags for weekend trips. I keep an extra wag bag or two in a small dry bag that I would take with me for a long day trip. Back when I guided multi-week trips we cat holed, a good shovel is key to success in that endeavor, and get a head start before things get urgent. Haven’t dealt with an extended trip requiring to pack everything out.
@RikJohnson said:
please do not pretend that you dig a cat-hole as this is logistically and observationally untrue
Why not? This is exactly what I do except where there’s a suitable existing pit toilet that isn’t nasty and overflowing. Sometimes even when there is, as a nice clean fresh hole away from everyone else’s filth is much more to my liking. I try to camp in areas that have plenty of space to wander and enough dirt away from camp to dig in. When I’m done, the only thing you’ll see is a small “X” made with two sticks on the ground. This is done to help prevent someone digging in the same spot before things have had a chance to break down. The sticks will break down quickly enough as well.
Sometimes this is challenging on very rocky Georgian Bay islands, but I try to think ahead and pick sites with this (and a bear hang location) in mind.
Although I understand your reservations, as there are many places where I’ve almost stumbled upon (into) land mines. They are typically found just inside the tree line, as people area afraid to venture a few hundred feet into the woods for various reasons.
I’ve yet to camp in particularly sensitive areas where it’s a requirement to pack out human waste.
@RikJohnson said:
please do not pretend that you dig a cat-hole as this is logistically and observationally untrue. I have challenged many a person to show me and they ALL had an excuse why they could not at that time.
You haven’t asked me. At worst, I carry a sturdy plastic trowel, and at best, a compact (2 feet long) steel shovel. I never do a boat trip without one or the other. Most of my overnight trips are on a big, sandy, wide river that has lots of sand bars, sand beaches, and expansive bottomland forests on each side. And yes, I get well off the sand and go back into the woods, or at least into thick growths of willows, where the soil is rich, not just sand, and of course, well away from the river. That’s in spite of the fact that this is also where the mosquitoes are numerous and fierce, and in spite of the fact that the edges of the woods are often “guarded” by thick growths of poison ivy. Especially on more popular parts of the river, I see that most people don’t go to this kind of effort.
You may be preaching to the choir here. I dig a cathole and burn TP, where that is allowed. If poop must be packed out, it is a Wagg Bag or the poop pipe.
I will say that where there was enough land that could be gotten through, I walked the minimum of 1/4 mile away from water and then dug a cathole–but I had the take-away gear just in case I couldn’t wait. Going inland at least 1/4 mile to dig a cathole was legal, but you can bet most people didn’t bother to walk far enough. Hel, they will park cars in boat trailer parking spots when there are still many car parking spots left, just to save less than 30 seconds of walking on pavement. Does not bode well for the USA if this is typical.
If people could use a remote control device to whisk away their crap, you know they would do that rather than move a few extra steps.
Back when I was in college a great many years ago I was hanging at the student lounge (getting worked over in a game of chess by a physics major) when a mutual friend of ours approached and asked his help with an academic question that was troubling him. The mutual friend said he didn’t “get calculus”. The physics whiz responded, “Well, have you studied it?”
There was, I believe, a good deal of wisdom in that response and it applies in all sorts of situations. If folks have troubles figuring it out, and it seems many folks here have encountered those who do, perhaps these budding outdoors aficionados should be encouraged to study the subject.
@magooch said:
Down the toilet would be more civilized.
The nice thing about urban or suburban paddles is that we can space out the landings at boat ramps and parks with “facilities”. Even some wilderness areas have facilities. The Everglades has portolets on the Chickies. The Suwanee Wilderness trail has river camps and/or State Parks every ten or so miles in the upper Suwannee. The St Johns River has places over the last 100 miles every 10 - 15 miles to land and eliminate in facilities. Granted people are pretty crappy at the way they treat some of those facilities.
I have used the bears favorite place to take a dump for well over 50 years. I challenge you to find where I take a dump in the woods, and if you do I have a kayak i’ll give you. You are making an assumption based on your experience. I do know that many places out west a pile on top the ground can persist and be observed a year or more latter (ie. elk and deer). Here in the southeast it can disappear in a couple of weeks or days depending on the season and/or consistency (dog poop in my yard}. I applaud your use of a grover (old rafting term for the marks left “behind” by sitting on a surplus ammo box). High use areas and fragile ecosystems often require there use,
All depends on where you go
Different techniques for different ecosystems
In the boreal forest removing moss and going and replacing the moss is fine
On the Maine Islands that are almost all rock you have to tube it out. The old method of crapping on a flat rock then hurling the rock to the ocean can result in the return of your gift when the tide comes back in
@castoff said:
I applaud your use of a grover (old rafting term for the marks left “behind” by sitting on a surplus ammo box). High use areas and fragile ecosystems often require there use,
We had a couple that brought a grover they used to use rafting the Colorado to one of our canoe/kayak meetings. They were giving it away to anyone interested. … It leaked on the brand new natural finished table. … Noone was interested.
for about $12. This is accompanied by a dry bag containing: large coffee filter, tp, wet wipes and kitty litter. This is for pooping only.