Where do you go when you gotta go?

Had an interesting discussion about catholes and human waste disposal with a Ranger in the North Cascades NP in summer 2015. Having been an Army Infantryman for about 7+ years on multiple continents, I have dug my share of holes and dropped my deuce in many a foreign and sometimes hostile conditions, from jungles to deserts to alpine forests, and more. I was more or less of the opinion that since every other wild creature does it in the woods behind a rock or tree and Nature survives, it could handle my deposits as well, recycling it back to organic material.

The young female Ranger had a Masters in biosciences and was using her wages from the NPS to work toward her Ph.D. She said they did an extensive test with buried human excrement, as well as with it openly exposed to the elements (and the North Cascades gets its share of diverse and harsh weather). She said they pretty much expected what I said, but found that not to be true. Buried, particularly with toilet paper and other forms of disposable body cleaning materials piled in the hole, the stool remained more or less solid and in full form, even up to a year later. Said that when taken back to the lab, they could even clearly identify food components in the stool (and stressed that humans don't eat what bears and other mammals typically consume). Left exposed, it weathered and its form broke apart more rapidly, but still didn't totally decompose and was clearly identifiable as human waste up to 6 months later, even a sample left on a rock in full sun and rain exposure.

It was an interesting discussion, and like climate change, is sure to bump headlong into widely held beliefs of what's okay to do and what's not.
 
Quote:
I"m a thetford guy but this morning, I just realized I may need to change for conditions. My poop this morning was frozen solid. I'm not sure though if it would be any better with wag bags.

I'd start with a LOT warmer sleeping bag, myself....
 
We have an onboard bath with flush toilet and black water tank. But, when nature calls and we don't have time to raise top out in the middle of nowhere especially in the alkaline desert areas where digging a hole is difficult, we have a portable seat that folds. We sit on that, do our business, then scoop it up in a very large doggy bag and place it In an outside cubby for disposal in the nearest dumpster. For urination, I sit on the running board. TP goes in a baggy and I have antibacterial wipes handy which go into baggy, too. Baggy goes into said cubby. We have a small spray bottle with an essence that we spray into the cubby. Works for us. I just hate seeing human waste and tp in the wilds. And, yes, we do not eat as the wild animals do especially the meds. We usually try to find a campground or rest stop but not many where we explore.
 
I've used both the little Porta Potty that came with my van and wag bags (in a non-Pett folding toilet frame). It was nice in my old Lance camper and fifth wheels to use the onboard bathrooms.
 
I just swiched out my Porta Potty with a Luggable Loo-style potty (5 gal bucket with a toilet seat). I'm liking it much better, mainly for ease of dumping. The PortaPotty was giving me olfactory strain with every potentially messy dump at home. Yuck! This last trip (Prescott, Az --> Carbondale, IL --> Prescott Az. Trip report forthcoming) was the test for the bucket method. SO MUCH EASIER!

I'm going to trade out my 5 gal for a 3 gal so that it'll fit better under my folded-down-to-a-bed side-dinette area.
 
craig333 said:
Which toilet treatment were you using?
Me? kitty litter. I also have wood shavings from a wood-worker friend. But I think I'm going to get some cedar chips for the nice smell. That sounds funny. Kitty litter is what I took with me on this trip, and it worked fine.
 
x4. nothing worse than an area decorated with tp. One trip up the clearwater, early in the year with no fire danger, I "cleaned up" an area with a long handled lighter, burned it up in place.
Trying to get used to the thetford that came with the northstar, like the idea of a composting or bucket if that doesn't work out. Always been a shovel guy, still am if have the chance.
 
craig333 - I used something like that. I think it came with the potty. Didn't have smell issues in the camper, but the smells (and potential mess and splash scare) when dumping and cleaning got to be too much for me. Eewww
 
CSG said:
I may try the Pett frame due to its briefcase sized fold.
That's what we're using. We set it up outside of camp, in the great outdoors, while saving our knees and leaving zero waste behind.
 
In the winter we use a 3 gallon plastic pail with a Luggable Loo seat on it. I line the bucket with a plastic garbage bag and pour some cat litter in it. As it gets used the litter soaks up the liquid and when solids are added the bag is removed, sealed and in the garbage it goes, frozen solid. We do communications for sled dog races in the winter, trail races in the summer and it's nice having a place to go wherever you are. In the summer we use a small portta potti. I like it because it doesn't smell when sealed and can be dumped in any outhouse, toilet or the sewer cleanout in the yard. The porta potti sure made a grand daughter happy the other day at the playground HiHi, Bigfoot Dave
 

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