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  • Pooping Perfectly in the Woods

    Published on 23-07-2012 16:00
    69 Comments Comments
    Article
    by Kevin Callan
    No one seems to want to want to talk about this, but a poop properly disposed of behind camp can make or break the group dynamics during any trip. To start, before the spot is chosen and the trousers are dropped, a proper camp attitude must be set or you'll have turd anarchy. Laugh about it, share stories about it, and more importantly make it common knowledge that excreting waste from your bowels is a natural occurrence that all members of the group do at any given time of the day, but that the disposal of it must be done in an environmental matter.


    Sounds silly, but the more you keep the act of pooping a private session, the more accidental displacement of poop you'll have at camp.
    Write up a poop plan and stick to it:
    • Regulate a safe distance traveled in the backwoods before any feces is actually released into the wilds (it should be at least 50 meters).
    • Place a bag containing communal TP, hand sanitizer, small spade, and favorite paddling magazine hanging on a tree limb (a bag missing from the limb symbolizes that the forest is presently occupied).
    • If there's a health and safety expected treasure chest (thunder box, candy box, outhouse…etc.) available then it is agreed upon that everyone makes use if it.
    • If no outhouse is available then the spade is used to dig a "cat-hole" (the process of turning up 3-4 cm of topsoil and, when finished, cover up the nasty bits with a mound of dirt, just as a cat does in the litter box (cat-holes are much more efficient in breaking the manure down to potting soil than the Boy Scout routine of a deeply dug trench).
    • Announce to everyone back at camp that it was a success and add detailed information on the position used (a simple squat, over a log, back up against a tree…etc.)
    • Return, very carefully, with the wad of TP and discretely, or not discretely, dispose of it in a very hot camp fire.
    • Wait at least ten minutes before toasting marshmallows.


    TP Substitutes
    According to National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) the best alternatives for toilet paper are pinecones, snow, sticks, and weathered rocks. The Roman army used a sponge attached to a stick soaked in salt water. Natives in coastal areas used mussel shells. The Cree preferred sphagnum moss. And the Ojibwa liked the soft and fragrant leaf from a wild ginger plant.

    Compost Toilets
    Some parks are now experimenting with compost toilets placed at campgrounds and interior campsites. Rather than the traditional "hole-in -the-ground" outhouse or water-based disposal units, these ecological toilets use layers of sawdust and the microorganisms already present in human waste to break everything down. Each spring the toilets are emptied and its natural fertilizer is spread out over the forest floor.


    Poop in the sea
    I have no experience with this one, but rumor has it that sea water can degrade human waste far faster than topsoil. So, when camped along the ocean it is customary to wade out into the surf to go poop and if toilet paper is needed it is taken back with you to burn in the fire.


    Feminine Hygiene
    Feminine hygiene products should be either burned in a hot fire or carried out in a plastic bag. Do not dispose of them by burying them. Wild animals, especially squirrels and bears, will be attracted to the strong scent of the pheromones and dig them up, decorating the camp with them.

    Source and read more
    Tags: crap, hygiene, loo, poo, toilet
    Comments 69 Comments
    1. Stringmaker's Avatar
      Stringmaker - 23-07-2012, 16:26
      On both the courses I have attended; the rule was to burn the TP at the deposition site. The kit box included a lighter for that very purpose.

      You also had to plan ahead as it was a round trip of 20 minutes from picking up the baton!
    1. mountainm's Avatar
      mountainm - 23-07-2012, 16:28
      Pinecones for TP?! May as well grab a passing hedgehog.
    1. Humpback's Avatar
      Humpback - 23-07-2012, 16:34
      "Wait at least ten minutes before toasting marshmallows"
    1. SimonM's Avatar
      SimonM - 23-07-2012, 17:01
      I was always taught to burn the TP in situ...and that's the way I teach Scouts and Leaders alike.

      As with Stringmaker, I include a lighter in the toilet kit bag for that purpose.

      Simon
    1. rik_uk3's Avatar
      rik_uk3 - 23-07-2012, 17:12
      I'm a great fan of soft toilet tissue, its perhaps one of the greatest inventions of the 20th Century and so for me camp pooping is dig, dump, burn, cover.

      I think back to the horrid days of my youth and the dreaded Izal
      http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5137/...9d3660a65d.jpg
      or as often called back then "John Wayne loo roll" because like the Duke, it was 'rough, tough and took crap off nobody', they were awful times. Then one day, the joy of Andrex was discovered, absolute bliss

      I had to use moss once when with the boy scouts, since that trip loo roll has been at the top of my kit list.
    1. Dave's Avatar
      Dave - 23-07-2012, 19:03
      Toilet paper must be a dilemma for the ultralite backpacking fraternity. Is it worth taking double ply [twice as much weight as single ply] for the extra protection it affords?
    1. armie's Avatar
      armie - 23-07-2012, 20:35
      They'll be drilling holes in double ply TP - best of both worlds
      I was taught to burn TP in situ; also to lay two branches/twigs crossed upon the covered spot as a signal to others.
    1. Smith28's Avatar
      Smith28 - 23-07-2012, 20:54
      Quote Originally Posted by Dave View Post
      Toilet paper must be a dilemma for the ultralite backpacking fraternity. Is it worth taking double ply [twice as much weight as single ply] for the extra protection it affords?
      Anyone who thinks it best to NOT carry enough TP to clean up is in my mind, a total, absolute mental nutcase.
      Also.. did I actually read, pinecones? Great article, a much avoided but all too inevitable topic.
    1. Globetrotter.uk's Avatar
      Globetrotter.uk - 23-07-2012, 21:38
      Just carry a tampon and a length of elder. One quick shove and a quick clean.
    1. santaman2000's Avatar
      santaman2000 - 23-07-2012, 21:48
      Never tried pine cones but I have used corn cobs.
    1. Elines's Avatar
      Elines - 23-07-2012, 21:50
      The only other thing I can think to add is that I was told that if you use the 'cat hole' method then it is a good idea to mark the (buried) spot with crossed sticks or similar to stop someone else digging up the same excellent spot you found (or in my case that I found and then forgot about)
    1. RonW's Avatar
      RonW - 26-07-2012, 09:01
      Great and sensible article about an all to common subject, yet brought in a way that I just had to smile...
      The sphagnum and snowball actually work great without a feeling of discomfort afterwards... Just takes some getting used to.

      Can I share this article on my blog?
      Couldn't have put it better in words myself and it might make things easier for others too.
    1. salad's Avatar
      salad - 26-07-2012, 12:12
      When I was traveling India I just used water and my left hand, followed by washing my hands with soap afterwards .
      I can honestly say that I did not have one single skid mark in 6 months . Despite the fact that when traveling some distances I had to sometimes wear the same set of underwear for a few days

      Although saying that there was a total trouser drenching when dysentery told hold of me(but that was illness so it does not count )
    1. calgarychef's Avatar
      calgarychef - 01-08-2012, 19:29
      Maybe that dysentery was related to your hand washing....or someone elses lack of it-yuk.
    1. tinderbox's Avatar
      tinderbox - 01-08-2012, 20:31
      No mention of the vaseline trick?
    1. Firelite's Avatar
      Firelite - 02-08-2012, 12:03
      Re the IZAL Medicated comment - (for younger readers it was supposed to be a toilet paper, but it was more closely related to grease-proof paper). My great-Uncle was holding forth on this topic one day, expressing the view that the modern papers were terrific. Alternatively, regarding Izal, he said "Jeez, with that **!£$%* Izal stuff you could end up at the back of your neck!"
    1. Bowlander's Avatar
      Bowlander - 02-08-2012, 14:10
      RM or BG hardly ever (never?) mention pooing in the woods - perhaps they are both retentive and then off load back at the Holiday Inn?
    1. Stringmaker's Avatar
      Stringmaker - 02-08-2012, 15:28
      Quote Originally Posted by Bowlander View Post
      RM or BG hardly ever (never?) mention pooing in the woods - perhaps they are both retentive and then off load back at the Holiday Inn?
      Every time I see RM on the telly that is exactly what springs to my mind.

      It is included in the "leave no trace" philosophy so should be at least referred to if not demonstrated...
    1. spandit's Avatar
      spandit - 02-08-2012, 16:00
      Screw the pinecones... mussel shells?!!?
    1. Bigfoot's Avatar
      Bigfoot - 02-08-2012, 16:44
      Bio degradable paper is available these days, it avoids the need to burn ( and also the potential to start a forest fire, as happened with some unfortunate soul last year).

      I have never heard the "poop in the sea" theory - I can't help thinking that you would need to know the state of the tide to ensure that you don't get any "washback" to shore
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