Registered: 01/10/06
Posts: 679
Loc: Central Texas
I use Serac's method. It works fine, sometimes with a little Dr. Bonners. I usually extend it to a general crotch wash; that reduces the 'homeless aroma". A hand wash followed by waterless hand sanitizer completes the job. It beats TP completely.
My shower appliance is a perforated cap for a Platypus flask. With a regular cap, it's just a water bottle.
a bottle and your hand? a bandanna? "smooth stones" and "soft" pinecones? REALLY? I have dropped a deuce many a times in the woods with nothing but what I could find purely out of necessity. I however would NOT go on a trip planning to do this. You can buy rapid-dissolve biodegradable toilet paper for relatively cheap or just use normal toilet paper (its biodegradable!) dig the cat hole deep and far from anything and finally COVER it
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“Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.”
well i asked my grandfather who is like 80 now about doin the number 2 in the wood and he told me they would bring tp and burn it after use in the hole rite before he covers it. idk if that goes along with LNT but from what i can tell its not a bad thang to do.
Registered: 02/03/06
Posts: 6800
Loc: Gateway to Columbia Gorge
Some burn their TP; some have set the forest on fire doing that. All it takes is a sudden gust of wind to blow the burning TP out of the hole into dry grass or needles. Never do this when the fire danger is high!
Note that animals often dig up the waste for the food particles it contains. When they do that, the TP gets scattered around the landscape. One thing which may help is to take water to the cathole with you, pour some in afterwards and stir the waste and TP with a stick to make a "soup" before covering up the hole. This helps to dissolve the paper.
Or you can pack out your TP, which is what I do and what the rangers prefer you do. I have medical conditions which require the use of TP (actually, I use pieces of paper towel, which are more absorbent) and moist towlettes. After a trip to Turkey, where they have a small hose attached to the toilet to clean up, I tried the squirt bottle method a couple of times. It works fine on a real toilet, but in the backcountry it runs down my legs and into my pants (aargh).
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May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view--E. Abbey
Someone up the thread mentioned mullein. It is pretty plentiful on the front range of the Rocky Mountains and is often called "indian toilet paper" or "cowboy toilet paper". Very soft.
The TP and our waste is very degradable. The problem is folks don't cover the cat-hole well enough and some critter will dig up the corpse and scatter it and the TP about the area. Very bad.
The TP you buy for home use is not. It's cotton fabric, practically, and it lasts a long, long time. The TP you buy for RVs (with chemical toilets) breaks down rapidly, as does the biodegradable stuff you'll find at sport stores. There's a reason the TP you find in the solar powered bacteria toilets in Yosemite/SEKI is not so soft and thick as the Charmin back home.
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"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities. In the expert's mind there are few." Shunryu Suzuki
I've given up toilet paper both at home and on the trail. There is a great variety of leaves in my yard and they are cheap. May as well practice and save some money while I do it.
I've given up toilet paper both at home and on the trail. There is a great variety of leaves in my yard and they are cheap. May as well practice and save some money while I do it.
Note that animals often dig up the waste for the food particles it contains. When they do that, the TP gets scattered around the landscape. One thing which may help is to take water to the cathole with you, pour some in afterwards and stir the waste and TP with a stick to make a "soup" before covering up the hole. This helps to dissolve the paper.
Or you can pack out your TP, which is what I do and what the rangers prefer you do.
In many parks, rangers don't suggest this--they REQUIRE it.
And it is what we do in all cases. WE are SICK of seeing toilet paper in the backcountry. And yeah, it probably started out buried. But it wasn't when we got there.
Just a newbie here reading through the thread laughing. Trivia note: Sears & Roebuck invented the glossy covering for catalogs in the early 20th Century. You can guess why.
I actually find more Kleenex on the trail than TP. And Kleenex is NOT at all biodegradable - that is why you do not put it in a toilet. Those delicate hikers need to learn to "snort" out the snot. The most Keenex I find is between the High Sierra Camps in Yosemite. I really wonder what people are thinking dropping a used Kleenex on the trail? Do the drop it on the floor in their house?
We all know the TP is a luxury, not a necessity. Much of the world's popluation do not use it. Consider it a priviledge to take it. Come on, it is NO BIG DEAL to put it in a plastic bag and carry it out. None of it belongs in the Wilderness, either above ground or below.
Registered: 08/16/10
Posts: 1590
Loc: San Diego CA
One of my regular hiking spots (it's a day hiking spot) gets heavy human traffic. For some reason there are certain times when toilet and tissue paper collect all over the place. It's pretty disgusting; some of it has obviously been dug up by animals. When it gets that way, I'll wear plastic gloves and bag all I see. There is a few of us that will do this; pick up trash. Otherwise it just stays there.
Just bring a plastic/ziplock bag and carry it out.
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