HUMAN FECES

[Joe917]

I also have no toilet facilities in my squaredrop...

I use a Thunderbox Outback Toilet. It's the cats nuts!
Line it with a compostable bag (bottom of the bag torn open), set it up over top of a hole and you're good to go for at least a few days. Just add a little dirt on top after each use. You're really only limited by how deep you can get the hole. I think about 4 days is the longest I've gotten out of a single hole (being used daily by 2 people). When the hole is full, just dig a new one. When you're ready to move on, just bury the bag.

In a pinch, if hole-digging is not an option it can be used with a non-torn bag to hold the business.

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If everybody did this the area around boondocking spots would look like a plowed field. On top of that the second pic is the fecal matter within 20 yards of a watercourse(seasonal). A composting toilet is about the same size, can go for 3-4 weeks for two people and leaves nothing in the wild.

 

[4000lbsOfGoat]

If everybody did this the area around boondocking spots would look like a plowed field. On top of that the second pic is the fecal matter within 20 yards of a watercourse(seasonal). A composting toilet is about the same size, can go for 3-4 weeks for two people and leaves nothing in the wild.

In the places I camp it would take 20 years until enough people had come around to make it look like a plowed field...

The area you see in the second pic gets less than 3 inches of rain per year. I wasn't too worried about being near the "watercourse" that hasn't filled up since the end of the last ice age.

 

[Shovel]

A very high percentage of homeless use a controlled substance. You can philosophize correlation vs causation but it's definitely more difficult to climb out of poverty when you are stoned or drunk.

A very high percentage of everybody uses controlled substances. I've done my share of odd jobs and it's depressing what you'll see in the cup holders (out in the open) in six figure cars when you're a valet. No part of this has anything to do with whether or not we acknowledge that everything with a tailpipe is going to have emissions and we can either provide a place for that to happen cleanly or accept the outcome of not providing public facilities. For everybody whether members of the First Chairborne Division deems them worthy or not. My wife has a professional job distributing controlled substances pushed by the legal substance addiction industry to high class employed junkies and is a homeowner and has IBS so when something has to happen it's gonna happen like right now not an hour up the road, is she worthy of abundant public facilities? My next door neighbor is retired and has limited mobility and incontinence so she has to plan any travel she does with extreme care. By travel I mean going to get groceries, she is pretty much excluded from real travel in part because of this. Is she worthy of abundant facilities?

The problem of dookie isn't a class situation. Part of it is good ol' tragedy of the commons, we have more humans alive now than ever and we're packed in closer to each other than ever and finally having to come to grips with the fact that no man is an island. Part of it is managing the scale. If we had more open recreational areas then the most popular spots wouldn't get as trampled. If we kept more public facilities open then the only places that would need to accept out-in-the-open deposits would be deep in the woods and that would keep the density relatively low. This is a problem with solutions if we decide to actually solve it instead of using it as an excuse to punch down.

In the vein of how to bury what you got, if you're backpacking those ultra light palm trowels are great for digging runoff canals around your tarp perimeter, to help get traction when you need to climb or descend a really slippery grade without risking injury and of course for digging your private vault. In an emergency you can use the shovel as a sort of squeegee in lieu of toilet paper and then "wash" it by digging in the dirt to knock your mud off with the ambient, perhaps preferable local mud. I know you don't want to think about that but this is specifically the topic we're here to discuss.

Another cool shovel trick for seated activities, just need to be careful with handle placement and how you aim:

 

[4000lbsOfGoat]

My wife has a professional job distributing controlled substances pushed by the legal substance addiction industry to high class employed junkies

Is your wife a barista or a bartender?

Despite the (intended) effects of a substance some folks just can't get beyond the old "it's only a 'drug' if it happens to be illegal"....

Excellent post @Shovel.

 

[Joe917]

In the places I camp it would take 20 years until enough people had come around to make it look like a plowed field...

The area you see in the second pic gets less than 3 inches of rain per year. I wasn't too worried about being near the "watercourse" that hasn't filled up since the end of the last ice age.

Fair enough. It is not a good solution for popular spots.

 

[charlieaarons]

What about burning TP in situ? 1 ply TP breaks down quickly in the presence of water, but in a dry environment lasts a very long time. Much longer than the feces themselves. 2 ply lasts longer still but is equally burnable.
Taking appropriate fire precautions of course.
BTW my home experiment was on black water tank effluent, not standard turds. The latter are easily studied on my daily walk since not all dog walkers are conscientious. Dog turds don’t bother me much as long as they are at the side of the road (although one can imagine about the spring thaw melting snowbanks, which will be here in a very few weeks); but it really P’s me off to see dog turds enclosed in a plastic bag by the side of the road.
Does everyone know that during the 30 Years War (1618-48) people dug up outhouses in Germany and sun dried the poop after spreading it out on the ground? The white powder on the surface (everyone has seen that on dried dog poop in dry places like SoCal etc) is very high in nitrates which they used to make gunpowder.

 

[AbleGuy]

When I first saw this thread, I thought it was going to be about politicians! ?

, hardcore hobbyist outdoor athlete carry a wag bag, shovel or even TP?

Butt, that’s actually a not a bad idea for developing and selling a compact, all included, easy to take with you lightweight combo poo kit for sale to (intelligent, caring) outdoors enthusiasts. GoFundMe?

 

[Shovel]

Is your wife a barista or a bartender?

She mostly fills the same peoples' 30 day designer meth and opiate prescriptions every 8 days from four different doctors because the patient lost their refill again, again. Addiction and abuse are far too complex to talk about with any sort of resolution here in a thread about poo - I only brought it up because another member implied poor people are probably junkies and that is somehow germane to whether or not they are going to make poop. I guess it could be argued that opiate abusers are on a different schedule..

Hey back on the topic of travel & expeditions and dropping off the kids (not necessarily) at the pool.. I was watching Alaska Extreme the other day on Curiositystream and noticed a face I recognized from somewhere else..

 

[axlesandantennas]

Here in the East, it's very easy to dig a 6-8 inch cat hole and do you business. I'm not in the habit of hauling out my paperwork, so I make sure I use 1/2 ply paper (you can see thought it!) and make sure everything is buried and tamped down. I don't get too excited when I see doo-doo laying around as long and it's pretty far away from others. The toilet paper can be kind of an issue, but I don't see it too often.

Now the other trash is what kills me. Was at our normal campsite not too long ago and the amount of canned sausage cans laying around was disturbing.

 

[Todd780]

the amount of canned sausage cans laying around was disturbing.

Disturbing because they didn't pick up their garbage or because they were eating canned sausage?

 

[CCH]

Public land usage is way up, and warm weather hasn't even hit. I worry that the traditional dig a hole method is not enough any more for those that are willing to do it -- many don't seem to be. I think we need to move towards what river rafters are required to do and pack it out. I've used a PETT for years, and recommend it. On our trails used more by local day hikers, dog crap is the issue. Even when the government provides bags and a disposal can, many people can't be bothered, or worse, bag it up and leave it. It is just a general lack of respect for others and the environment. We are truly loving nature to death.

Issues with the homeless in urban areas are an entirely different matter I think, but also something that should be addressed. However, public restrooms create their own issues of misuse. The one in our "downtown" plays the most obnoxious children's music possible to keep people from using it as an overnight shelter or simply hanging out too long. However, ear plugs are cheap.

 

[Regcabguy]

yes, wow, so true. Literally a year ago BC closed washrooms..... everywhere. I literally picked up a plate with what I thought was a bad buritto a mile from home and no, it was a plate of ********, dumped on the centerline of the highway. 100% we do stupid ********, literally and we pay. But in the normal scheme of things, ignoring the craziness of the pandemic, How many retards with full facilities are dumping the bush. How many full on motorhomes dump the holding tank in a stream or ditch.

In Canada I have never in 65 years NEEDED to dump in the bush. Including 15 years of mountaineering above treeline. There are always oprions unless to are too freaking lazy or ........ if the government does silly things like close washrooms in a pandemic.

But I'm not looking for reasons to fail. The question is how do you manage HUMAN FECES. Even the closure of public washrooms last year was no excuse for campers since we also said avoid unneccesary travel. A huge hit to commercial trucking but zero effect or overlanding.... since it was banned.

Yes, we could provide more facilities but in the spirit of expedition travel is that not kinda self defeating ????? Like are we not aiming to be independent? So how in the spirit of being disconnected, do you manage HUMAN FECES for a week or more?

15 years of hiking above treeline and no dump? Did you fast before you went?

 

[Verkstad]

I just bring along my dog.
Provided reasonably fresh, She cleans up any nearby poop.

 

[Regcabguy]

Here in the East, it's very easy to dig a 6-8 inch cat hole and do you business. I'm not in the habit of hauling out my paperwork, so I make sure I use 1/2 ply paper (you can see thought it!) and make sure everything is buried and tamped down. I don't get too excited when I see doo-doo laying around as long and it's pretty far away from others. The toilet paper can be kind of an issue, but I don't see it too often.

Now the other trash is what kills me. Was at our normal campsite not too long ago and the amount of canned sausage cans laying around was disturbing.

1/2 ply is the Brown Finger brand isn't it?

 

[axlesandantennas]

1/2 ply is the Brown Finger brand isn't it?

Grossssss, lol