Day 35: how to poop in the woods

Miles: 13.8
Water: 4 liters
Times lost:2

Long day today, topknot and company tried to lure me into making a shelter 18 miles away. Early in the day I was optimistic about it. But around lunch I was back in the realm of reality. I didn't  Take any pain meds today, so my feet were hurting after lunch.

I ended up stopping at a state park with a lake. So ending the day with a swim is pretty awesome. I met top knot and company just after they took a swim and stole a row boat. This is the big difference between me on the trail for a month, and them for 3 months. I was only about an hour behind them, and I took breaks. So the difference isn't speed. It's the fact that after 8 hours of hiking, then swimming, and rowing, that they are good to hop on the trail at 530 at night and do another 4 or 5. Me I'm going to stop here set up camp in a picnic area and plead ignorance when a park guy wakes me up in the morning. There is a real camping area in the park a half mile away, but I'm too beat to walk there.

Saw this cute tree frog today, he was about an inch and a half to two inches long. We need the Tammy frog id service.

So pooping in the woods.

You honestly don't have to do it too often. Most of the time you can wait until a privy or public restroom is available. I'll talk about privies in another post. I have had to go in the woods once so far.  And I have had to bury uneaten food twice. Which is the same method.

Your three main tools for pooping in the woods. A trowel, toilet paper, and hand sanitizer. When Jamie and I were hiking together we shared the trowel, now I inherited it. Ultralight hikers say you don't need the trowel and that you can use rocks to dig holes. They are filthy liars.

I carry my tp in a Ziploc, when I first started I was using the crazy ultra light advice, of carrying just ten panels, using only two at a time, and stealing tp from places four sheets at a time. I gave up on this pretty quick, and found a mostly used roll with about a quarter left on it and stole that. It isn't too bulky and it gives a much greater margin of error than rationing two sheets per privy.

The first step is to find a good spot to go. This means somewhere well off the trail and no where near a water supply. You also want a tree or rock nearby to steady yourself with. I picked a rock. Then you dig a hole six to eight inches deep. This is where I say those ultra light guys are lying. Digging a hole in the woods is hard! Once you get through the leafy layer it's all a tangle of roots and rocks. Every inch of the forest floor is claimed by a root. So you have to saw through them. My trowel has a serrated edge just for this. That's a lot of hack and slash to get down six inches. Doing it with a random rock seems out of the question.

Then you squat and poop in the hole. Aim carefully. Wipe, and throw the tp in the hole two. Human waste and toilet paper are the two exceptions to pack in pack out. However! Wet naps are not included in that exception. So if you want to use them you have to bag them up, and probably burn them at camp later. I have a few wet naps in a baggy if I have a catastrophic hygiene failure. This hasn't happened yet.

Bury the waste. Being careful not to get any on your shovel.

Head back to your pack that you left on . The trail, put away trowel, and use that hand sanitizer. I've read that more people get sick while hiking from poor bathroom discipline than from drinking bad water.

Poop!