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Thread: G*d D**n PCTers

  1. #21

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    The OP is observing this disgustingness not only because the PCT numbers have exploded but IMO because many of the inexperienced and ignorant are now choosing the PCT as their first LD hike rather than the AT. In 2008 and 2009, the yrs of a PCT NOBO thru-hike and 2/3 PCT thru-hike I experienced very little of this on the PCT proper. Back on the AT it was regular occurrence.

  2. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by DLP View Post
    +1 to the water (with a tiny bit of soap). Also prevents chaffing, monkey butt and diaper rash.
    Are you saying that after a poop you use your bare hands and water ("with a tiny bit of soap") in lieu of toilet paper to clean yourself???

  3. #23

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    Quote Originally Posted by DLP View Post
    I also share OP disgust.

    My favorite backcountry poop clinic (Mike Clelland!) . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwmwxkD86Ec

    Mike Clelland! - liberate yourself from TP http://ultralightbackpackintips.blogspot.com/2012/09/liberate-yourself-from-toilet-paper.html

    Andrew Skurka poop instructions http://andrewskurka.com/tag/how-to-p...ountry-bidget/
    Good stuff DLP.

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    Quote Originally Posted by nsherry61 View Post
    I'm still at a loss as to why people think they need TP, or even "natural material" for that matter, when water works so well.....
    Quote Originally Posted by DLP View Post
    +1 to the water (with a tiny bit of soap). Also prevents chaffing, monkey butt and diaper rash.
    This is why you don't shake hands with hikers.
    If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything.

  5. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by Seatbelt View Post
    I thought they are supposed to pack out the turds on the PCT as well??
    Anza-Borrego State Park is also supposed to be "Pack it ALL out!" in addition to Whitney

    Quote Originally Posted by Dogwood View Post
    The OP is observing this disgustingness not only because the PCT numbers have exploded but IMO because many of the inexperienced and ignorant are now choosing the PCT as their first LD hike rather than the AT.
    My first backpacking trip was in Yosemite in 2010. Yosemite Rangers are darn near militant on packing out toilet paper when you pick up your permit. So on my first trip... I was initiated by Yosemite Rangers. I've actually seen very little TP in Yosemite, because the rangers do a great job on educating backpackers in this super high use area. I haven't been on the PCT/JMT in Yosemite... so I can't tell you what the TP is like there.

    The PCTA is also attempting to educate people on packing out TP.
    https://www.pcta.org/2017/thru-hiker...-trowel-49043/

    I met an AT thru hiker (the Brain) and he said that he only dug two cat-holes the whole AT hike. He said that he used outhouses the whole way. I thought that was amazing! We don't have a lot of outhouses, here in the West (with the exception of the very urban Pt Reyes or Ohlone Wilderness). I've also seen a couple of outhouses (minus the house!) in SEKI.

    Quote Originally Posted by John B View Post
    Are you saying that after a poop you use your bare hands and water ("with a tiny bit of soap") in lieu of toilet paper to clean yourself???
    Favorite natural wipes:
    Old Man's Beard (the plant, not human hair... ) rehydrated in water. Like a soft sponge.
    Corn Flower Leaves - I started feeling guilty pulling leaves, and don't use it any more.
    Thimbleberry leaves... but don't use anymore. Feel guilty.
    The right sized rock.
    Followed up by soap and water (and hand sanitizer, for good measure).

    Not a fan of snow, pinecones and sticks...

    I've changed a lot of diapers and also washed cloth diapers. People sometimes get poo on their hands.

    I'm out 30-ish nights a year. I have never gotten giardia or other poo borne illnesses. But I do thoroughly wash my hands.
    Last edited by DLP; 06-27-2017 at 13:51.

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    PS... It used to be acceptable to bury trash in the backcountry. It isn't now.

    Perhaps someday it will be as normal to carry out TP as it is to carry out other trash. With enough education, one can hope!

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    Quote Originally Posted by gwschenk View Post
    I wish they'd all go back to the AT so they can use the privies. Obviously, these people have no freaking concept on how to **** in the woods. The PCT is becoming one big sewer.
    oh, if you think that is bad, try mount Fugi

    just think of it this way:
    anymore that place is so crowded that no one goes there anymore

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    Quote Originally Posted by John B View Post
    Are you saying that after a poop you use your bare hands and water ("with a tiny bit of soap") in lieu of toilet paper to clean yourself???
    Yeah that's not happening. I seriously doubt water is sufficient. Poo's are like taxes. They require paperwork.

  9. #29

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    I haven't tried it yet myself but I've heard from female hikers that swear by small spray bottles of water as the main tool and then use minimal TP as follow up. I've tried to envision how this might work (should have asked) but I'm assuming they are spraying from the front which I can't see working for a man due to hanging obstructions. I guess if a man were balanced correctly they could move the obstructions long enough to blast the water. I don't know....

  10. #30

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    Quote Originally Posted by DLP View Post
    Anza-Borrego State Park is also supposed to be "Pack it ALL out!" in addition to Whitney

    My first backpacking trip was in Yosemite in 2010. Yosemite Rangers are darn near militant on packing out toilet paper when you pick up your permit. So on my first trip... I was initiated by Yosemite Rangers. I've actually seen very little TP in Yosemite, because the rangers do a great job on educating backpackers in this super high use area. I haven't been on the PCT/JMT in Yosemite... so I can't tell you what the TP is like there.

    The PCTA is also attempting to educate people on packing out TP.
    https://www.pcta.org/2017/thru-hiker...-trowel-49043/


    Favorite natural wipes:
    Old Man's Beard (the plant, not human hair... ) rehydrated in water. Like a soft sponge.
    Corn Flower Leaves - I started feeling guilty pulling leaves, and don't use it any more.
    Thimbleberry leaves... but don't use anymore. Feel guilty.
    The right sized rock.
    Followed up by soap and water (and hand sanitizer, for good measure).

    Not a fan of snow, pinecones and sticks...

    I've changed a lot of diapers and also washed cloth diapers. People sometimes get poo on their hands.

    I'm out 30-ish nights a year. I have never gotten giardia or other poo borne illnesses. But I do thoroughly wash my hands.

    Yes, the Y NP Rangers make determined efforts to educate visitors about appropriately discarding their excrement. Despite the valiant educational efforts it doesn't always work. People don't always do what they know they should be doing! AND, they don't really care! The trail from Little Yosemite Valley CG up to Half Dome, and to some extent at LYV CG(a HIGHLY used CG), despite their being a composting toilet there last time I went through, contained many piles of stacked rock, sticks and leaves with human excrement and TP squeezing out from underneath. Atop Half Dome I wouldn't advise to go "gem" hunting under suspiciously obvious displaced piles of rock. Right below the diving board area is a small ledge with many piles of displaced rock and crevices I would not explore. I've twice witnessed children urinating into the small spring near the base of HD despite both the children and their parents just seeing others gather drinking water from the same spring. Even at Glacier Pt where bathrooms exist has always been filthy despite Rangers janitorial efforts with dirt and excrement on the floors every time I've been there. This promps many a gal to take a more hygienic dump behind the bathrooms(porta potties last time I was there) easily distinguished by the use trails of curiously beaten down brush to TP flowers and piles of excrement. Four times up Half Dome with all four times a mother letting her child take a leak or taking a crap just outside the cables despite the crowds watching and despite Rangers stating the only bathroom between LYV and the top of HD was at LYV. I've seen several times children having their genitals and arses being washed off by their parents of urine and feces in the stream at LYV CG. And yet we think it is wildlife that causes all these hygiene issues? IMHO, this is yet another example of the consequences that arrive from some human culture and philosophy that considers humanity separate from and above Nature as if humans are not a part of Nature or so far evolved above Nature that we see Nature as our doormat.

  11. #31
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    Unfortunately exposed poo and TP is becoming more commonplace on any popular trail.
    enemy of unnecessary but innovative trail invention gadgetry

  12. #32

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    Quote Originally Posted by Malto View Post
    Unfortunately exposed poo and TP is becoming more commonplace on any popular trail.
    Indeed it is. It's just unbelievable... A couple weeks ago while on the Mountains To Sea Trail east of Black Balsam road where the trail hits a stunning lower spur of Black Balsam knob (before descending to Graveyard Fields junction) I was drawn out to the rocky knob with the intention of throwing down, having lunch and kicking back to admire the view for a while. While still in the swinging-off-the-pack motion I turned to see two large piles of human feces with big wads of tp layered atop of them. I mean, aside from the idea that a beautiful view makes you want to crap (?), how could you be such a jerk as to ruin the spot for others?

    And sadly, whoever did it was there long enough to make two piles, so it was probably a backpacker.

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