Do you pack out your feces?

[minnesotasmith]

Um, I can't read 14 pages of this poop thread, but for my 2 cents, out of six months on the trail, I only had to poop in the "wild" maybe three times. So three poops buried over 1,600 miles ain't so bad, nothin' to worry about. Rest of the time, ever heard of holding it until you get to a privy or toilet???

Is that along the AT (to say nothing of more primitive trails like the PCT/CDT) there are a number of stretches of double-digit mile lengths with no privies. If someone actually spends most of their nights in the woods (not slackpacking), then there is often no "holding it until you get to a privy or toilet". Likewise, those hikers who eat a healthy amount of fiber (lots of fruit, some vegetables most days, whole-grained starches instead of near-worthless refined white flour ones) can expect defecation to be more frequent and arguably with less warning than hikers on poorer diets.

[sofaking]

i am so glad this thread is back.
a nobo and a sobo meet on a yellow blaze into a town. 'i sure hope we get a ride soon, i gotta use the restroom" said the nobo.
'dude, just go under that bridge, no cars will see you' said sobo
'but i don't have any butt paper' said nobo
'then use a dollar dude, i'll wait up ahead for you'

ten minutes later the nobo comes walking up the shoulder of the road, covered in sh1t. everywhere, on his hands, all over his shorts, a little smudge on his ear. 'what the...dude, you got sh1t all over yourself. didn't you wipe with a dollar like i told you to?'
'yeah, i used three quarters, two dimes and a nickel!"

[minnesotasmith]

i am so glad this thread is back.
a nobo and a sobo meet on a yellow blaze into a town. 'i sure hope we get a ride soon, i gotta use the restroom" said the nobo.
'dude, just go under that bridge, no cars will see you' said sobo
'but i don't have any butt paper' said nobo
'then use a dollar dude, i'll wait up ahead for you'

ten minutes later the nobo comes walking up the shoulder of the road, covered in sh1t. everywhere, on his hands, all over his shorts, a little smudge on his ear. 'what the...dude, you got sh1t all over yourself. didn't you wipe with a dollar like i told you to?'
'yeah, i used three quarters, two dimes and a nickel!"

On average, presuming first time thruhiking for each, when a NOBO and a SOBO meet on the Trail, the NOBO normally has substantially more AT hiking experience than the SOBO. It would make rather more sense to switch those two people in your joke around...

[Odd Thomas]

Well, what doodoo do you doo?

I bury it or cover it.

Why the heck would anyone pack out URINE?

[sofaking]

On average, presuming first time thruhiking for each, when a NOBO and a SOBO meet on the Trail, the NOBO normally has substantially more AT hiking experience than the SOBO. It would make rather more sense to switch those two people in your joke around...

on average, when a person hears a joke and is not an over- opinionated and analytical weenie, they either get the joke and laugh or keep their yap shut...

[minnesotasmith]

on average, when a person hears a joke and is not an over- opinionated and analytical weenie, they either get the joke and laugh or keep their yap shut...

Sometimes the person telling the joke doesn't get the joke. I suspect that may have happened here...

[Surplusman]

That someone would actually propose carrying out your "wastes" is something out of cloud cuckoo-land. The propeller-heads who come up with this stupid nonsense should be shot with s*** and put in jail for stinking. A deep cathole is good enough.

[weary]

Yes, I pack out not only my beloved feces but my urine, too. At the start of a typical 10 day backpacking trip my pack will weigh about 65 pounds, at the end with it loaded down with feces and urine, it actually will weight around 90 pounds. Someone might ask, "Why in god's name would you haul around your own wastes?", but if they have to ask the question then I feel sorry for them. They just haven't got the memo yet on the skills needed for real backpacking. There're newbs.

It all has to be treated somewhere A shallow cat hole dug many yards from a campsite or stream provides better treatment than a modern sewage treatment plant. Such plants simply concentrate and partially disinfect the wastes and dumps all the watery mix of nutrients, harmful chemical constituents, and some of the bacteria into the nearest river -- and buries the left over solids in the ground -- or, in Maine, spreads them on farm fields.

Remember, there is no "away" anywhere, not even for the disposal of human wastes, where we can harmlessly throw things. Soil bacteria quickly render harmless human wastes scattered through a forest landscape, and are far preferable to any urban treatment system discharging into rivers and ocean waters.

Weary