Do you Trowel?

[AeroGuyDC]

Odd question for you guys/gals:

When no privy is available, and the you've "got one touching your underwear," do you pull out a trowel and dig a hole, do your business, and cover it up? Or do you just find a remote area to do the deed and carry on about your hike?

The reason I ask, is because in the thread about "trail annoyances" several poster's mentioned stumbling on piles of crap and toilet paper. Quite frankly, this surprised me as I thought it was common courtesy to dig a hole and then cover it all up.

What's your take?[/

[DrRichardCranium]

Can't you use a stick or something to dig with?

[slugger]

Dig a cat hole. It's the nice thing to do.

[Tinker]

Heel of boot, point of trekking pole, stick, etc. The possibilities are endless - and EXCITING! (ok, maybe not exciting).

[AeroGuyDC]

Can't you use a stick or something to dig with?

Ok, ok. I see that some people take me literally. LOL

The point is not the digging device, the point is the hole, or lack thereof.

[Ranc0r]

Which question are you asking, do I bury waste, or do I use a trowel to bury it with?

I'm a "heel of the boot" kind of cathole digger myself, and I pack out more TP than I bury, as a rule. Sort of depends on the situation as to how prepared I am when I find the right spot.

I bought one of those bright orange trowels, we have a state park nearby where the resident ranger is adamant about what hikers have done to the privys in the park, and no one who registers for overnight gets away without the trowel question, followed by a lecture on outdoor courtesy and LNT ethics. I've never used my trowel, but I make sure he can see it sticking up out of a pocket on my pack - then I toss it back in the car on my way out of the office. It's the battles you choose to fight, I guess.

HYOH, bury your own poop.

Ranc0r
.

[AeroGuyDC]

Dig a cat hole. It's the nice thing to do.

I certainly agree that it's the right thing to do. That's why I was surprised to see several posters' speak of stumbling upon piles of crap and toilet paper in the "trail annoyances" thread. Of all things, this is one thing that I would have thought most people were courteous of?

[Red Beard]

Dig a cathole. I like using my trowel. Weighs less than two ounces, and is much faster than having to find a stick, or the heel of my boot. That's just me though. HYOH

[Spirit Walker]

We use a special lightweight thick aluminum tent stake to dig a hole if the ground is hard or rocky. (I broke two trowels before we found the stakes.) It can be difficult to dig deep enough with just a shoe and I try to dig the requisite 4-6 inches. On the PCT much of the soil was sand - easy to dig. In the Sierras we had our ice axes - even better.

I have frequently run into places where people didn't bury. Sometimes it's women who pee and use toilet paper, leaving it behind (as WF used to say, 'paper flowers'.) I figure that's just ignorance. Sometimes there's a pile of crap in the middle of the trail or a campsite - I figure that's not ignorance, it's malicious. In the Smokies, back when they closed all the outhouses, there was a lot of nasty stuff out behind the shelters because people wouldn't even bother trying to dig when the ground was frozen. There were dirty diapers, used sanitary napkins, etc. Really gross. They closed the outhouses because they filled up too fast with people leaving garbage behind. But without the pits garbage was left anyway, as well as the normal fill for an outhouse.

[max patch]

And some people actually smear it on a rock (don't let them near your gorp bag!) which is something I don't want to see or sit on.

[AeroGuyDC]

Which question are you asking, do I bury waste, or do I use a trowel to bury it with?

I'm a "heel of the boot" kind of cathole digger myself, and I pack out more TP than I bury, as a rule. Sort of depends on the situation as to how prepared I am when I find the right spot.

I bought one of those bright orange trowels, we have a state park nearby where the resident ranger is adamant about what hikers have done to the privys in the park, and no one who registers for overnight gets away without the trowel question, followed by a lecture on outdoor courtesy and LNT ethics. I've never used my trowel, but I make sure he can see it sticking up out of a pocket on my pack - then I toss it back in the car on my way out of the office. It's the battles you choose to fight, I guess.

HYOH, bury your own poop.

Ranc0r
.

Yep, I definitely do bury!

I was just surprised to see several people mention the piles of crap and toilet paper they stumbled across. I'm a newbie to the AT and i'm sure i'll see just about anything there is to see out there, but piles of crap are on the bottom of my list. Glad to hear that at least some people bury their own poop!

[Spokes]

Nope, I'm a heel guy too. Those orange trowels look silly dangling on the outside of a pack anyway.

BTW, did you know the study of soil is called pedology?

[Jester2000]

I certainly agree that it's the right thing to do. That's why I was surprised to see several posters' speak of stumbling upon piles of crap and toilet paper in the "trail annoyances" thread. Of all things, this is one thing that I would have thought most people were courteous of?

I carry a trowel, because for me I find it impossible to actually dig a proper cathole with my heel, and digging with a stick takes me too long. On the PCT I used the Adze end of my Ice Axe when I was carrying it.

When I hiked in the desert in Arizona, I did this:

And some people actually smear it on a rock (don't let them near your gorp bag!) which is something I don't want to see or sit on.

. . . which is often referred to as "frosting a rock," and which is supposed to be done far from any established trail where you wouldn't see it or sit in it.

Most often when I've found unburied feces or toilet paper it's been in the Smokies (high volume with a higher % of folks ignorant of what they should be doing) or near road crossings (this I saw a few times on the PCT).

[pattydivins]

I enjoy showing off the large size of my poops, so I generally drop duces in the middle of the trail. I do not even bother to pull my pants up when people are coming, I just invite them to watch.

[flemdawg1]

I have frequently run into places where people didn't bury. Sometimes it's women who pee and use toilet paper, leaving it behind (as WF used to say, 'paper flowers'.) I figure that's just ignorance. Sometimes there's a pile of crap in the middle of the trail or a campsite - I figure that's not ignorance, it's malicious.

A couple of times before I was more thoughtful about LNT or had heard it was the proper thing to do, I'd dropped the deuce on the trail (not the AT). Now I absolutly dig a cathole (I normally use a stick or my trekking pole).

One of the big problems in the Smokies is that the more popular trails like Laurel Falls and Trillium Gap trl is just tons of people and long streches of steep sidehill trail. Without any instructions all these tourist will answer nature's call however they can.

[NashvilleBiscuit]

dig a hole. only a prick would leave it above ground for somebody to possibly step in. I would even consider it rude to have to look at.

[Tuckahoe]

Odd question for you guys/gals:

When no privy is available, and the you've "got one touching your underwear," do you pull out a trowel and dig a hole, do your business, and cover it up? Or do you just find a remote area to do the deed and carry on about your hike?

Ummm well... dont wait until you've "got one touching your underwear." that way you can properly and leisurely dig a hole.

[beakerman]

Well I do it backwards...only because I'm a poor aim. I typically deposit, wipe, burn, dig, slide it in then bury. I know when I do it that way I also put in a small amount of forest duff to aid in compositng.

[waywardfool]

I use one of these: (1 oz.)

http://www.rei.com/product/358111

Just needed to take a file and ease the edges a bit so it wouldn't be rough on the hands.

Lighter and at two bucks, even cheaper than the orange trowel. Way cheaper and lighter than the fancy yuppie trowels that REI has.

[bigcranky]

Buy an aluminum snow stake. It's very light, digs a fine cathole, and does double duty as a backup tent stake.

And slugger is right -- dig a hole. Please.