Do you Trowel?

[chiefduffy]

Being a hammocker, I often walk back into the woods near a shelter, to find a place to hang. Behind any large tree, you will see evidence of people that don't dig, for whatever reason. Disgusting!! Please dig a hole, regardless of choice of tool!!!!
- Duffy

[Grampie]

The only place that I saw a problem with waste was at some of the camp sites and shelters down south, Tenn.& Georga, where there were no priveys.
Too many hikers and not enough room to spread the waste out.
I soon discovered that it was better to do my business up the trail away from a camp area. Go off the trail, dig a hole with your boot or a stick, deposit and cover it up.

[Old Hiker]

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.

I gotta ask - "burn"??

[beakerman]

I gotta ask - "burn"??

i burn the tp. 30 years of doing it this way and no problems yet---even during burn bans. This leaves as little paper behind as possible so if an animal does dig it up there is no paper flower.

[leaftye]

I've been thinking about burning too, for exactly the same reason.

[Smoky in TN]

Been there, spread that.
I camped at 13,000 ft. in the Rockies at a place called the boulder field.
The rangers instructed us to do our "business" on a rock and smear it on, nice and thin.

[sbhikes]

I don't use the trowel. I had one break on me and cut my hand. I use my heel or a stick or rock. Rocks work best.

Once I really really had to go and there was no soil anywhere. Just tangles of plants. I swear I could not find the ground. I tried to wait until I found a place with some ground but after miles of this I couldn't wait anymore. So I balanced in the air on a log and left it in the bushes.

Once I was mad at the State of Washington and decided it deserved to be s*at upon.

Otherwise, I bury because nobody needs to see it. I hope I leave enough of a little sign (my stick or a well-placed rock) so that someone else doesn't happen to try to use my same spot.

I don't use TP. I use plants and water.

I think it's really rude when women leave TP after they pee. They don't need TP to pee. Use a little water instead.

[Jester2000]

I mean I know they don't weigh much and they come in sorta handy, but at the end of the day, the orange shovel just looks goofy, period, kinda like those turquoise-blue high-top gaiters.

I see a guy with a trowel and I smile, especially if it's past Virginia.

Fortunately for me, on my thru-hike Jack was ahead of me from Atkins on.

I can't find the reference right now, but 6 months back I read a pretty convincing article that said the best thing to do was to leave the "log" on the surface exposed to sunlight, that the bacteria and feces broke down much faster. His argument was that it was more sanitary. Now obviously where you are is important. He said to go 100 feet from the trail and away from any water source. If I was anywhere near a campsite/trail I would bury, but... I can see "let it shine" argument too.

Maybe. I suspect that this may have been an article about what is best in certain places, such as the desert. Otherwise I suspect that the author was full of what he was writing about.

If you use a trowel or a stake, you usually have to clean off at least some dirt (or other "matter") from the stake/trowel before putting it back in your pack. . .

"Other 'matter'"?!? If you've got "other matter" on your trowel, I think you're using it incorrectly.

[Mags]

Been there, spread that.
I camped at 13,000 ft. in the Rockies at a place called the boulder field.
The rangers instructed us to do our "business" on a rock and smear it on, nice and thin.

Must have been a while ago. There has been two privies (one at treeline, one at the Boulder Field) for at least 10+ yrs now.

Smearing and burning TP is becoming old hat. In fragile areas (desert and alpine mainly), the officials are advocating blue-bagging for at least the tp (Canyonlands for example. Still kosher to bury the poo) or even to carry everything out (Whitney). Many places strongly urge you to NOT burn the TP. (Just ask any SoCal-based ranger! :O)

In a biologically diverse area like most of the AT...dig a whole ,drop a load, cover up.

[Erin]

Our group all carries the orange shovels and cat holes. The worst was when we had to cat hole extra beans we could not give away on our secton on the AT.

[Doooglas]

If you eat a little corn with every meal the rodents will get rid of it before sun up.

[owlbebak]

Could this be a new solution to sanitation in the backcountry? It looks interesting.

http://www.peepoople.com/

[Mrs Baggins]

Digging a cat hole may be the "right thing" to do but with the diet and exercise stresses of hiking some times there is just NO time to dig a hole. There's barely time to get the pants undone and squat!! I try to dash as far off the trail as I can before there's a terrible "accident" - - I love Snickers Charged bars and they seem to encourage very fast frantic trips off the trail.

[Jester2000]

Our group all carries the orange shovels and cat holes. The worst was when we had to cat hole extra beans we could not give away on our secton on the AT.

Why on earth did they have to be cat holed?

[Mountain Wildman]

It's a little heavy but makes digging a cat hole so much easier!!! :-)

[leaftye]

On my last trip I cat holed into a burrow. I left some subterranean creature with a big ol nutty treat.

[Jonnycat]

Digging a cat hole may be the "right thing" to do but with the diet and exercise stresses of hiking some times there is just NO time to dig a hole. There's barely time to get the pants undone and squat!! I try to dash as far off the trail as I can before there's a terrible "accident"..

There is absolutely *NO* excuse for not properly burying your solid waste. None.

If you have to go that bad, at least have the decency to dig a hole and bury it after the fact.

In a perfect world, people who leave their **** out in the open would be forced to eat it.

As to the topic, I carry an aluminum tent snow stake (this one: http://www.rei.com/product/358111) on the outside of my pack to use as my digger.

[IceAge]

On a trip in the Flat Tops of Colorado we found the scapula of an elk near our base camp and used that as our cat hole digger, made me feel all caveman-like.

Normally I just kick a hole with my shoe, but that trip was memorable.

[Jonnycat]

Normally I just kick a hole with my shoe, but that trip was memorable.

That's pretty impressive if you can dig a four to six inch hole with your shoe, day in and day out, in all types of ground.

You must have really pointy shoes and only hike in country with really soft ground.

[johnnybgood]

There is absolutely *NO* excuse for not properly burying your solid waste. None.

If you have to go that bad, at least have the decency to dig a hole and bury it after the fact.

In a perfect world, people who leave their **** out in the open would be forced to eat it.

As to the topic, I carry an aluminum tent snow stake (this one: http://www.rei.com/product/358111) on the outside of my pack to use as my digger.

Thats a great idea . How did the weight compare with the hikers' trowel ?

I usually start looking for a "digging tool ' , i.e. a pointed rock , a hard wood before I go.