Over on Examiner.com Jay Werth shares his tips for pooping outdoors - a must read for anyone planning on a “primitive” camping trip this summer. To be honest I’ve camped in very few places that didn’t at least have a vault-style toilet with the exception of backpacking along the Appalachian Trail. Even then, many shelters along the trail have privys for hikers’ convenience.

Anyway, the #1 tip offered by Mr. Werth seems to be to poop as far away from streams and lakes as possible. Werth also mentions a good tip for setting up a simple folding toilet seat and talks about strategies for burying waste.

In some highly trafficked and desert areas like the Grand Canyon, hikers and campers are required to pack toilet paper out with them to protect the environment. A friend told me a story about hiking in the Grand Canyon with an inexperienced backpacker who misunderstood and carried her toilet paper and waste out with her. Needless to say her backpack was a little smelly on the way up

For some the question of pooping outdoors may be keeping them from giving camping a try but it’s really not rocket science. Just keep the basics in mind and the rest will come naturally!

Check out our tips for saving space in your bag when packing toilet paper.

Related posts:

1. Outdoors in New Mexico
2. Be safe outdoors this Memorial Day weekend
3. Toilet paper space saver
4. Hiking Popularity Increases in China
5. Camping is lost tradition?

Tags: appalachian trail, grand canyon

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 16th, 2009 at 10:04 am and is filed under backpacking, camping. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.