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For more information on choosing the right tent, consult Be Prepared® Hiking & Backpacking, DK Publishing Inc.
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Proper Waste Disposal
"Does a bear poop in the woods?" asks the Boy Scout Fieldbook. "Yes, it does," the manual answers, "and so do we."
If There's a Facility, Use It
Does your campground have restrooms with running water? Great. Where there is no plumbing, there might be an outhouse -- a small shelter with a seat featuring one or two holes over a deep pit.
Don't put anything into a latrine other than human waste and toilet paper. Trash needlessly fills latrines much too quickly. Food scraps and dishwater can attract animals, and that can be unhealthy for them.
No Facilities? Bury It
When you're on the trail or in a camp with no outhouse or latrine, find a secluded spot at least 200 feet from streams, lakes, and other water sources and use a trowel or the heel of your shoe to dig a cat hole about six inches into the soil -- the organic layer with microorganisms that can break down waste.
Refill the hole with soil after you're done, and replace pine needles, twigs, or other ground cover.
Can't Bury It? Pack It Out
If the agency managing the area you're visiting says you need to carry out everything you bring in, look on it as an engineering challenge, a fine adventure, and a Good Turn for the environment.
Boaters running wild rivers often carry rocket boxes -- ammunition boxes lined with plastic bags for containing human waste. After putting a toilet seat atop the box for comfortable use, the box can be sealed and taken by raft to the next night's campsite. The filled plastic bags must be properly discarded at the end of the trip.
Mountain rock and snow can make waste disposal complicated, especially on crowded routes. Climbers reaching some high camps on Mt. Rainier in the Washington Cascades find outhouses with seats opening over big plastic barrels. When the barrels are full, National Park Service helicopters lift them off the mountain.
No helicopter? You can use a Pack-It-Out Kit that includes a sheet of paper with a target drawn on it. After depositing waste on the paper, carefully stow it in a small paper bag containing a handful of cat litter.
The bag can then be placed in a length of lightweight plastic pipe that, with a lid at each end, will be easy to pack out of the backcountry. (Check the BSA Fieldbook for full instructions.)
What About Toilet Paper?
Ask local land-managers how to dispose of paper when there is no latrine.
Some will instruct you to bury it well enough so that animals won't dig it up. Others will suggest putting it into a self-sealing plastic bag and packing it to the trailhead. That can be especially important on winter campouts when the ground is frozen and covered with snow.
Three Rules for Staying Healthy
The Fieldbook gives three rules for staying healthy, especially after relieving yourself outdoors:
1. Wash Your Hands.
2. Wash Your Hands.
3. Wash Your Hands.
Soap and water will do the trick. So can waterless hand sanitizers.
For more information on proper waste disposal, consult Chapter 9, "Hygiene and Waste Disposal," of the BSA Fieldbook, Fourth Edition.
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