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Camping 101: How do you poop properly in the woods?
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Girls, camping is for you also, just get a setup like this one!
It’s something some of us “wipe” from our thoughts, it’s something some of us are em ”barr-assed” to even talk about, it’s something rather “stinky” that we all must “do-do” and it certainly falls into the “crappiest” moments of our Kansas camping trips. Now enough with the fun, let’s talk about the “business end” of human waste.
Now for starters, Pooh is a very natural fertilizer that has been laid on the face of this planet for some 400 hundred million years now. This is not new to our earth, but neither is disease and here in lies the problem. You see when we pop a squat at the lake or the river and we do it to close to the water, we are in fact polluting the very water we are playing in. Many people drink and bathe from these municipal water sources. If you only choose to camp at the state parks or with your RV then no worries for you, that plumbing is what you’re paying for.
For those of us who have a hankering for camping without nosey or noisy neighbors, we must learn the proper way to care for our Pooh. It all starts with understanding the decomposition of Pooh. Things like moisture and organic content of the soil effect how long it will remain and if the possibility of contamination exists.
In sandy areas the Pooh can sit under ground for years because the organisms that break down or compost the Pooh are lacking. Healthy, dark soil with sufficient moisture is the best for a cat-hole. In some cases you are not allowed to dig a cat-hole due to rocky terrain or canyons where there is no way to keep Pooh out of the water. In these circumstances you must pack it out.
A cat-hole is simply a 6-8 inch hole dug about 1 foot deep. These holes or toilets must be at least 200 feet from a water source to ensure there will be no contamination, that equals about 100 adult steps. When the cat-hole has been dug in the area of choice, simply do your business then cover with dirt to keep flies away, being sure that all T.P. is in the hole.
These holes can be dug even deeper and reused for as many days as it will hold. These longer lasting versions are called pit toilets. It is recommended however that the long term pit have lime sprinkled among-st the pooh to hasten the decomposition of such a large load. Lime can be picked up cheap at most any garden store.
Folding toilets have turned the wild into a comfortable place for the ladies to number one and two. It takes the squat out of the squatter and makes a more pleasurable trip for Dad. Simply dig your cat hole, clear out any poky branches and unfold the toilet for a comfortable outdoor perch.
Many people argue about the toilet paper situation. This is not a situation at all if you properly bury it. The problem comes when folks let it blow in the Kansas wind and it ends up in your neighbor’s site or in the lake. It decomposes just fine with the underground pooh and if you want it to decay faster, buy some of the camping toilet paper which decays about twice as fast as normal.
The main piece of information you should walk away with here is the 100 adult steps from a water source. When it rains heavily the soil can leach the harmful bacteria into the water, where on your return trip, you will be swimming in pooh tainted waters.
There are of course other more expensive and not so handy methods to this issue, some of which include, porta toilets, and folding toilets with bags. These methods are perfectly good though you will need to haul the pooh around with you. You decide.
This is Kansas, our home, and since we love to explore her beauty and we must pooh, then we must follow protocol. So that our children can bring their children camping, to these beautiful Kansas places that hold special memories, and pass them on.
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