[pct-l] Carrying Used TP and Toxic Trail Food

[Sean Nordeen]

I stayed away for a month and I come back and the forum has turned to crap!  I can't believe believe that half the month was spent talking about poop.  I fear for January's discussions.  However, in the spirit of forum bonding, I'd like to throw my TP into the group campfire.

I put my used TP in a ziplock, squeeze the air out and seal it.  This is then rolled up and placed into a 2nd ziplock that also contains my clean TP and purrel.  By having everyting I need (well except for my shovel) in 1 package, this allows me to quickly find/grab it and run for the trees if needed.  All this is normally carried in the outside rear mesh pocket of my ULA pack.

A good ziplock is waterproof and even if you had the backcountry runs, your used tp isn't liquid.  So as long as it isn't torn, you are perfectly safe.  By having it in a 2nd ziplock lessens the already low liklihood of something puncturing it from the outside is decreased to almost nil.  As someone who goes on several backpacking trips a year, usually 4 to 9 days at a time, I have never had my TP ziplock damaged or punctured in any way (and this includes cross country travel).

I also don't have any problem with throwing it into the top of my bear can (and yes, it is the last thing I throw in along with my other tolietries).  All my food is protected in their own ziplocks and my garbage ziplock is between my food and TP ziplocks.  There is no way for my food to be contaminated or somehow tainted.  My bearcan doesn't even stink.

I don't know what some of you people eat, but to listen to some of the comments here, you'd think that your used TP is radioactive waste that needs a lead shield around it.  However, in my case, my used TP isn't going to somehow melt through the ziplocks and contaminate my food or anything else.  Perhaps some of you need to rethink your toxic trail diet.  :P

-Sean