[pct-l] Toilet paper

[Junaid Dawud]

Hey all,

Some of you may be familiar with my position on TP on the trail. For  
those who aren't....

Many hikers debate the bury/ burn/ carry out question when it comes to  
TP in the backcountry. If one is going to use TP on trail, I think  
carrying it out is the best option and simply burying it is bad news  
(I've seen plenty of TP that once was buried fluttering in the wind  
after some critter dug it up).

However, I submit to you that the mere act of using TP on the trail is  
unhygenic. In the 'settled world' (or at least the western settled  
world), people use TP to scrape off the big chunks and basically smear  
the rest around. TP does not, as we might like to think, actually  
clean us off (to prove this to yourself, go smear sticky mud all over  
your hands and see how clean you can get them with TP). Most people  
only really become clean again when they take a shower. Since most  
'settled' folks shower daily, it's not a *big* deal. On the trail  
however, you may go a week or more with out a proper shower. In this  
case, a person would literally be walking around for days on end with  
a dirty butt. Gross. The option I used in 2006, and will use again  
this year is to use that wonderful cleaner we call water rather than  
TP. Water, as it turns out, actually cleans you.

I carry a small dish soap style bottle that I fill only when potty  
time is approaching.  After doing my business, I squirt the water and  
use my hand (oh God, did he say his HAND ?!?!) to wash off my butt.  
Usually there is plenty of water left after washing my butt to also  
wash my hands. Then 2 cycles of purell, and I'm good to go.

In 2006 I converted a few people to this system, and I'm hoping this  
year I'll win over even more people. In 2006 at the Saufley's, I  
explained this system to Scott williamson. He told me that he would  
give it a try, since he felt that each year he kept seeing more and  
more improperly disposed of TP on the trail. I don't know if he ended  
up trying / liking the system.

That's it, that's all.

Junaid (whose butt will be clean)