[pct-l] Toilet paper

[Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes dot com]

For a good presentation on how to do it, see Andrew Skurka's  
Backcountry Poo-Poo Clinic on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwmwxkD86Ec

Diane


On Mar 25, 2010, at 12:18 PM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:
>
> 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)

Books I've written:
~ Piper's Flight
~ Adventure and Magic
~ Santa Barbara Hikes