[pct-l] LNT Stuff

[Luce Cruz]

These are good questions about LNT. I'll give my *opinion*.

On Tue, Mar 1, 2016 at 5:48 AM, Mike Belanger <mikes4b22 at hotmail.com> wrote:

>
> How does one go #2 in the snow/ice?


Simply put, pack it out. All of it. Probably not what you want to hear.

Should I bring a folding shovel or a hand trowel?


That makes it easier to dig a "cat hole".  There are many options,
including very lightweight trowels made from sheet metal rolled into shape.

How do you wash/swim (without soap) in streams and lakes?


I have to make an assumption here about the point of your question. If you
mean literally take a bath in a stream or lake, you don't. You carry water
as far from the stream or lake as is reasonable and/or possible and bathe.


> Wet wipes first then take the plunge or just wait for hiker midnight and
> take a moonlight dip in the buff?


Wet wipes have a chemical on them that is very good at killing bacteria. I
have no idea how persistent this chemical is once exposed to air, water,
sunlight, etc. Maybe someone else knows this?

Lakes and streams use bacteria to help clean the water. Please keep this in
mind when using wet wipes immediately before going for a swim in a natural
body of water. Maybe rinse off the wet wipe chem away from the lake or
stream before diving in, regardless of time if day?

If I see an edible bug or wild plant, can I eat it? Seriously.


How strictly do you want to apply LNT principles to your hike? Seriously.
You have to answer this for yourself.

Of course, in a life or death emergency, all bets and LNT principles are
off. Eat that bug, munch that plant.

But when not in an emergency situation, Leave No Trace pretty much means to
me "leave no harm to the place I'm in that won't quickly repair itself and
do not add to harm that others have already made". In some places, this
means walking further away from everyone to dig a cat hole, camping quite a
bit away from the trail, skipping attractive things I want to do like
jumping into a lake to cool off without bathing first, etc.

Yeah, I can be an odd person sometimes.

-- 
Luce Cruz