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[pct-l] What I do with do

Talking about defecating seems to always be a hot topic with us hikers for
some reason. Maybe it is because we become much more in tune with the
body's functions. Anyway here are a couple of my ideas on the subject.

As I am hiking along and feeling the call of nature I scan for uprooted
trees, the further off the trail the better. These make perfect catholes as
the soil is loose and easy to dig behind the root ball.  (A sharp stick
makes as good a digger as any plastic trowel and you don't have to carry
it.) Usually you can knock a fair amount of soil off the root ball as well,
burying everything good and deep. I mark the spot by jamming the stick
unnaturally into the ground so that nobody accidentally uses the exact
spot. Another method I use is to roll over a log or rock then dig the
cathole and replace the object when done. That makes it harder for animals
to dig up and leaves the place looking natural.

Usually I would just dispense with the TP. Instead I used water. What I do
is arch my back backwards forming a natural channel. Then I use my canteen
to pour water on the small of my back with one hand and swish around the
area in question with the other. Although everybody I ever mentioned this
to thought this was pretty gross, it's no different from doing it in the
shower now is it? I don't care how well you wipe, your butt is going to get
real crusty after a few days. Now that to me is gross. After all this is
the preferred method of the entire Arab world. It is also what Europeans do
with those bidets that many Americans mistake for urinals.

Let me say that I think packing out used toilet paper in a plastic baggie
verges on fanaticism. After all that baggie is going to end up in some
landfill and be a lot, lot slower to biodegrade. It's all one planet.
Secondly, toilet paper is wood product and you are in the woods. All that
is required is a little effort and common sense to insure that nobody will
come across it for a year or two and it will be back in the system.

				Andyman

	Socrates: "I do therefore I am"
	Sartre: "I am therefore I do"
	Sinatra: "Do be do be do"


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