Quasi, you answered the question as I intended the gist, and, I hadn’t thought of a guys dangly bits being vulnerable in the wild, so that added to the thread, thanks.
About “packing it all out”: in Jackmannii’s example of a big ol’ mess in the Himalayas, where there isn’t decomposition, yep, pack it out. But, in normal circumstances, your scat is nourishing the environment, so no need to if off the trail and covered. TP also disintegrates pretty quickly, so just cover with leaves, a couple of rains will take care of it. Again, poop is good fertilizer, so I think that taking it with you is overly, um, anal, and not in accord with natural process.
I’m really curious about Qadgop’s breathing technique, and why it works, and will try it to see what happens.
It’s not awful to bury your TP, but it’s absolutely not ideal. A park ranger once told me that they tell people it’s okay to bury TP in the backcountry - assuming your scathole is deep enough and well-covered - because otherwise a lot of people will burn it, and they really prefer as few open fires as possible.
As for poop being a good fertilizer…true, but A) it doesn’t naturally occur there and B) a lot of times people aren’t great about going far enough from the campsite/trail, or don’t dig deep enough holes, and…ew. Especially if you’re in a national or state park that gets pretty heavy traffic, that’s adding a lot of great fertilizer in a way that isn’t really natural. I mean, if you have to go you have to go, but it’s not like you’re keeping the trees alive with your crap.
Okay, stay with me on this one Qadgop and everyone: because no offense is meant!
Whenever I read a thread that has my “Q” - brother’s post within it, I always know that unlike me, he has considered the question carefully and proffers his answer intelligently.
I. on the other hand, tend to stumble through the “brush”, swing my sword at anything that might hurt “my kids” and I don’t always “think” as I should, and I am sorry about that.
I just look for the “hurt” and try to fix it, if I can.
I have to disagree here. With TP, OK, I guess you can figure people’s use. For me, it’s as little as possible, like 4 squares for a normal crap. That is easy to decompose in the wild. If people are using a yard per wipe, well, they just need to know to use less.
As to human poop not being something that “naturally occurs” there, and therefore needs to be carted off---- umm, no, really. I don’t think a local ecosystem distinguishes between local and non-local scat source; it gets broken down in the same manner, and serves to fertilize regardless.
Yep, with high traffic areas, you don’t want crap littered trails, but, off trail, human poop is just fine and “natural”.
An update to the Mount Everest story: the Sherpa who’s in second place for most climbs has just announced that later this year, he will undertake another climb of Everest. His team will attempt to break the record for most excrement hauled down off the mountain.