Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Proper Trail Poo Etiquette

This may seem to be an odd topic, but I think it needs addressing. Where are the safe places to go poo on the switch-backs?

I'm new to the Mt. Whitney hiking community and could have used some good advice before my last hike.

I've attempted to summit twice only to turn around at Trail Camp the first time and Trail Crest the second. I must admit the first attempt was just a hike to Trail Camp. I didn't expect to summit on that one. But, the second hike I was sure I could summit but ran late in starting. So, I was happy to make it to Trail Crest.

Half way up the switch-backs I had an unstoppable urge to, well, poo. The problem was, I was in a location that everyone below me and above me could see my position. I had to ask the guys above me to stop anyone from coming down and the guys below me to stop for a few minutes.

Has anyone else had this problem on the trail? Are the preferable poo stops in that area?

If you can plan ahead and your gut cooperates, there are some places before you get to Trail Camp, behind rocks above the trail, that offer good privacy.

On the switchers I think you have to fall back on "plausible deniability." Go a little way off the trail and pretend no one else can see you and everyone else pretends they don't see you.

Been there, done that.

ditto,
just do it. MOST everyone who takes a peek, and sees you doing your business will look away and be more than happy to ignore the whole situation. we are all adults, for the most part.

As I recall, there are several switchbacks below the cables where you can easily go off of the trail (on the east side) and have nobody above you. Then just above the cables, there is a stretch of repeated switchbacks (short segments between each switchback) where it is hard to go off trail. Once you get through that zig-zag stretch the segments finally get longer and you have several more opportunities to go off trail. None of the locations are ideal, but at least you have a little privacy if you are not in normal view of the trail. Wayne Pyle's map of the switchbacks can help you spot the areas I mentioned.

As far as places to Poo.....there is a large area of rocks between switchback 91 and switchback 96. But you are nearly done with the switchbacks by that point. It's on the SE side of the trail. My buddy used that area and said a lot of hikers must know it because he saw at least 20 wag bags there!

As far as etiquette, Pack Out your Wag Bags. Something has to be done about the jack&%$^#'s that leave their wag bags behind. On my visit to Whitney in September, the trail was pristene, with only a couple of small GU tops and no wag bags. In October, with far fewer people on the trail, there were the huge amount of wag bags off the trail at the switchbacks as well as two wag bags on the trail. Also, much more trash.

Hey, get a clue.....the Rangers are NOT your servents or your mothers. Respect them and don't leave any trash or "crap" behind for them to clean. I'm really hoping that they come up with some type of identification numbers on the wag bags to FINE people who don't respect the mountain.

One more thing. I'm not sure some hikers have figured ot gravity as of yet. When you Pee on the uphill slope of the trail, it runs back onto the trail, leaving puddles that have to be avoided. Try peeing downhill and you'll notice the pee doesn't run back onto the trail.

I bet those people pee on their own foot. Sometimes, there's no curing stupid.

If you gotta go, you gotta go.

However, if you think that there is going to be noise involved, please cough. I almost choked on a cliff bar when someone was doing there business and let out a sonic boom....

On a serious note, if you find that someone IS looking at you, wave at them, they will look away.

I was 16 on Mt Washington, Bad move eat a bag of dried fruit = need to go with no place to hide. Just wave to people as they go by. Un forgetable experiance.

I'm surprised no one else is bothered by this. I have been asked to stop for "a few minutes" to find myself still waiting 10 or more minutes for things to work out (sorry, couldn't resist), or after one person is done another decides to start the elimination process themselves.

I don't mind waiting a minute or two, but when helping a less-experienced friend struggle up hill in agony, sometimes racing a storm to camp, having to wait for someone else who couldn't take the effort to go the required 100 feet off trail doesn't seem fair. I will look the other way, but don't make me stop.

"THE FOLLOWING ACTS ARE PROHIBITED IN WILDERNESS
Depositing bodily waste within 100 feet of lakes, streams, campsites, or trails "

Oh, BTW, a poncho makes a great privacy shelter for doing the squat thing in open areas. But it still should be 100 feet off trail.

Using a poncho is a good idea, but, any "gasses" emited would only have one direction to go, straight up.
Also, I looked for an area to get off the trail, but it seemed to dangerous to leave the trail up on the switchbacks.

And what about people with a "shy" bladder? (Like almost every female I know.) I think I handled it quite well for my first mid-trail poo break. I asked someone going up the trail to ask anyone comming down to wait, and I asked a couple of people on the switchbacks below me to stop for a minute. Before stopping, I waited as long as humanly possible so the actual pooing only took seconds.

Afterward I appologized to the folks I held up, but for some reason they wouldn't shake my hand.

If you are depositing your waste in a wagbag to pack it out, then you are not depositing it within 100 feet of lakes, streams, campsites, or trails, since the wagbag will be packed out. In that case, the 100-feet-off-the-trail requirement is moot, since that requirement only has in mind actual waste deposited in (hopefully!) a dug hole in the ground.

Even so, in many parts of the 97 switchbacks section in question, it would be impossible to go 100 feet off the trail without running into the next switchback, and in a few places on the 97 SW, the off-trail section would probably be too steep to safely execute such a maneuver.

CaT

thats why I always go up in the dark, of course it always makes the group shine their flashlites at once