When you gotta go, you gotta go. With any luck, there's a restroom nearby for you to hastily relieve yourself, but that is not always the case.
If you're on a hike, camping at a state or national park, or somewhere else in the middle of the wilderness, there might not be a toilet close enough for you to use. So, what do you do?
To ensure the safety of other visitors and the environment and to keep outdoor spaces open for future visitors to enjoy, you'll definitely want to make sure you're following proper wilderness bathroom etiquette.
Luckily, outdoors person and TikToker Halie (@trailsandtrout) has created a helpful video detailing what not to do and how to responsibly dispose of human waste in the wilderness.
@trailsandtrout ✨POOP RESPONSIBLY✨ Did you know public areas are increasingly closing to camping because of this issue? I've unfortunately seen SOOO much human 💩 improperly disposed of in nature - on the river, at campsites, on trail, in sensitive areas, etc. It's terrible for the ecosystem and water quality, and it's a biohazard to other recreators. 🤢☣️ I highly encourage folks to join team wagbag. If you do decide to bury your 💩 remeber these LNT principles: 1. Bury it 6 inches deep. 2. Don't leave it within 250 feet of water. 3. Pack out your TP. 4. Don't bury it in sensitive ecosystems. Pack it out in places like alpine meadows, desert areas with cryptobiotic soils, any areas with shallow/rocky soils where you cant dig 6 inches deep, or in narrow river corridors/canyons where you can't get 250 feet from the water. 5. Read regulations because some areas are starting to require 💩 to be packed out. Many rivers popular for raft-camping even require it to be stored in an approved container. ☣️ 6. Know where there will be pit toilets so you can use them instead. #outdoors #camping #nature #hiketok #nationalpark #lnt ♬ Money Trees - Kendrick Lamar
In the video, Halie lists three main rules you should always follow, especially when it comes to going number two.
First, Halie says to never use the bathroom near a water source, such as any lake, river, or creek. The rule of thumb is to find a place to go that is at least 250 feet away from the closest water source.
The second rule (which may seem obvious but isn't to everyone) is to pick up and pack out any and all toilet paper litter.
And lastly, Halie says that if you do need to go number two, you must be sure to properly bury your business at least six inches underground, and never in a delicate or sensitive ecosystem.
If these rules aren't followed, local ecosystems can be damaged by the high concentrations of nitrogen found in human waste. In fact, nitrogen is considered the worst pollutant in the world, affecting the world's oceans because of the harmful algae blooms it can cause, according to the Ocean River Institute.
While nitrogen appears in environments naturally, excess nitrogen leads to disproportionate nutrient levels in water, which is what causes toxic algae blooms, Mongabay explains.
Excessive nutrients can also lead to eutrophication (dense growth of plant life), eventually depleting all of the oxygen in the water and creating what's known as a dead zone (little to no oxygen in the water). As a consequence, animals living in these areas will eventually die off from lack of oxygen.
Improperly cleaning up human waste is also a biohazard to other recreators.
"Public areas are increasingly closing to camping because of this issue," wrote Halie in the description of the TikTok.
In Oregon's Three Sisters Wilderness, a popular alpine lake was closed to camping one summer after so much human waste built up in the area that it "was starting to smell like a sewer," according to one local official, per the Statesman Journal.
In California, the popular San Carpoforo Creek Beach campground was just closed by officials for at least the next two years, according to Travel and Leisure, because of "too much human poop" and excessive litter left by careless campers in recent years, per the Denver Gazette.
To protect delicate environmental areas and keep them open for years to come, it's important to "poop responsibly," as TikToker Halie puts it.
Users on TikTok applauded Halie for her public service announcement.
"Thank you," wrote one user. "So sick of finding nasty s*** around [campsites]. Trails have closed here in Colorado because of it."
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