My brother says it literally smells like #### along the beginning of the AT in Georgia during the busy hiking season due to so many hikers and so many of them not knowing how to #### in the woods. He also says a lot of trash and toilet paper is seen and that volunteers have a hard time keeping up with it. Is this true? <!— ab8mq@yahoo.com —>
a8bmq
…this year all shelters in GA will have new composting privies, even on top of Blood Mtn.
Ray
Last august, on the 4 mile section I maintain in MA I found, just off the trail, soiled underwear on top of a pile of tp and $%$^$. It was literally less than .1 mil from privy. Hey if you have serious runs from drinking unfiltered water for a 1000 miles, at least bury your mess.
Chef
Yes it is one of the worst problems on the trail. I remember
10 years ago in the Smokies running into the Toilet areas and the white flags left after the winter snows melted and being disgusted. Education of hikers on LTN and composting toilets,carrying a trowel to dig a cat hole will hopefully make this a thing of the past as carry in carry out made the trash piles a thing of the past.
FLETCH
I think it’s a great way to live. Even though some people might think your a pile of sh%t.
tha wookie
As bad as it is today its greatly improved from prior years. In 1975 my brother did a thru hike and he took a picture of a temporary “privy” in PA I believe. It was just a log you hung your behind over and a pit dug behind it. The log was so close to the camp site that some joker left a bag with eye holes to put over your head.
Big B
Hey,it sounds like the AT has become so populated that waste has become problematic(though there are only really solutions)Its real simple,the USFS could charge a human waste disposal fee and hire Waste Management-maybe those Sicilians would see how much hikers love pizza and have a mobile pizza delivery system along the entire distance-the most profitable kind of recycling system. Another option is to use biodegradable Tp(if using any at all,there are alot of leaves in abundance,just watch out for the sticks) and bury your deposit. With some luck you may have a diet rich in digestable grains and your deposit gets composted,edible Morel mushrooms spawn and next year you have a tasty treat to enjoy. The area behind some shelters on the AT have good mushroom flushes in April and I am sure that hiker’s played a role in helping fortify the substrate. Just don’t pick and eat any mushroom,particularly uncooked,before obtaining the verification of Species. Keep it clean,Mike
miike
Why on Earth did it take so long for these shelters in Georgia to get privies? Did the GATC think that by not having privies they were enhancing the wilderness experience?
Jeez, the Maine Appalachian Trail Club has has privies since time out of mind. And they have four walls and a ceiling, meaning they’re better against the elements than the lean-tos! Piazza Rock and the other at Antlers Campsite are practically works of art.
Kineo Kid
We’ve had privies in our shelters in GA for a long time. it’s the composters that are new. Do they have those in the fancy huts?
Tha Wookie
I saw a picture of a Georgia privy once upon a time. I don’t know where it was.
It was a BOX! And the stories of feilds of toilet paper are legend! What privies? Are we talking about the same Georgia here?
Kineo Kid
I think there are some privies on the trail that are composting, but not sure where. If there was only one, I’d put my money on Piazza Rock’s famous ‘Your Move’ privy.
And maybe the privy at Horns Pond. I looked in the MATC guidebook and the website but couldn’t find anything.
Kineo Kid
The new privy has just been completed on Blood Mpountain. It is just south of the shelter.
mike cordes
The subject matter of these forums have really gone downstream.Maybe some of these issues would be better addressed by having 40-50 Ridgerunners educating hikers along the way. Trail clubs as well as the ATC has the resources for both voluntary as well as paid Ridgerunners. But please don’t infer that either is Human waste. It is a waste of space having so many toliet hugging overachievers to be along the trail. Next decade will produce stoves operating on energy produced through biomass degradation-another innovation of technology. Just don’t smoke your substance of choice near shelter biomass cooking facilities. Its much more enjoyable to hike rather than trot up the trail :lol Mike
mike
A couple of winters ago, I was doing a loop in the Smokies off the Snake Den Ridge trail and as I came into camp that evening, Mother Nature called. I spied a tree just off the trail a couple of feet, and took a dump right there. Complete with a several inch TP flower garden.
Was I ashamed later? NO. In fact, I laughed unroarously to myself thinking of the next hiker (probably a day hiker, and maybe with kids) who would pass by and see my artwork at the base of that tree, RIGHT BY the trail. :lol I just wished I could have been a fly on the tree to see their reaction. In fact to this day, when I think of my mischevious deed I laugh to myself.
It’s the absolute truth. No sh*t. :evil
Proud
Kineo, The “Your Move” Privy is not a composting privy. Can I have some of your money now? Just kidding. The privies at Horns Pond are composters and so is the one at Pierce Pond. There may be others in Maine.
Whenever I saw a box privy (Chums) in the south I figured it was passable because of the milder climate. But there are Chums in NJ and on the Long Trail too so maybe its economics. When you’ve got to go what more do you need than a hole and a seat. Even the seat is luxury.
T. Wookie, Do you mean the fancy AMC huts? They have Clivus Multrum composters. Except Lakes.
Celt
I am not an environmentalist, but it is amazing to me even now how these issues have become of a greater importance to me, since i would now consider myself a hiker.
Moldering, or composting privies seem to be taking their hold along thew AT…you will find areas where that seems to be the privy of choice. tho it sounds like a messy business for the folks who actually rotate our crap to be sure it composts.
Gooch Gap has a relatively new composting privy since before 03, used it 2 years running…pun. And GA relief practices were really not disturbing to me. They did have a ridge runner on march 1st last year who tried to talk to everyone about leave no trace, so most of the simple suggestions are already in effect. What i discovered last year is, alot of the stuff that “we” might think is from a dump is actually where folks blew their nose and saw no worries in dropping it by trail, since it would decompose realatively quickly.
i wrote last year in my journal that “leave No Trace” had failed, that education of ideals just didn’t seem to fly.
I’d say today that i was premature. lots of candy wrappers were here and there, and snot rags, but all in all, most of this was more of a eye nusiance and not a deliberate act to polute. Concious and concerned hikers, who were and are out there, for the most part, accidentally dropped a small pc of wrapper while grabbing another bite of snack from their pocket. Granted, I was disturbed enough at times to write about it, but it was in no way a true reflection of the quality of folks who hike.
There were a few who left their trash goods in the fire pit every day, and this disturbed me more, they prefered not to burn their trash, so the next hiker could start a fire easily. I thought this nieve and infantile, and possibly more of a blown trash hazzard around shelters, as well as a mice proliferator. tho i would bet, above average numbers do exceed the leave no trace standards. i met several thruhikers who seemed to pick up every dropped pc of trash along trail. My hat is off to them.
burn
Okay, Celt, here is my invisible wad of money :tongue
My reasoning was that both lean-tos are in high traffic areas - maybe the two highest - and that they see a lot of . . uh . . . they see a lot of it.
So I suppose that privies at such locales as Cloud Pond are not composting as they probably see only a fraction of what others see.
Kineo Kid
I know its wrong. And I would not want to encourage such behavior(although I am). But Prouds confession had me rolling. A nice touch of imagery.
Buckwheat