Usually, the general procedure for when you need to do a number two out in the wilderness is to:
1) Hike completely out of your way to find a spot where nobody can see you
2) Dig a 6 inch hole in hard, rocky ground with your flimsy plastic trowel
3) Do your business
4) Cover it back up
5) Pack out your used toilet paper
I hear ya. It's not the most pleasant activity in the world. In fact, it's my least favorite part about backpacking – dealing with this crap.
So I was pleasantly surprised to learn that there was going to be a pit toilet within walking distance of our campsite last weekend. A pit toilet is basically an outhouse… a big pit in the ground topped by a commode. You know what outhouses are. They usually have 4 walls and a door… only this one didn't. Instead what it had were remnants of walls, scattered all around the general vicinity of the toilet, which was now sitting out there in nature in all its naked glory. It was quite a site.
It had quite a view too. With the walls now gone, toilet visitors can now do their business while looking out over an alpine lake overshadowed by a 12,000 foot peak. Not only did I watch a family of deer graze by the shore at sunset as I sat on my throne, one even passed within 20 yards of me like it was the most natural thing in the world.
For reals.
No shittin'.
