If you need to poop on a hike and there are no nearby facilities, it’s best to be prepared. You’ll want to carry some toilet paper and leave-no-trace trowel with you so you can dig a six-inch hole in the ground, called a cathole, to bury your waste so it can decompose naturally. In some areas, however, this is not permitted, and you need to carry out your waste and used toilet paper, usually in a plastic bag or commercially available “wag bag,” which prevents any leakage of the contents inside your backpack.
In deciding where to go, it’s best to step off a hiking trail and find a hidden spot that affords you some privacy and that others on the same mission will not stumble upon.
In addition, you want to find a spot 200 feet away from a water source and not on a hill, where rain runoff can leach the contents of your cathole into the water source.
However, you don’t want to go too far and lose track of how to get back to the trail since you can become disoriented and lose your way. When hiking with others, you can tell them you need a bio break and ask them to remain in easy hailing distance so you can find the trail again. Everybody has to go sooner or later, and while it may be embarrassing, you’ll quickly become less self-conscious about it.
When wiping yourself, you want to get clean and dry to avoid the painful chafing that may otherwise develop. Many hikers carry lotion or diaper rash cream to spread to prevent later irritation.
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