Still going without tp?

So lets review:

No alcohol based substances near mucus membranes.
The pee rag is NOT a myth!
TP may (or may not) be biodegradable, but it helps if its sunny and you pee in the hole
Baby wipes may (or may not) be biodegradable, but shall we assume it helps if its sunny and you pee in the hole?
Duane needs a LOT of toilet paper
Ian is very, very creative with poop
Paul would have a lot of trouble in Asia
Nate has issues
And Nick thinks all women love to wax or are actually forever 8 years old.

Very productive thread!!!!

The single best thing about this thread:

"I think the anxiety of walking around with dirty butts is what's driving the violence in this country."

Excellent summary!

Not to defend Nick, but I interpreted his comment as saying that most women don't have a furry ass whereas some of us guys do…

I ran out of TP on a remote 10 day hike and was forced to go au-naturel. I had read about it. I had thought about it. I hiked with a friend who had argued for it.

In my first "session" I nearly injured myself.

For the next three days I found myself endlessly and anxiously scouring the trail at my feet as I hiked. I would spy and pick up the best, smoothest most perfectly shaped rocks set for the delicate task.

I think I wound up carrying like 6 pounds of rocks. Very well-shaped comely rocks.

So now if ever asked, all I can say is:

Air-dried baby wipes; lighter than rocks.

I think it was the word "shouldn't" that really jumped out at me. Maybe not intended that way by him, but it sounded like more of a value judgement, sort of like saying that guys with hairy backs are abnormal (or that guys without hairy chests are not masculine). There's a wide spectrum out there for both sexes, folks – as David said, we're all mammals!

>" "shouldn't" really jumped out at me"

dk: it sounded like a ageist, anti-adult/fertility, pro-pedaphilia value judgement to me, too, but I lived in Northampton MA for a year. I'll make a value judgement, too:

No one of any gender should hike with stubble down there, IMO.

But I suppose the ultimate ULer of any gender would sport a crewcut for the weight savings. By cutting her waist-length hair to shoulder-length, pilot Jeana Yeager saved enough weight to give Voyager's 1986, non-stop, non-refueled flight around the world an additional 11 miles of range.

"
I think I wound up carrying like 6 pounds of rocks. Very well-shaped comely rocks.

So now if ever asked, all I can say is:

Air-dried baby wipes; lighter than rocks."

So now you carry 6lbs of rock to cut the weight of your TP?

I now understand why hikers don't shake hands!

So how is tearing moss off of trees to use for tp more ecologically correct than using paper? Paper is made from wood…gee, and I'm doing my business in the woods!

My guess is that we're instructed to carry out tp more because of bears digging up our poop and spreading tp around. Rangers then have to get rid of this. Definitely not their job. But if you do your business correctly and well away from any trails or camps, doesn't tp decompose pretty quickly? Or again, just burn it safely.

REI sells very compact rolls of tp with no center roll that take up very little space.

I'm afraid that going tp free is a bridge too far for me! In fact I'm going to wipe away my memory of this whole discussion!

Problem solved

Holy crap Batman, this is turning into a rather long thread. Well, it does remind that there are two main types of people in this world, those who are a'holes and those who think overmuch about a'holes.

On the t.p. debate, i do bring some, but recycled, non chlorine kind and tend to use very little since the squat position is, as previously mentioned, rather efficient. That and i tend to eat a VERY high fiber diet (cue putting cool looking shades on now).

I do both. I usually carry a small amount of TP, but I will usually use natural materials if they are available.
One thing I don't carry is soap. I use campfire ashes and water to sterilize my hands.

You build a campfire to take a dump?

You actually need an amazingly small amount of TP per "session".
TP is very light. Checking the wt of a small ziplock of it at home, before and after, I found I use 0.1 oz per "session"

On the trail I go about every 2-3 days.
The amount I need for an trip, is fairly inconsequential
Im all for doing the dirty work first with a stick or such too btw.

"You actually need an amazingly small amount of TP per "session"."

Correction — No one needs to use any TP at all. However, you can choose to use an "amazingly small amount" — or more.

"I go every 2-3 days."

Wow. That sounds uncomfortably unhealthy. I'm fairly certain you cannot qualify as a true ultra-lighter if you carry all that around for days on end.

On my thru hike there was an unannounced competetion to see who could make a "movement" the most number of times in a 24 hour period.

The winner claimed 6.

I could never master the art of the afternoon-poo. Too much sun to illuminate my business. I'm strictly a morning or evening kinda guy.

Hmmm. My drift threatens to devolve this thread. Sorry.

After reading all of these posts I started wondering what most of the "would not go without tp" group would have done if raised in rural America in the days before tp. I grew up without indoor plumbing of any kind and we had no problem using corn cobs for years. Mot much different than using other natural materials that are found in the woods. Rocks, sticks, leaves, moss, etc. work as well if not better than tp.

Nothing works better than your hands for cleaning and tp is just a way to do that so your fingers never have to be soiled directly. You can use tp dry or damp and the right kind is soft and kind on your sensitive area. Don't know what the fuss is over if it didn't work better than sticks and rocks we would have sticks and rock next to the toilet at home but I don't know anyone who does.

…

"… tp is just a way to do that so your fingers never have to be soiled directly."

You may think so, but …

…

"…rabbit-fur-on-a-stick …"

So the bear was right…

"You build a campfire to take a dump?"
Lol, no. In the morning I will take some ash from whatever small cook fire I made the night before or I will take ashes out of fire pits at camps. It's just one less thing I have to worry about bringing.

Best sign in a backcountry outhouse..

"If you can't hit a 12" hole. I'd hate to see your house."

I would ratheer go outside than use most of the backcountry loos I've seen.

@Debbie. Shaving the nethers helps mitigate a couple of problems that persistantly bother women.

Nate seems to have included some personal preference on his part.

Ken, is it Spirit Lake in the Marbles that has that wooden cover over the "pit"?
Duane