Tacoma News Tribune has a rundown of the usual “stop trashing the place, dammit” advice. The first of 11:
1. Stay on the trail when you hike – even if that means walking through mud puddles. Cutting from one part of the trail to another on a switchback causes erosion that can damage plants. Walking off trail to get around puddles also damages plants.
This is a fave of mine. The story also has a few info nuggets I hadn’t seen before, such as:
Left on the surface, human waste can take up to 18 weeks to fully decompose.
That should make you grateful your cat is so fastidious.
Regarding staying on the trail…
… walking through the muddy, soft sections of the trail can cause some really serious trail erosion.
I don’t think there is one simple “right” answer to the question of what to do when you encounter a muddy section of trail. I suppose that if the trail surface underneath is solid (say rock, gravel, or sand) and the water not too deep, it may be best to wade on through. On the other hand, if the trail is so wet that it has become a foot deep trough of mud it can be a better choice – for the trail as well as your boots – to step off the trail onto more solid terrain.
Dan
“Left on the surface, human waste can take up to 18 weeks to fully decompose.”
The rangers on Mount Whitney will be relieved to know this. They were seeing desiccated deposits several years old along some of the off-trail climbing routes.
So I think that 18-week figure might be specific to the Tacoma climate and soil conditions.
Areas w/the least amount of soil, like a Whitney off-trail route, would have the slowest decomposition, I’d expect.
Some very dedicated researchers revisited catholes and found the human waste very well-preserved after three years. This tidbit is from the short but excellent book “Leave No Trace: A Guide to the New Wilderness Etiquette”, page 58. Buy it here, or read that page on Google Books.
http://www.amazon.com/Leave-Trace-Wilderness-Etiquette-Backpacker/dp/0898869102
In some places, you need to pack it out. The standard setup is a three-inch PVC pipe with kitty litter.
That article seems to have a serious error in the final list where they suggest using a fire instead of a stove. LNT practice is the opposite:
“Campfires can cause lasting impacts to the backcountry. Use a lightweight stove for cooking and enjoy a candle lantern for light.”
http://www.lnt.org/programs/lnt7/
I noted the stove thing too, it did strike me as wrong.
There are camp stoves designed to use wood as a fuel that might split the difference in this regard, though.
Regarding catholes, I’ve taken scouts to the Cloud Peak Wilderness in Wyoming three years in a row. There is one spot where I’ve found my own ‘special place’ for a cathole and I’ve used the same place each trip.
Each time I go back, the groundcover is growing just fine and I can find no remnants of TP or waste from my last visit.
Staying on the trail is even more important during wet weather because the surrounding earth is more susceptible to impact from folks walking around puddles. See http://www.boyscouttrail.com/i/blog/mudtrails.jpg that I took in Wyoming of some braided trails.