CRAWDADDY'S BACKCOUNTRY BATHROOM POLICY

The Research
For our investigation of the guidelines on waste disposal, first, we looked at the National Park System and U.S. Forest Service instructions for remote locations with no restrooms. Eliminating with no facilities can be filled with unpleasant surprises. Naturally, we’re all well-equipped and well-trained to do our business in a bathroom: but there is a learning curve when doing it in the great outdoors, for example making sure shoe laces and clothing are well out of the way. The guidelines specify the most important rule is to be very far from water because human waste can contain pharmaceuticals and germs that can cause waterborne parasites to fester and make animals sick. Nature is ours, but it’s not ours to spoil.

These guidelines state that the most common technique for backcountry human waste disposal is to pick a spot to squat two hundred feet away from the high water mark of a body of water and dig a small cathole in the ground with a garden trowel. Then take a wide stance to help you stay balanced and do your business in the hole; stir it with a stick to aid in decomposition and then fill it with dirt. Do not touch the waste with the trowel. Never leave used toilet paper in your cathole. When finished, place the used toilet paper and all other hygiene products into a plastic baggie, then pack it out and throw it into the trash. If using leaves as an alternative to toilet paper, know how to identify poison ivy and other plants, thus ensuring no allergic reaction. These indispensable guidelines help to guarantee a cleaner, unspoiled experience for fellow adventurers; furthermore, it is better for the land.

The Verdict
Regretfully, this method will not help us on the river. On the Tippecanoe, all land adjacent to the river is privately owned, so crossing onto the land would be trespassing. And most of the ground is also too hard or rocky to dig. Above all, the open river is an Indiana public area with little to no privacy, and relieving oneself outdoors is considered public nudity and is a Class C misdemeanor. Rivers, parks, and hiking trails are public areas in Indiana. So next, we looked at the rules in the public and endangered sections of the National Park System. In public areas, the disposal of human body waste is permitted at designated locations or bathrooms only. The endangered and sensitive ecosystems require people to pack out all excreta in a personal portable waste bag system. This rule stops people from leaving human waste all over the place, which becomes a biohazard whose damage can take decades to heal. So on the river, we must follow the “pack it in, pack it out.” rule. The ethical choice is to carry the load and leave no trace.

The Tippecanoe River has an extremely fragile plant community and several populations of nearly extinct wildlife. The number of imperiled species supported by this rivershed is so vast, and the diversity of species is so broad as to outnumber most of the streams in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. The Nature Conservancy considers the Tippecanoe River one of the top ten rivers in the United States that we must preserve because of its ecological diversity and the substantial number of threatened species living in and along it. Waste removal is a life and death issue for the river, the multitudes of species whose survival depends on it, and the communities tied to it. No matter how you struggle with the Pack It In, Pack It Out Rule, please remember, it's about respecting oneself and the world around us. Crawdaddy's Tube Rental hopes to relieve some of the strain put on you by this issue, and we hope, in turn, to ease the burden this issue puts on the river. In our attempt to take a nature-positive stance, we issue portable waste bags to every customer, and to remove some of the onus of the call of nature, we offer a pop-up portable toilet option if you don't bring your own.