München.
When out and about in nature, the nearest toilet is often further away than you would like. So what to do if the intestine reports?
Suddenly it presses. And the next hut or rest stop is far away. After all, the bladder can often be easily emptied behind the next tree or rock. But big business is often harder to handle.
But it doesn’t help: With a little knowledge and preparation, it can also be done in nature – without harming it.
If you are planning longer hiking tours, you should take the need to go into the calculations. Toilet paper definitely belongs in the backpack. Handkerchiefs are not ideal because they are particularly tear-resistant and only slowly decompose in nature.
“If necessary, toilet paper can also be buried together with the legacies,” says Ulrich Berkmann from the German Alpine Club. But it is ideal if you take the toilet paper with you in a small plastic bag. This also applies to the excrement.
“Bag for the cackling”
It’s best not to leave any traces, Berkmann clarifies. “It’s best to always have the “sack for the cricket”, as the saying goes, in your rucksack,” says the expert from the Alpine Club. Disposable travel toilets are a higher quality (but also more expensive) alternative to bags.
There are also commercially available reusable, portable dry toilets that you can flip open and sit on. From a comfort point of view, this is a good thing, because the long crouching in the big shop sometimes makes the leg muscles burn.
On the way, however, there should always be opportunities to empty and clean the collection tank. Otherwise it will become fuller and fuller and the stink will increase.
A folding spade in the backpack
If you are likely to be out in the wilderness for a longer period of time and away from any toilets, a small folding spade or a handy shovel should be in your backpack in addition to toilet paper. It was already clear: if you can’t take your legacies with you, you should at least bury them. Not just to spare others the sight of the unsavory pile.
The main thing is that the faeces can contain pathogens that can damage nature. Berkmann warns that you should therefore avoid being near bodies of water in particular, because fungi, viruses, bacteria and other pathogens spread particularly far from there. “By the way, this also applies to animal faeces, which is why we strongly advise against drinking unfiltered water from mountain streams, for example, if there is a pasture above it.”
Tips around the hole for defecating
The following applies to the self-dug emergency hole: You are on the safe side with a minimum distance of 50 meters from streams, rivers or lakes. In addition, if possible, places should be chosen that are above the waterline – otherwise the faeces could get into water through flooding, write Ulrike Katrin Peters and Karsten-Thilo Raab in the book “How to shit in the woods”.
In addition to all sorts of historical and curiosities, the handy book also contains tons of tips about defecation and urination outside the protected framework of the toilet at home – a real reading recommendation for anyone who wants to delve deeper into the topic.
With regard to the dug or scratched hole, the book says: It is sufficient if it is about 15 to 20 centimeters deep, which corresponds to about the length of a (men’s) hand.
It is precisely in these layers of earth that bacteria are found that allow excrement to decompose most quickly. “The pace (…) can be accelerated even further by mixing the remains with parts of the excavation.” A stick lying around is a suitable tool for this, which should also be buried. The dug up hole is covered with stones and branches.
Two more tips from the Alpine Club: Dig much deeper in the snow, otherwise the whole thing will come to light again the next time the sun shines. And: If it is not possible to make a hole, you should cover the “relics” with large stones.
From bark to “hand washing plant”
There is one more practical question that some people may have suddenly been confronted with on a Sunday walk: How do you get your butt clean if you don’t have toilet paper or handkerchiefs with you?
Leaves from trees and shrubs can serve as an alternative. Best if they’ve already fallen off. For environmental reasons, they should only be demolished in emergencies, Peters and Raab appeal in their book. According to the authors, smooth bark that has fallen from the tree can also be used as a wiping aid.
If you don’t want to use natural materials, the two recommend the “hand washing system”. To do this, you drip a little water from a water bottle onto your hand and use it as a kind of washcloth.
You gently wipe your bottom with her while you crouch. “The buttocks should hang so low that no water runs down the leg,” the authors describe. Then rinse your hand thoroughly with more water from the bottle and wash it particularly thoroughly with soap at the next opportunity.
“Until then, the used hand shouldn’t touch anything.” Or you just make sure that you somehow make it to the next toilet.
Legal situation regarding outdoor defecation
In theory, simply doing your business in nature can be expensive. In Germany, the same regulations apply to defecation in the forest as to wild peeing in the city, explains the German Lawyers’ Association (DAV) on request.
As a rule, it is an administrative offence, which in certain cases – namely when an “excitement of a public nuisance” is reported and one is sentenced accordingly – can also be subject to higher penalties.
But, according to the DAV: “In the great outdoors, of course, where there is no plaintiff, there is no judge.”
(dpa)
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