[pct-l] about potty trowels,

[abiegen at cox.net]

Steeleye wrote:

> Good morning, all, 
> 
> I don?t use a potty-trowel; I use ready-made holes whenever I can.  I find 
> one of the zillions of gopher mounds, push aside the very loose dirt, and 
> take advantage the hole beneath.  If that inconveniences a gopher ? tough. 
> He 
> can just excavate dirt elsewhere. 
> 
> I?ve never been bitten when using such a hole, but I expect there's a 
> WANTED 
> poster featuring my bare butt hanging in every gopher post office in the 
> mountain west. 

Just make sure those holes are gopher holes and not ground squirrel holes. We have a lot of ground squirrels in California and squirrels have a hankering for nuts. ;-}

On a more serious note, my understanding of the latest theory on cat holes was that they should be shallow or else the waste will not break down. At least that is what I have been told in southern California. So that brings us back to the trekking pole or sharp rock being superior to the trowel with no other use. If some are seeing waste on top of the ground that has more to do with too many people on the JMT thruway or heavily traveled portions of the PCT and people not going far enough off the trail than with a failed methodology.

TrailHacker
--
"When my feet hurt, I can't think straight"
Abraham Lincoln