High Sierra Topix

Icing has nothing to do with anything that melts. It's the practice of smearing the ... product on a rock like cake icing, since in the alpine granite slabs that go for miles, you cannot dig a hole, and leaving a thin layer exposed to the elements to eventually dry up, flake off, and disintegrate.

Some people pack Wet Wipes instead of toilet paper and are entirely justified in doing so - obviously should be packed out. Since I pack TP out, in the event that I suffer some sort of dire consequence of a meal, I have been known to use a wet wipe and felt better for it.

A squirt bottle makes a fine bidet.

Well there you have it! 2 methods that I was unaware of. The use of Wet wipes are self explanatory. When it comes to "Icing" what is the preferred method of spreading it on the granite slabs? A knife? Or perhaps a spork could serve double duty (no pun intended) and be used to wipe your ass and then spread it on the rocks? The aspect of fingers just ain't making it.
Sorry if it appears that I am making fun of this thread but I am. When it came to the post of mentioning the use of sticks and how many squares and how many is actually used, and do you use them as is I couldn't resist. These questions are coming from a guy 26 yrs. old who claims to have spent most of his life alone, is planning on embarking on a 95 day cross country backpack, doesn't care if a SAR group is needed to find him and then needs to ask how do I wipe my ass?????????

Bill Morell wrote:Well there you have it! 2 methods that I was unaware of. The use of Wet wipes are self explanatory. When it comes to "Icing" what is the preferred method of spreading it on the granite slabs? A knife? Or perhaps a spork could serve double duty (no pun intended) and be used to wipe your ass and then spread it on the rocks? The aspect of fingers just ain't making it.
Sorry if it appears that I am making fun of this thread but I am. When it came to the post of mentioning the use of sticks and how many squares and how many is actually used, and do you use them as is I couldn't resist. These questions are coming from a guy 26 yrs. old who claims to have spent most of his life alone, is planning on embarking on a 95 day cross country backpack, doesn't care if a SAR group is needed to find him and then needs to ask how do I wipe my ass?????????

Bill. you need to re-read the basenote and other threads. GuyD posted this; not Rogue. GuyD isn't from this area. Rogue is just helping.

I think the degree to which one takes the subject seriously is proportional to the number of times one has run across "dumb toilet habits" on the trail.

Yesterday on the Upper Yosemite Falls trail I found a prime example of how NOT to use a rock to cover your donation to the wilderness - when the rock is smaller than the donation, it's bad. When it's in the middle of the $%^&ing trail, it's a lot worse.

rlown wrote:

Bill Morell wrote:Well there you have it! 2 methods that I was unaware of. The use of Wet wipes are self explanatory. When it comes to "Icing" what is the preferred method of spreading it on the granite slabs? A knife? Or perhaps a spork could serve double duty (no pun intended) and be used to wipe your ass and then spread it on the rocks? The aspect of fingers just ain't making it.
Sorry if it appears that I am making fun of this thread but I am. When it came to the post of mentioning the use of sticks and how many squares and how many is actually used, and do you use them as is I couldn't resist. These questions are coming from a guy 26 yrs. old who claims to have spent most of his life alone, is planning on embarking on a 95 day cross country backpack, doesn't care if a SAR group is needed to find him and then needs to ask how do I wipe my ass?????????

Bill. you need to re-read the basenote and other threads. GuyD posted this; not Rogue. GuyD isn't from this area. Rogue is just helping.

Russ, I don't need to re-read anything. I am well aware of who posted this and don't really care where he is from. If what Rogue posted is of help to you have at it. Maybe you guys can meet up somewhere this summer and wipe and compare.

Bill Morell wrote "I am well aware of who posted this and don't really care where
he is from."
That's not being very helpful there Bill, we're here to help folks out when we
can, and if we having nothing beneficial to add to the conversation, it's better to
not add anything of a negative tone.

I have never found it a problem to carry out TP. After the first day I have plenty of empty plastic zip bags from my food. I use sticks and rocks first and then do the final wipe with TP- saves TP. Snowballs are the best. As for the poo itself, the main thing is to get it out of sight and away from water sources. Burry it if it is near a campsite or trail. In a very remote area, I see nothing wrong with poo dropped in crevices in boulder fields or tossed in thick brush. A lot of the "white flags" you see on the trail are Kleenex, not TP. Makes a difference. Kleenex does not degrade easily. As for mosquitoes, best to get up pre-dawn- fewer mosquitoes before the sun hits and the air warms up. Early breakfast is also better without bugs in the oatmeal.

Maybe you could use a wagbag and go inside your tent when the winged demons are bad.

RoguePhotonic wrote:I was talking to an old guy at Lodegpole last year and he was saying how no one talks about it but he thought it was a perfectly reasonable subject to ask how people wipe their butt in the wilderness. He said he likes to take a stick to get the more messy bits first to save on TP. I think I agree with him on the subject so I have to ask, do you people actually use the squares on the TP as they are? You actually take them and use maybe 3 or 4 stacked? If that is the case then that is why I use so much more because I have never used TP in squares like that. I unroll probably 10 or more squares and wad it up into a ball and use that.

Dang, missed this. On river trips the discussion always comes up; crumplers vs folders. In all cases, it appears folders use significantly less TP (4-6 sheets) than crumplers.

I'm a folder myself, and yes, I use sticks, stones, snow (NOT living plants!) for the initial wipe. These materials should be buried along with the poop in heavily used areas.

JD

One of my father's friends once went into the woods and wiped with leaves -- except the leaves were poisoned something, and he got a terrible infection that ran up his GI linning and that almost killed him. (This was in the 40s, so who knows how much of a problem this would be for medicine today.)