Blog - ROADDUDE

ROOM WITH A VIEW

11.28.2019 by Road // Leave a Comment

More and more backcountry camping spots are discouraging or forbidding the digging of catholes. FTWDK, catholes are for squatting over. They should be at *least* six inches deep, seventy-five feet from any trail, and at least two-hundred feet away from any water or camp.

Social media has increased the visitation to backcountry and off-grid places at a rate seven times the increase in population. SEVEN TIMES, according to a study done in Seattle about Mt Rainier NP.

Contrary to what some overland sites preach, it is NOT the ‘increase in population, so get used to it, it’s inevitable’ type mentality we should believe.

Many folks that go to a specific spot they’ve seen online or read about on a forum giving exact coordinates are far from prepared. Even those who call themselves overlanders.

Over the last few years I’ve been to dozens of remote sites down single lane dirt roads, miles from any pavement. Some have a toilet building of some sort within walking distance or near the beginning of the road. Most don’t.

I’ve seen human waste and desert blossoms (used toilet paper stuck to the ground or cacti) in almost every spot. Often within a 15-20’ radius of camp where people cook and sit by a fire. Often WITHIN SIGHT of the composting toilet building set up to reduce this kind of humanshit. Multiple piles. Multiple blossoms.

If you’re going to some ‘for the gram’ type spot, whether camping overnight or day-hiking, be prepared. Prepared to pack out what you brought in. You should not have to leave anything behind.

The best and most compostable solution is to make your own composting bucket. You can get comfortable seats that snap right on.

The trick to eliminating odor and being able to use the bucket for a month or more before emptying is keeping solids and liquids separate. Use peat moss or coco fiber for solids. Use a jug for liquids. Empty liquid soap dispensers work well; just cut out the inner spout. Use ziplocks for used paper or use toilet paper meant for Marine, RV, or septic systems if putting it in the bucket. Pack it all back out. Dispose of it in proper fashion.

It’s not that difficult. It doesn’t stink. It’s not inconvenient.

Just do it. If you can’t or won’t do it, don’t go.

Here’s how to put together A Simple Composting Toilet.

@roaddude
@leavenotrace
@treadlightlyteam
@americanadventurist
@expeditionportal
@overlandbound
#roomwithaview #packitinpackitout #vanlife #nocatholes #desertblossoms #adventure #offgrid #solotravel #nomadlife #groover #imtiredofthisshit #beprepared

SHORE CAMPING & WASTE WATER

11.27.2019 by Road // Leave a Comment

View of camp from the lake — View of camp from a New Hampshire lake

Hard to tell with the zoom of the phone cam foreshortening things, though camp isn’t quite as close to shore as it appears.

Still, too close to dump grey water from the sink, so I walk it up a good ways. Then it has far more earth to filter through before getting to the lake.

From habit and practice my grey water is basically clean rinse water. My dishes, pans, and all cooking utensils are wiped clean before washing so there is no food matter in my rinse water.

It’s easier than it sounds once in the habit. If you do end up with food particles in your rinse water, strain it before dumping. Animals don’t need it and you don’t want animals attracted near camp.

Wash Water: I make a very small amount, just a cup or two, with a couple drops of biodegradable soap in a wide mug, just big enough to hold a 3M sponge. I clean everything with the sponge over an empty tub. I don’t make a whole tub of wash water and another of rinse water. Too wasteful and unnecessary. The small mug of wash water is usually empty by the time I’m done with dishes.

For notes on what soaps and wetwipes I use when traveling and in camp, as well as what to do when there are no toilet facilities, check my Health and Sanitation page.

Once everything is washed, it all gets rinsed under a trickle from the tap. That gets caught by the tub.

No food particles, little to no soap bubbles; virtually clear rinse water. That water stays in the sink for quick rinse after messing with gear or firewood or for a quick wipe of the counter.

When the sink nears full, which is often only after a few days, I’ll walk it up and away from a shore a good ways to dump it.

Might not think so, but even biodegradable soaps take a while to break down and will accumulate in bodies of water, altering the normal balance.

Around bodies of water popular with campers, hikers, and small boats, that accumulation can be significant.

As will the amount of urine seeping into the lake from folks peeing in the woods too close to shore. Might not think this matters either, but it does. The sheer number of campers and hikers throughout a year can alter the ph of the water, allowing and encouraging different plant life and algae bloom.

Do I adhere religiously to all the above?

Nope, I’m not perfect at it. Though I keep it in mind and am getting better every day at evolving my routine and making it an easier part of my daily camp life.

LONGER THAN A MEMORY

11.19.2019 by Road // Leave a Comment

Icy road east of Boise City Okalahoma — US 412 East, Boise City, Oklahoma

There's a road, in Oklahoma 
Straighter than a preacher
Longer than a memory
And it goes, forever onward
Been a good teacher
For a lot of country boys like me

~ Steve Earle, Nowhere Road

I need to dig into my files to see when I made this image. Fifteen or more years ago now, I’m sure. It was after a huge blizzard turned ice storm in the peculiar part of Oklahoma where the panhandle touches four other states.

I was running blind with two lady truckers as we wound our way down through darkness in Colorado, trying to get through on any road still open in the storm.

Chatter on the CB told us the interstate ahead was fouled with jack-knifed trailers and four-wheelers sliding into each other with cars scattered like matchsticks.

I found a way around and led our little convoy over to La Junta and Lamar and then south towards Oklahoma. We were the only ones out as the blizzard howled on.

‘Driving by Braille!” one called out on the radio. That’s when you can’t see the road or where the lanes are, so depend on rumble strips to let you know you’re at the edge.

We hit the two lane, roaring through intersections in the dark, our headlights the only competition to the one or two streetlights in small towns covered in snow. I asked one of the lady drivers to get her truck out front and run lead. The snow was getting too deep for my van to plow through so I brought up the rear.

She couldn’t see on one windy turn and tapped her brakes, red brake lights magnified by falling flakes. The gal behind her, in front of me, slammed on hers to the sudden light, her trailer sliding half sideways and back. I hit mine too, counter steering my fishtail just like I knew what I was doing, sliding within inches of kissing the ass of that trailer.

We made it down to the big Love’s truck stop the far edge of Boise City sometime after midnight and all huddled into a booth to warm up, amazed we’d made it through and happy to lay eyes on each other after only meeting on the radio.

I made this image the next morning as I headed out on US 412 east of Boise City, sun shining and road glistening.

That’s a fifty mile long sheet of rugged hard ice.

Longer than a memory, this image takes me right back there every time I see it.

#longerthanamemory #iceroad #oklahomawinter #lonenomad #nomadlife #iceroadtrucker #straighterthanapreacher #steveearle #nowhereroad #ladytrucker #adventureawaits #roadstories #goneoutdoors #landscapephotography #onsomeadventure #myoutdoorlife #letsgetlost #blackandwhiteart #blancetnoir #artphoto

For notes on what soaps and wetwipes I use when traveling and in camp, as well as what to do when there are no toilet facilities, check my Health and Sanitation page.

Tags