Here’s the deal, nobody wants to talk about it but we need to. You can have the fanciest camping gear, a photo library teeming with incredible images of your backcountry adventures and preach from the pulpit that you are as outdoorsy as they come but if you’re squatting trailside and leaving a “gift” under a rock or in a shallow hole, you’re not a nature lover, you’re a landmine layer.
In many National Parks, especially parks in the desert like Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, human excrement takes a long time to biodegrade and backcountry travelers must carry out their poop to maintain the fragile balance of the ecosystem. Enter the humble wag bag, your best friend when nature calls in nature. It’s not glamorous, but neither is stepping in a poorly buried souvenir.
Bottom line: if you’re out there enjoying backcountry beauty, do your duty by not leaving doody. Keep the wild wild, not gross. Learn more below.
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area Human Waste Disposal:
If a restroom is not provided, all human body waste solids shall be contained and carried out using a portable toilet or a specifically engineered bag waste containment system.
Use of a plastic or paper bag as a receptacle for solid human waste and/or for disposal of solid human waste is prohibited unless part of a specifically engineered bag waste containment system containing enzymes and polymers to treat human solid waste, capable of being sealed securely and state approved for disposal in ordinary trash receptacles.
Visitors are responsible for providing their own removal system that is adequate for the size of their group and length of stay. Packing out human waste is required in Coyote Gulch, within 1/4 mile of the shore of Lake Powell, the San Juan River, Escalante River, Dirty Devil River or the Colorado River, and anywhere else the minimum 300 feet from a water source cannot be attained.
Read more details about proper waste disposal in the Superintendent’s Compendium.
