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PSA: Calling All Surface Shitters!!!

Original Post
Jared Moore · · Truckee, CA · Joined Aug 2013 · Points: 130
Please Learn How to Poop in the Woods

Yesterday, at Big Chief, we had a great long day of climbing. We hiked out, got to the parking lot, and started loading our packs into the car. I look over and notice my dog enthusiastically eating something about 40 ft. from the parking lot. Lo and behold, he has found someone's shit pile. Let me break it down:

1.) Not the most important point, but still worth mentioning, is the fact that the shit pile was 40 ft. from the parking lot. This area is very popular and crowded, with lots of humans and canines running around. POOP FURTHER AWAY FROM WHERE PEOPLE WILL BE CONGREGATING!

2.) This particular shit pile was on the ground surface, along with a big white flag of shitter-paper strewn about. BURY YOUR SHIT PILE, MAN, preferably at leat 6 inches down! Even then, some animals will be tenacious enough to dig it up. In this case, it would have been enough.

I'm not dissing shitting in the woods, IN FACT, I love it! I find the best shit-site I can, getting nice and comfy and enjoying the cool mountain air on my tookus.

I'm going to give everyone the benefit of the doubt here on MP (hopefully not a misplaced assumption) and say it probably wasn't you. If it was, you need some educating and probably a good punch in the nose, because I had to deal with your shit pile on my dog's face. There are all kinds of resources on the subject. In fact, there is a book dedicated to pooping in the woods (How to Shit in the Woods, $8) I was first mad at my dog. But hey, he's just a dog and as some of us know, dogs LOVE to eat all varietals of shit. I'm really disappointed that someone would think this is okay. It was probably just blind ignorance, or some city slicker not accustomed to shitting in the woods. Anyways, I need to vent and get this out there. If you are not in the know, please educate yourself.
Benjamin Chapman · · Small Town, USA · Joined Jan 2007 · Points: 18,818

Jared Moore...that is just too sad, but your post had me totally cracking up, as we see this way too often and can relate to the dog devouring the poop meal. More climbers need to step up and let "shitters" know that not burying their feces and leaving the tissue is UNACCEPTABLE. More climbers need to join the "PACT."

Join the "PACT" now.

Commit to the PACT

Jason Halladay · · Los Alamos, NM · Joined Oct 2005 · Points: 15,153

Well said and apparently it can't be said enough. Bury it deep and pack out your used TP. It's not a difficult concept to grasp at all but for some reason terrible examples continue to occur.

zekem · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jul 2015 · Points: 70

Your dog is disgusting. Maybe you should consider having a talk with him about not eating shit.

Rodney P · · Ouray,CO · Joined Oct 2011 · Points: 335
Benjamin Chapman · · Small Town, USA · Joined Jan 2007 · Points: 18,818

zekem...it's a common practice with dogs, rabbits, rodents, gorillas, and some insects. It helps repopulate the microflora of their stomach and intestines and aids in the digestion of difficult to digest plant materials. However, you're off-topic...try to focus on REDUCING HUMAN IMPACT at the crag, not the dog or its diet.

Paul Merchant · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jul 2010 · Points: 10
shop.americanalpineclub.org…
Ever try pooping in a bag. Reduces the impact on alpine enviroments and your favorite crag. That's the shit.
Ray Lovestead · · Boulder, CO · Joined Jan 2008 · Points: 108

Judging by Ben's response, you should be happy that someone was kind enough to supply the microflora that your dog so desperately needed. This thread tune should be changed to more of a 'thank you'.

Ray

Dow Williams · · St. George, Utah; Canmore, AB · Joined Mar 2006 · Points: 240

the irony of this dilemma is truly amazing...someone with an off leash dog who is obviously shitting wherever it needs to...on the surface as you say....who is pissed because same dog is eating human shit disposed of in the same manner...maybe all you off leash dog craggers should start looking at cats...they bury their shit....then you got a "leg up" on the human surface shitters...just saying

Jared Moore · · Truckee, CA · Joined Aug 2013 · Points: 130
Dow Williams wrote:the irony of this dilemma is truly amazing...someone with an off leash dog who is obviously shitting wherever it needs to...on the surface as you say....who is pissed because same dog is eating human shit disposed of in the same manner...maybe all you off leash dog craggers should start looking at cats...they bury their shit....then you got a "leg up" on the human surface shitters...just saying
I knew it wouldn't take long before someone had to be a dick. My dog is actually quite exceptional at taking shits where people will never see it. And if it happens to be close to/on the trail where you can see it, I fling the poo. Are you bored? Or are you, sir, a surface shitter?
Pete Spri · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jun 2009 · Points: 347

Dow has a good point...yet no response logically answering it?

Jared Moore · · Truckee, CA · Joined Aug 2013 · Points: 130
Pete Spri wrote:Dow has a good point...yet no response logically answering it?
Good point?! That's laughable, mane...HAHAHA! Sounds like Dow just dislikes crag dogs, which is an entirely different matter all together and suited for another thread.
Robert Cort · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Oct 2009 · Points: 800
Jared Moore wrote: My dog is actually quite exceptional at taking shits where people will never see it. And if it happens to be close to/on the trail where you can see it, I fling the poo.
Sorry to bust your chops a little, but as much as I agree with the premise of the OP, you really need to bury or pack out the canine waste too. The city slicker thought he was being exceptional at taking a poo when he walked a whole 40' from the parking area perhaps.
Benjamin Chapman · · Small Town, USA · Joined Jan 2007 · Points: 18,818

Caughtinside...you are so right, not crazy. Disappointing indeed.

Jared Moore · · Truckee, CA · Joined Aug 2013 · Points: 130
Robert Cort wrote: Sorry to bust your chops a little, but as much as I agree with the premise of the OP, you really need to bury or pack out the canine waste too. The city slicker thought he was being exceptional at taking a poo when he walked a whole 40' from the parking area perhaps.
Agreed. Something I should be better about, and thanks for bringing it to my attention.
Marc801 C · · Sandy, Utah · Joined Feb 2014 · Points: 65
Pete Spri wrote:Dow has a good point...yet no response logically answering it?
Yes, there was - the very next post from caughtinside:
"Call me crazy, but I expect a little more from humans than dogs."
Josh Janes · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jun 2001 · Points: 9,954

Dow, you've made this argument before (against me) but I don't know why you keep using it because it is an extremely weak one.

Let me break it down for you:

You define an irresponsible dog owner as basically anyone who brings their dog to the crag - and especially if the dog is off leash. However, many people would contest this view (see the many threads on Mountain Project arguing both sides of this). Yet someone who does not dispose of their own feces properly is UNIVERSALLY considered irresponsible - there is no debate about this. It doesn't take much reasoning power to see that comparing the two doesn't make sense.

Furthermore, people are culpable (they should know better), dogs are not.

And lastly, human poop is far more disgusting than dog poop.

I understand that you find dogs objectionable - and I'm fine with that. Feel free to complain about them, their bad habits, and their irresponsible owners. I won't object (in fact, I dislike irresponsible dog owners almost as much as I dislike exposed human excrement). But to insinuate that dog owners you don't even know are equivalent to the clearly selfish or ignorant guy who took a shit right in the open comes across as pretty arrogant.

What's most perplexing, however, is that at least twice now people have made posts complaining about (and seeking to educate about) human excrement at a climbing area - and they've done so in a humorous, lighthearted way (in spite of how utterly objectionable this occurrence is), and you've felt the need to attempt to derail these threads with an attack on dog owners. Why not focus on the actual message of the post or instead start your own thread?

Benjamin Chapman · · Small Town, USA · Joined Jan 2007 · Points: 18,818

^^^^+1 Josh you're correct.
Dow's trying to use this thread to address his distaste for crag dogs and dogs off leash. Dow if you have that axe to grind take it somewhere else.

This is the issue at hand.

Dow Williams · · St. George, Utah; Canmore, AB · Joined Mar 2006 · Points: 240

In reality, I am a serious animal rights activist, PETA, Best Friends, the whole works. I campaign tirelessly with time and money against the abusive practices of big ag. I am well known for it and outspoken about it.

I have had dogs my whole life until my last one passed at 15. I grew up on a farm with working dogs and have always had dogs since. Some of you professed urban "dog lovers" think you have a special relationship with animals, but you eat bacon and don't think twice how that pork was raised, ethically, morally or any other which way....just more hypercritical "bullshit" that flows through this dumb downed "wana be" politically correct society we live in.

Big difference between me and those of you who whine about your local crag shitters and dogs..is that I do not consider myself any greater or lessor an animal than a dog or any other mammal. Again, those who know me know I profess this regularly as part of my personal religious beliefs. I am a hybrid deist/Buddhist with a heavy dose of professed equality for all creatures on earth.

The only time I bring up the irony of dog shit vs human shit is when you politically correct hipsters bitch and complain about your dog eating human shit at your local crag. This dog is 40' away you say and in Josh's case, he left his dog unattended at the base of a route. They eat the human shit and that grosses you out, because in Josh's case he likes to kiss his dog.

Well fucking grow up. Dogs eat the same diet as their owner does for the most part in America at least. It is the same "shit".

Now if you are going to bitch and cry about the exposed human shit...make damn fucking sure you clean up your exposed dog shit first....don't be a stupid and I do mean stupid.... hippocrate (a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings). I am not here on MP to make friends Josh which seems to disturb you, you seem to be butthurt about me calling you out when you brought up this same subject with the same amount of hipprocracy as the OP above.....I can assure you I could give a "shit" less beyond typing this one response to your constant complaining about me being too tough on you.....I simply point out the fucking obvious when no else is willing to do so. I am not politically correct, never have been, nor care to be.

And for the idiots that surmised from my one comment above that somehow I hate dogs....I don't "crag" around humans or dogs, ever.... more because of the human element than dog element. Climbing for me is about the outdoors first and foremost...I don't even want to hear other human voices (or dogs barking for that matter, or children crying)....most routes I do are long trad or alpine routes, most would not be an appropriate place for a domestic dog or cat or guiana pig or baby, so I never, and I do mean never, have to deal with it, shit or otherwise.

zekem · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jul 2015 · Points: 70

Seriously I think the dog deserves praise. Don't reprimand him for helping to clean up the crag. He was just doing his part to pick up after a careless human. He doesn't have hands to pack the shit out or dig a hole to bury it. So he just ate it and cleaned up the mess. We should encourage ALL crag dogs to eat shit.

Bill Kirby · · Keene New York · Joined Jul 2012 · Points: 480
Jared Moore wrote: I fling the poo. Are you bored? Or are you, sir, a surface shitter?
So you throw your dog's surface shit instead of picking it up and disposing the surface shit properly?

Dow's right.. You are a hypocrite.
Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

Northern California
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