Forum Index > Trail Talk > Gothic Basin getting a backcountry toilet!
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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostThu Sep 06, 2018 10:57 pm 
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gb
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PostFri Sep 07, 2018 6:04 am 
That is a great idea. Despite the rather horrible trail, that area is very popular.

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rbuzby
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PostFri Sep 07, 2018 11:50 am 
It's hard to imagine where the toilet will be. Maybe they will have a big "no fires" sign at the entrance to the basin, right after the welcome log you have to stoop under. Last time I camped up there, there were 5 or 6 little fire rings just in the one campsite I was at by the lake. As if everyone who made a fire created their own fire ring, instead of using an existing one, or not having a fire at all, since it is illegal up there. I first visited Gothic Basin in 1987. The campsite at the pond you first encounter when you get into the basin, used to be beat down dirt with a huge fire ring. It looks a lot better today, somehow.

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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostFri Sep 07, 2018 12:28 pm 
rbuzby wrote:
It's hard to imagine where the toilet will be. Maybe they will have a big "no fires" sign at the entrance to the basin, right after the welcome log you have to stoop under. Last time I camped up there, there were 5 or 6 little fire rings just in the one campsite I was at by the lake. As if everyone who made a fire created their own fire ring, instead of using an existing one, or not having a fire at all, since it is illegal up there. I first visited Gothic Basin in 1987. The campsite at the pond you first encounter when you get into the basin, used to be beat down dirt with a huge fire ring. It looks a lot better today, somehow.
That's a good question, I don't know where they will put the toilet, but glad they are taking this step. I couldn't believe how many backpackers I ran into going downhill while I was going up on a Sunday a few weeks ago. The thought of all of them pooing somewhere up there kind of terrified me. Sounds like they are going to do some work on designating some camp sites rather than just having a free for all up there. Seems like it's fairly limited as far as good spots to put a tent, from what I've seen rambling around up there. I didn't notice fire rings on my last trip up there, but didn't really check out the likely camp areas. There isn't much wood up there, how are there all of these fire rings? I have noticed some graffiti on rocks up there before, that really irks me.

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RumiDude
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PostFri Sep 07, 2018 3:09 pm 
I will say this, digging the pit is a real difficult thing Sometimes you just get a couple feet and run into either bedrock or a huge boulder. Rumi

"This is my Indian summer ... I'm far more dangerous now, because I don't care at all."
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iron
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PostFri Sep 07, 2018 3:49 pm 
amazing there aren't more BC toilets on all trails. maybe it would cut down on the TP flowers everywhere. like any mountain loop trail, there should be a toilet every mile...

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Hutch
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PostFri Sep 07, 2018 3:59 pm 
Long overdue. This, along with Tuck and Robin, should probably be on a permit system like the Enchantments. I counted 80 people on the trail register the last time I did this hike on a Saturday.

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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostFri Sep 07, 2018 5:46 pm 
iron wrote:
amazing there aren't more BC toilets on all trails. maybe it would cut down on the TP flowers everywhere. like any mountain loop trail, there should be a toilet every mile...
Ditto. Privies sure are nice when you encounter them. Does seem like it would solve some obvious issues.

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olderthanIusedtobe
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PostFri Sep 07, 2018 5:47 pm 
Hutch wrote:
Long overdue. This, along with Tuck and Robin, should probably be on a permit system like the Enchantments. I counted 80 people on the trail register the last time I did this hike on a Saturday.
It probably keeps happening to one place after another, but Gothic is one that's been particularly notable to me. I've been going up there for years. For a long time it was fairly lonely. Its popularity has just exploded, probably in the last 5 years or less.

mosey
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Malachai Constant
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PostFri Sep 07, 2018 6:22 pm 
Sadly on the JMT toilets are rare to nonexistent. It is official policy, go figure. WA is a shining star compared to the rest of the West.

"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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Ringangleclaw
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PostFri Sep 07, 2018 7:41 pm 
Malachai Constant wrote:
Sadly on the JMT toilets are rare to nonexistent. It is official policy, go figure. WA is a shining star compared to the rest of the West.
I was shocked that the Cirque of the Towers in the Winds didn’t have a crapper or two

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Opus
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PostSat Sep 08, 2018 2:00 pm 
Does anyone know what the process is to get a box toilet installed anywhere? The only time I'd come across one being installed was somewhere along the PCT near Stevens Pass. There were two rangers and a bunch of volunteers. They had two special backpacks they'd designed to carry all the parts of the box flat on the pack and the others carried tools. I remember they said the absolute hardest part is digging the deep hole below the box. If it's just an issue of money it seems that could be taken care of with donations. Or is it a permitting issue? One place that sorely needs a box toilet is the area above Snowgrass Flats in the Goat Rocks. I was there a few weeks ago and there are far more established campsites now than my previous visit. And many of the campsites had TP flowers in them, as well as unburied poo behind every little cluster of trees.

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mb
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PostSat Sep 08, 2018 6:42 pm 
Pretty sure most of the JMT is in wilderness. And adding a box toilet is surely trammeling the landscape. Which is bad. BAD BAD BAD bad bad can't have that. Much better to sh!t all over the place than to have a small man-made toilet.

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Riverside Laker
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PostSat Sep 08, 2018 6:49 pm 
A couple friends of mine made some back country toilets, and delivered them to sites in Glacier Peak Wilderness. But I think Forest Service employees took over from there. These were well built -- by woodworking enthusiasts.

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AlpineRose
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PostSat Sep 08, 2018 6:57 pm 
mb wrote:
Much better to sh!t all over the place than to have a small man-made toilet
Oh, no worries. People are doing plenty of that already.

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