I hate Porta Potties

[Crankin]

No Pam, not "anywhere." I thought this thread applied to when you are cycling and no real toilet is available. I wouldn't drop my pants in downtown Boston! It seems like people are freaked out or grossed out by porta potties and hold it in, so they don't have to use them. Around here they put porta potties out on every school playground and play fields in April and leave them up until October or so, and that works out well. Even small towns in the hinterlands have a school.
Zen, I have been in that position. Once I was hiking in a local conservation area with DH and friends. It was winter. I had to go really badly and there was no place to hide, with all of the foliage gone. I found partial privacy behind a small rock, but I had to say "don't look."
lph, my older son recently told me that when he was 13, he was caught peeing in the bushes outside of the synagogue, by the rabbi.
Glad I didn't know that back then. Not sure why he didn't use the bathroom!

[bcipam]

Who did you do your trip with?

We did a self supported trip to the North Rim last week. We had snow our first day there.

Veronica

The outfitter was Western Spirit. They do a good job - at least the food and guides were excellent. We did the AZ Trail and Rainbow Rim. MUCH harder than I expected, especially with the elevation. I walked alot!!!! The last day was my favorite. The trail was at least easier and I was able to ride most of it. It was beautiful and I would like to do it again. We had good weather, warm during the day and cool at night. Just some wind, no snow.

[Veronica]

That's funny. We almost signed up for that trip with Western Spirit, but decided that now that we have an SUV, we could do it on our own. We did the Umpqua River Trail with Western Spirit back in 2005. Our guides and the food were quite good as well.

Yeah, the elevation really got to me too. But it's such a spectacular place to ride. We're thinking we'll make it an annual trip. We camped at Locust Point but decided that North Timp had better views and we'll camp there next time and just drive to Locust to ride.

Veronica

[bcipam]

... We camped at Locust Point but decided that North Timp had better views and we'll camp there next time and just drive to Locust to ride.

Veronica

My thought was - get a cabin at the Lodge and drive out each day to the a ride start. Something about fresh beds, running water and a real toilet appeal to me!

We camped at Locust point the 3 and 4 day. We were right off the trail. I preferred the camp site we had when doing the AZT which was on the other side of the highway.

In going through the photos last night, I have to say I preferred the AZT over the Rainbow Rim Trail along i did like the short ride to out to Timp Point. That part of the Raibow Rim was awesome! Unfortunately too early for a good wildflower display. That should happen in the next week or so...

[sundial]

I have a fear of that dark hole and what lingers down there. I'm always afraid a wasp will sting my hiney.

[OakLeaf]

Giant mutant GMO corn is tall enough! W00t! There is one thing that stuff is good for.

[boy in a kilt]

There were porta-potties all over the bases when I was in Iraq, so we all got used to them. Nothing encourages rapid voiding quite like 120+ degree weather.

Public facilities were non-existent when we were on mission and even the most iron-bladdered can't hold it on a 10 hour mission. So, we used to pull off the side of the road in a semi-safe spot and take turns on lookout while the other person did their business. There was always a bit of coordination just prior to stopping about who would get what spot. Men to one side of the vehicle, women to the other, etc.

One night our gunner announced she had to pee outside of Fallujah enroute to Baghdad. Since we weren't going to be stopping for an hour or so, she decided to deal with the situation. She loosened her restraint harness and had someone spell her on the 50 cal while she took a pee off the top of a vehicle doing 45 mph down the very-bumpy Baghdad-Jordan highway. Didn't even get any pee on the vehicle.

[eofelis]

I rode the week-long Bicycle Tour of Colorado last week. On day 1 we climbed Slumgullion Pass near Lake City. It was pretty windy, BIG gusts. I stopped at the aid station at the base of the climb. While I was walking around getting water or something a huge gust of wind spun up and I saw one of the porta potties tip over backwards. I hoped no one was in it!

I was pretty wary of getting in a PP whenever it was windy for the rest of the week.

[Irulan]

funny post and timely... I just got back from camping on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. You had to pee in the shrubs, no outhouse. Plenty of folks walking around and I ran into them and they ran into me. In the middle of the night I got disoriented and walk in the wrong direction of camp... that was fun!

For number 2 we had a "groover" - a small square box, on the edge of the Canyon. Great views but kindof scary especially when windy. You can use a limited amount of toilet paper, and you could not pee...

think outhouses are all that bad anymore?

Groovers almost always have a good view. As die hard wilderness river runners (one of our family's other sports) we are used to the groover concept. For those of you not in the loop, groovers or wag bags are for leave no trace situations. It's very common for any permit wilderness situation like a permitted river, where everyone camps in the same camps night after night. The big discussion with the groover ( other than who carries ) is, can we have both privacy and a great view?