A Simple Guide to the Entire PACT Outdoors Lineup
PACT Outdoors exists because pooping in the backcountry isn’t necessarily a simple practice.
Why? There’s no one size fits all solution. It’s a taboo topic that is under-discussed (and under-taught). The rules and regulations around backcountry bathroom practices are nuanced and changing rapidly. And, up until recently, the tools have often been inadequate to the needs of outdoor enthusiasts and demands of nature.
PACT Outdoors makes award-winning, all-in-one backcountry bathroom kits designed to make pooping in the outdoors easier on you and less impactful on the environment.
Our business is built on one fundamental belief: people want to do the right thing, and if you give them better tools, they’ll happily use them for their own benefit and everyone else’s.
The outdoors is a vast place with a wide range of ecosystems. Different ecosystems or environments require different approaches. In addition, participants of different outdoor activities have different needs and constraints. For example:
- Trail runners have to minimize weight and space while rafters can bring everything including the kitchen sink.
- Hunters spend time spreading out and getting as far off trail as possible while climbers congregate at the base of choice rock faces.
- Backpackers often need to carry a week's worth of bathroom supplies while a day hiker only needs to prepare for a single day.
All of these are factors behind why the PACT lineup looks the way it does. We’ve built all-in-one bathroom kits for different outdoor activities and different outdoor environments. Not as a one-size-fits-all solution, but as a set of options built for different environments, trip lengths, and real-world scenarios.
This guide walks through every PACT product; what each one is best suited for; and how they work together so you can build a setup that actually makes sense for your preferred activities and the environments that you frequent.
But, first let’s talk about the two techniques: burying your poop and packing it out.
Start With the Environment That You’ll Be Recreating In
There’s two main approaches to pooping in the outdoors. The first, and most commonly used is to bury your poop. The second, is to pack out your poop. Which approach to use, depends on the environment you’re in and the outdoor activity you’re doing.
When It’s Okay To Bury Your Poop
This has been standard practice for many decades. It involves digging a deep hole, pooping in it and covering it back up so soil microbes can naturally decompose it. It is generally acceptable practice in the following environments and conditions:
- Soil base is deep and biologically active (vs. rocky and compact)
- The area receives consistent moisture
- Temperatures are high enough to support microbial life (for decomposition)
- Users are dispersed rather than concentrated
- Use is not so high that nature can’t keep up with the number of users (i.e. poopers)
How To Bury Your Poop
- Find a spot at least 200’ (70 adult paces) from waterways, trails and campsites
- Dig a 6-8” hole using your shovel (also known as a cat-hole)
- Poop in the hole. You got this.
- Clean up, and pack out your toilet tissue in a disposable bag.
- Fill the hole back in with dirt and cover with a rock.
When You Should Pack Out Your Poop
Many environments don’t have the necessary conditions to effectively decompose poop naturally in the ground. In these environments, you need to be prepared with a Pack Out Kit that allows you to safely and easily carry your poop out of the backcountry and to the nearest trash receptacle. Here’s the environments or situations when you should be prepared to pack out:
- Alpine and tundra zones with thin, rocky, cold soils (i.e. any elevation where trees do not grow)
- Desert landscapes with little moisture
- Winter conditions where frozen ground halts decomposition and digging a cat-hole isn’t possible
- When you can’t get the minimum 200’ from waterways (e.g. canyons)
- When use is so high that nature can’t keep up with the number of people (e.g. some National Parks or really popular areas)
How To Pack Out Your Poop
- Use a Pack Out Kit (also known as a “WAG” Bag) which comes with all the supplies you need.
- Find a private spot away from trails, campsites and other users.
- Poop into the inner bag, and clean up with the provided tissue and sanitizer wipe.
- Gently remove the air and knot the inner bag with all of the trash and waste inside.
- Store the inner bag inside the durable, smell-proof outer bag.
- Dispose of in the nearest trash receptacle.
If you’re new to either of these practices, don’t fret. You’re not alone. If you have the right tools, and a general sense of when to use each one, both practices will quickly become second nature.
For more detail on both of these practices check out our How To Poop In The Woods: A Complete Guide.
Consider Your Outdoor Activity
In addition to the environment you’re recreating in, you also want to consider the standards of your outdoor activity. The nature of some activities make burying your poop an acceptable practice while others necessitate packing out.
For example, hunters spread out, far from trails and other users. Given the dispersed nature of their movement, it’s generally acceptable to bury assuming they aren’t in the alpine or some other environment where decomposition is challenging.
Rock climbers on the other hand tend to congregate at the bases of rock cliffs. Even when the approaches to rock climbs are long and remote, they’re still in rocky areas, clustered around small areas. So, best practice generally involves packing out your poop.
Think critically about your activity as well as the ecosystems you’ll be recreating in and passing through to determine the technique and tools you need to be prepared with.
We key Pack Out Kits in all of our packs, as a back up. They’re cheap, weigh nothing and take up no space. So, having them around as a fail safe is a pro-move. Then, carry a burial kit that fits your weight and space constraints as well as the duration you’ll be in the backcountry.
More on that below!
Bathroom Kits & The PACT System
PACT Outdoors makes three types of kits for buying your poop and one kit for packing out your poop. All of these are described below. PACT’s burial kits are built around the PACT System.
The PACT System consists of PACT Wipes and PACT Tabs.
PACT Wipes are dehydrated and compressed and are a superior alternative to toilet paper and conventional wipes. Users add a squirt of water and they unfold into a wet, 9” towel. They get users clean like a wet wipe, but save weight and space, and use far less chemicals that inhibit decomposition and break down.
PACT Tabs are small wooden plugs inoculated with fungal mycelium. Mycelium is the root system for fungus and nature’s great decomposer. The species used in PACT Tabs breaks down poop faster and kills harmful pathogens like E. coli that can persist in the soil, contaminating waterways, harming wildlife and impacting public health. Users simply add three to the hole with their poop and let nature do the rest.
These two items come with each of the three PACT Kits for burying your waste. So, that users have everything they need to dig a hole, clean up and restore the soil afterwards.
PACT Outdoor Bathroom Kit
The PACT Kit is designed for situations where you want to carry as much supplies as possible, and weight and space are not a concern.
This was PACT’s original all-in-one kit and was named Best Backpacking Accessory by Outside Magazine in 2022. Organized in a durable trifold case, it includes the most complete set of bathroom tools in the lineup, making burying your waste outdoors as easy and straight-forward as possible.
Comes With: A durable tri-fold case with storage pockets, an ergonomic aluminum shovel, 20 plant-based PACT Wipes, 60 PACT Mycelium Tabs, a washable trash bag, 2 oz hand sanitizer and a detailed info card.
Ideal for: Car Camping, Overlanding, Road Trips, Van Life
PACT Lite Bathroom Kit
The PACT Lite Kit is the most versatile in the lineup, designed for the widest range of users and trips. All of the supplies are stored inside the handle of the shovel, making it extremely compact. It is both lightweight, weighing 4oz when stocked with supplies, and capable of holding enough supplies for trips spanning 5-7 days.
This is PACT’s best-selling and most awarded kit. It received Gear of the Year awards from both GearJunkie, and Bikepacking Magazine and is a great option for the widest range of outdoor activities.
Comes With: An ergonomic lightweight aluminum shovel with integrated Wipes and Tabs storage, a resealable pouch of 20 plant-based PACT Wipes and a resealable pouch of 60 PACT Mycelium Tabs.
Ideal for: Backpacking, Dispersed Camping, Hiking, Fishing, Hunting
PACT Ultra Lite Bathroom Kit
The Ultra Lite Bathroom Kit is designed for users who want to minimize weight and space. The integrated system holds 3 bathroom trips worth of Wipes and Tabs. It weighs just 2.5oz fully stocked with supplies and is about the size and weight of a large gel pack.
Bikepacking Magazine did a thorough, video review of the product which shows how the kit works in detail. It’s also a preferred tool for long distance trail runners and even day hikers who want to minimize their gear.
Comes with: a super durable aluminum shovel with internal Wipe and Tab storage, 20 PACT Bathroom Wipes, and 60 PACT Mycelium Tabs.
Ideal for: Trail Running, Bikepacking, Hiking, Overnight Trips
PACT Pack Out Kit
The PACT Pack Out Kit is an all-in-one disposable kit designed to make packing out your poop easier in sensitive and high-use areas. Each kit comes with double-bagged system that uses a deodorizing gel to make it safe to carry out your poop.
Comes with: Durable, smell-proof outer bag, inner bag to poop into; Poop Powder for deodorizing and dehydrating poop; two PACT Wipes to get you clean; an antiseptic hand wipe; clear, easy-to-follow instructions.
Ideal for: All outdoor activities in sensitive ecosystems and high-use areas
Wipes for Backcountry Hygiene
Conventional wipes and toilet paper were created for everyday use, not the backcountry. They solve a convenient need, but their design makes them poorly suited for outdoor environments where weight, space, and environmental impact all matter.
Conventional wipes and toilet paper are builky, heavy, dry out in packaging and contain loads of unnecessary chemical additives that are harmful to your skin and dramatically slow down decomposition.
Check out our Complete Guide to Backpacking Wipes That Actually Break Down for more detail.
PACT Bathroom and Body Wipes are designed to reduce all of the limitations of conventional wipes and toilet paper.
PACT Bathroom Wipes
PACT Bathroom Wipes are compact, 100% plant-based wipes designed specifically for getting you clean after bathroom breaks in the outdoors.
They’re dehydrated and compressed, and unfold into a durable 9” towel with a small squirt of water. They get you clean like a wet wipe, but save you from carrying around all the extra water weight.
They’re FSC certified which means they’re sourced from responsibly managed forests. They’re also made of OEKO-TEX 100 Standard material which means they’re free of over 1,000 harmful chemicals commonly used in textiles. They’ve also been third-party tested to break down 100% within 95 days, making them a responsible alternative to conventional wipes.
Comes with: 100 Bathroom Wipes in a resealable pouch
Ideal for: All outdoor activities; Roadtrips; adding to your existing backcountry bathroom kit; refilling your PACT Kit
PACT Body Wipes
PACT Body Wipes are like a shower in the palm of your hand. They’re a larger, thicker version of our Bathroom Wipes capable of cleaning your entire body at the end of a long day on the trails.
With a small amount of water, the compressed wipe expands into a large, textured 12-inch towel capable of removing sweat, dirt, sunscreen, and grime. It’s made of the same FSC and OEKO-TEX 100 Standard material as our Bathroom Wipes making them safe for sensitive skin.
Comes with: 25 Body Wipes in a resealable pouch
Ideal for: All outdoor activities when showers are not available; quick clean-up after a day on the trails.
Tabs for Supporting Natural Breakdown
PACT Mycelium Tabs
PACT Mycelium Tabs are compact, wooden tablets inoculated with beneficial fungal mycelium (the network of microscopic threads that help break down organic matter in healthy soil). The species used in PACT Tabs breaks down poop in the ground faster, while killing harmful pathogens like E. coli that can harm waterways, wildlife and public health.
PACT Tabs make the process of burying your waste safer and more effective.
To read more about the extensive research behind this process and the use of fungal mycelium to decontaminate soil, visit our Mycelium Research Page.
Comes with: 120 Mycelium Tabs in a resealable pouch (enough for 40 bathroom trips)
Ideal for: all outdoor activities where burying your waste is appropriate practice; refilling your PACT Kit.
PACT Tabs + Wipes Bundle
The PACT Wipes & Tabs Refill pairs the two components of the PACT System in a single bundle. They’re great for users who don’t use their bathroom kit as frequently and don’t need to purchase these two items in higher quantities. They can be used to refill a PACT Kit or added to an existing bathroom kit.
Comes with: 20 PACT Bathroom Wipes and 60 Mycelium Tabs bundled together.
Ideal for: all outdoor activities where burying your waste is approved practice; refilling your PACT Kit; adding to your existing bathroom kit.
Putting Together the Right Setup
The right PACT setup depends entirely on where you’re going; what activity you’re doing; how long you’ll be out; and what your weight and space constraints might be. Some trips call for minimal carry. Others benefit from flexibility or a more complete system.
If you have any questions about which product might be right for you, please just reach out to us at hello@pactoutdoors.com.