How to Poop in the Backcountry (2026 Update with New Practices)
There are two ways to deal with your poop in the backcountry: bury it or pack it out. That's pretty much it.
Many of us learn one method (typically burying) and assume it works everywhere. But, that's where things can go wrong.
Digging a cathole to bury your poop works in a lot of places. But, in others, it doesn’t. For a lot of folks, packing out can feel like overkill, but it’s an important skill-set to have and be prepared for just in case. This guide is about understanding both methods– burying and packing out, and when to use one versus the other.
Why backcountry bathroom advice often falls short
The standard advice is fairly easy to remember: get 200 feet from water (more on 'going' near waterways here), trails and campsites, dig six to eight inches, do your business, cover it up, walk away. What this advice overlooks is what happens after you leave.
Buried poop doesn't vanish on its own. It breaks down only if the soil and climate can actually support decomposition. In places with microbially active, moist soil, that works. In colder, dry, rocky, or thin-soiled terrain it often does not.
When human poop fails to decompose, it creates problems for the ecosystem, for water quality, and is increasingly driving access restrictions on public lands.
That gap between "follow the instructions" and "actually works" is where most backcountry sanitation issues come from.
How decomposition ACTUALLY works outdoors
Poop breaks down through microbial activity. Bacteria and fungi slowly convert it into something the soil can absorb.
But that process needs a few things happening at once: active, microbially-rich soil, moisture, warm temperatures, oxygenation, and time without disturbance.
When those conditions line up, decomposition readily occurs and burial works. When they don't, poop (and the numerous pathogens it contains) can remain much longer than you'd think. That's why burying can be totally effective in one location and a real problem in another, even though both are technically "backcountry."
When burying waste works
Burial is a solid option when the environment can actually decompose what you leave behind.
That usually means soil with organic matter, regular moisture, and temperatures warm enough for microbial life to do its thing most of the year. It also means places where use isn't too high and the pooping is sufficiently spread out (versus the same spots getting hit over and over). Otherwise, nature struggles to keep up.
There's nothing wrong with burying your poop. The problem is treating it like a universal solution that works in all situations and ecosystems.
When burying waste stops working
Plenty of places may look acceptable for burying but in fact are not. Here’s some common examples:
- Alpine Terrain: or anywhere high enough in elevation that trees do not grow. These places often have shallow, rocky soil and long cold seasons that slow decomposition to almost nothing.
- Arid Deserts: don't have enough moisture for adequate microbial activity to decompose waste.
- High-Use Trails: narrow corridors and high-use areas lead to a build-up of waste in concentrated areas.
- Near Waterways: in places like canyons where the geography prevents you from reaching a safe distance and pathogens can get washed into the waterway.
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Winter Conditions: frozen ground and deep snowpack prevent you from digging an adequate cat-hole. Waste can be carried into waterways due spring melt.
In these spots, buried waste can remain in the soil and the pathogens it contains can contaminate the surrounding areas. This is why more and more land managers are suggesting or even requiring that poop be packed out in these types of areas.
When packing out your poop is a better option
Packing out is the more reliable option whenever burial can't do the job. It’s also the better option when you’re just not sure what to do.
Fragile soils, heavy traffic, narrow corridors, frozen ground or when regulations simply require it– in any of these cases, carrying your waste out prevents the damage that burial could leave behind. Modern pack-out kits, like our PACT Pack Out Kit, exist because land managers have watched burial fail in these environments.
It might feel weird the first time. But, you'll likely get good at the practice quickly and even come to prefer it over digging a cathole. The alternative is leaving a problem for the next person (or for the land itself) to deal with.
How to poop responsibly in the backcountry
Now that you know the situations and environments that burial and pack out are most appropriate, let’s get into step-by-step instructions for each practice. These processes can feel a little awkward at first, but with a couple repetitions they start to feel second nature…because they are.
If burying is appropriate:
- Look for a private location at least 200 feet (about 75 adult steps) from water, trails, and campsites. The further the better.
- Look for dark, organic soil in a shaded spot. Avoid rocky ground, sandy washes, and anywhere that floods.
- Use a trowel to dig a cathole 6-8 inches deep and 4-6 inches wide.
- Poop in the hole. You got this.
- Use a wipe designed for the outdoors (like PACT Bathroom Wipes) or some other type of toilet tissue to clean yourself. If using a PACT Wipe, add water to expand.
- Put toilet tissue in a disposable plastic bag and pack out with you.
- Drop 3 PACT Tabs into the hole to accelerate decomposition of your poop and kill pathogens.
- Fill in the hole completely and disguise the spot with natural debris.
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Sanitize your hands before touching your gear or food.
If packing out is required (or conditions don't support burial):
- Find a private spot away from trails, campsites and other people.
- Set up your Pack Out Kit. With the PACT Pack Out Kit, open the outer bag, remove the inner bag and unfold.
- Add the Poop Powder to the inner bag to deodorize and solidify waste.
- Hydrate your PACT Wipes with a squirt of water, so they’re all ready to go.
- Poop into the inner bag.
- Wipe yourself and deposit wipes into the inner bag.
- Sanitize hands and discard trash in the inner bag.
- Seal the inner bag, then seal it inside the outer bag.
- Stash in your pack or vehicle until you reach a trash receptacle.
- Sanitize your hands.
Quick rules that always apply:
- Never bury or dispose of waste within 200 feet of water. Pathogens travel.
- Never bury regular toilet paper. (we’ve been saying this for years. Don’t believe us? Check it out). It takes years to break down and animals dig it up. Use wipes designed to decompose or pack your TP out.
- Always sanitize your hands. Simple reminder, but staying clean keeps you and your pals healthy.
We have a golden rule we like to live by: when in doubt, pack it out. If you're unsure whether burial will work in the terrain you're in, the safer choice is to carry it out.
Where other hygiene fits into responsible bathroom practices
Burying or packing out your poop is important but it isn’t the whole picture. The other products we choose to use to wipe, wash our hands, etc. also have impacts on the environments we’re recreating in.
Conventional soaps can contaminate waterways. Standard bathroom wipes contain chemical additives and polyester fibers that don’t break down or become microplastics in the environment and cannot be left behind.
Hygiene gear designed for outdoor environments helps to cut down on these issues. If you want a wipe that's built for the backcountry, check out our PACT Bathroom Wipes. They’re dehydrated and compressed so they save weight and space compared to TP and conventional wipes, and they expand into a thick 9-inch towel with a squirt of water to give you that clean feeling.
PACT Bathroom Wipes were third party tested to break down on average by 100% in 95 days. This is in large part due to the significant reduction in the use of chemical additives in the manufacturing process. These wipes are made using an OEKO-TEX Standard 100 material, which means they’re free of over 1,000 chemicals commonly found in textiles like clothing, bedding, and toilet tissue.
Many products marketed as “biodegradable” still persist if conditions aren’t right. Outdoors, materials break down only when the environment allows it. Do a little homework before you go. Not everything labeled 'eco-friendly' actually breaks down out there.
How your outdoor activity impacts your best practice
The approach to how you manage your waste and the tools you choose to bring with you also depends on the outdoor activity you’re participating in.
Backpacking, camping, trail running, climbing, rafting; each one has different considerations.
For example, rock climbers tend to congregate at the base of rock cliffs, in highly concentrated areas. As a result, recommended practice is to always pack out your poop. On the contrary, hunters venture far off trail in an effort to get as far away from other people (who can scare wildlife) as possible. So, burying their waste is the most widely used practice.
On rafting trips, boaters are often stopping at the same beaches to camp. Those areas are naturally close to waterways and receive a significant amount of use in a small area. As a result, packing out using a groover system and supplementing with Pack Out Kits in emergency situations is the recommended practice.
No single approach covers every situation and outdoor activity. That’s why outdoor enthusiasts need to be well-versed in both methods and then prepared to pack the appropriate gear for the environment they’re recreating in and the constraints imposed by their activity. We make gear for each of these scenarios. More on that in the guides below.
Why this is so important for public lands
Human waste is one of the most common reasons access to public land is getting reduced. Land managers are responding to unmanageable levels of mis-handed waste by converting dispersed camping into fee-based, instituting permitting systems, reducing the number of permits, and temporarily closing areas that have been heavily impacted.
This doesn’t happen because people are bad or don’t care. It happens because we don’t always have all the information and can find ourselves unprepared when we have to ‘go’.
Knowing when to bury and when to pack out isn't about being perfect. It's about matching your approach to the place you're in.
Get that part right, and the rest is pretty straightforward.