The Science Is In: Here's What Actually Gets Hikers to Pack Out Their Poop

The following is a summary of doctoral research conducted by Jack Edelson at The Pennsylvania State University, with the Mt. Elbert field study funded by a research grant from PACT Outdoors. All findings and conclusions are Edelson's own.

There's a problem on Colorado's mountains, and everyone who's spent time above treeline already knows it.

Human waste. In the backcountry. In places where it doesn't break down, where it can contaminate water, where it sticks around for years — and where, if you've ever stumbled across it on a summit approach, it has the ability to ruin an otherwise excellent day.

The standard line from land managers has always been: *pack it out.* The standard reality has been that most hikers don't. Not because they're bad people — but because they're unprepared, they're not sure what's expected of them, and they haven't been given the tools to do it differently.

That gap between what we ask people to do and what actually happens is exactly what Jack Edelson, a doctoral researcher at Penn State University, along with PACT Outdoors, set out to study. Their 2026 dissertation, “Human Waste Management in Parks and Protected Areas: Integrating Visitor Perspectives and Management Approaches” — is the most thorough social science investigation of backcountry human waste behavior ever conducted. One of its three field studies was conducted on Mt. Elbert, Colorado's highest Fourteener, and was a collaboration with and funded by PACT Outdoors.

Here's what the research found — and what it means for how we manage waste in the alpine backcountry.

Human feces can contain more than 100 disease-causing pathogens — bacteria, viruses, protozoans — that can persist in soil for months or even years¹. In cold alpine environments, pathogens survive even longer than that. Studies conducted on glaciers in Montana and Alaska found that E. coli and other intestinal bacteria remained viable in buried fecal samples after a full year of freezing conditions². They don't just disappear when the snow melts.

The implications are real: contaminated water sources, human health risks for other recreationists, and incremental damage to ecosystems that simply can't handle the waste load they're receiving. On Colorado's Fourteeners, rangers are actively removing human waste from the alpine zone as part of routine maintenance.

Leave No Trace has long recommended that hikers in high-mountain environments pack out their fecal waste rather than bury it. Cat holes — the go-to method at lower elevations — don't work above treeline. There's no depth of soil to dig into, no biological activity to speed decomposition, and in alpine terrain, waste buried in a shallow scrape can persist for years. Above treeline, the responsible practice is to use a human waste pack-out bag and carry your waste out with you.

The problem is that most hikers don't bring one.

Mt. Elbert is the obvious place to study this. It's the tallest of Colorado's Fourteeners, drawing 15,000 to 20,000 visitors a year to its northern summit trail³. The round-trip hike is just under 10 miles, with 4,400 feet of elevation gain, roughly half of it above treeline. A typical summit day takes eight hours or more. The trailhead has a restroom. The mountain doesn't.

High altitude, long exertion, and a gastrointestinal system dealing with acute mountain sickness — which affects more than a quarter of people traveling to 11,667 feet or above⁴ — add up to a scenario where the need to 'go' is common, and options are limited. Mt. Elbert staff confirm open defecation is occurring on the mountain. That's the baseline.

Over 19 days in July and August 2024, Edelson stationed themself at the North Summit Trailhead and surveyed hikers as they came off the mountain. Of the 520 people they approached, 410 agreed to participate — a 79% response rate. The survey covered what they actually did on the mountain, what they knew about pack-out bags, how they felt about using one, and — using a structured choice experiment — which specific factors would most influence their decision to use one.

The team also installed a kiosk at the trailhead offering free pack-out bags and a receptacle for used ones, and tracked usage daily.

About 11% of survey respondents reported defecating during their hike. Of those, only 30% used the trailhead restroom. The majority — 70% — went somewhere on the mountain itself. The most common method was burying waste in a cat hole (39%). Use of a pack-out bag came in at 30%.

Here's the detail that matters most: of everyone who used a pack-out bag that day, 92% used one they picked up at the free kiosk. Only one person in the entire study had brought their own bag from home.

Hikers weren't refusing to pack out. They just hadn't brought the equipment to do it.

When asked directly, the responses were striking.

87% of respondents said they would consider using a pack-out bag on a future backcountry trip. Only 20% said they would "never" carry their waste in a bag, no matter what. And 80% said that trying a free bag would make them more likely to bring one on future hikes.

Those aren't the numbers you'd expect if the barrier were unwillingness. The barrier is unfamiliarity and under-preparation. About 75% of hikers had heard of pack-out bags — but only 38% had ever actually used one. And among those who *had* used one before, willingness to use one again was significantly higher. First-time use drives future use.

This is the core finding, and it confirms what we've always believed at PACT: compliance with best practice isn't a values problem. It's a tools problem. Give people the tools and they'll do the right thing.

The choice experiment component of the study is where things get practically useful. Edelson and PACT used hypothetical scenarios and asked respondents to state their preferred option in each case. 

The scenarios tested four variables that managers can actually control: how much/whether people pay for the bag; where they get the bag (e.g. trailhead or ranger station), where they dispose of the used bag (e.g. trailhead trash, home, etc.); and how long they have to carry a used bag before disposal.

The Results:

Cost is the #1 factor, accounting for 45% of the decision. Where to obtain the bag came second at 33%. Where to dispose of the used bag was third at 17%. How long you had to carry the bag? Nearly irrelevant — just 5% of the decision.

The conventional assumption is that people don't want to carry used bags very far. The data says this is wrong. What people care about is having a convenient place to pick up a bag they didn't think to bring.

The most preferred scenario — a free bag from a trailhead dispenser, with a receptacle for used bags at the same location — had a 94% predicted adoption rate. Even at a $3 price point, adoption was projected at 77%. Hikers said they were willing to pay $3 for a bag obtained at the trailhead — which means a bag program can potentially cover its own costs or even be a revenue source.

For context: the free kiosk installed as part of this study is almost exactly the most-preferred scenario. It worked.

One consistent finding across the dissertation's three studies is the relationship between Leave No Trace knowledge and waste-related behavior.

Hikers with stronger LNT specialization — meaning they practice LNT principles, understand them in depth, and see stewardship as part of their outdoor identity — were significantly more willing to use pack-out bags and more likely to have actually used one. The Mt. Elbert study is the first to document this connection between LNT specialization and actual pack-out behavior, not just stated attitudes.

At the same time, LNT knowledge alone doesn't fully bridge the gap. The companion study at Grand Teton National Park found that greater LNT knowledge was associated with waste perceptions more aligned with park regulations — but not with more compliant behavior. Knowing the right thing and doing the right thing require different inputs. Knowledge is necessary but not sufficient. The resource has to be there.

Interestingly, the Grand Teton study also found that social norms are a powerful predictor of pack-out behavior. Hikers who believed other people expected them to pack out were significantly more likely to do it. That's a messaging implication: framing pack-out as what responsible hikers do — not just what the rules say — matters.

The research lays out a clear path:

Put pack-out bags at the trailhead. This is the single most impactful intervention available. The cost is the biggest barrier, and location is the second biggest — a kiosk at the trailhead solves both at once. The Mt. Elbert study showed that provision of free bags converted hikers who would have buried waste into pack-out practitioners. And this was without any educational informational on the kiosk used in the study (an intentional decision). 

Free bags drive the highest adoption, but $3/bag still works. At no cost, adoption is projected at 89% (assuming a trailhead dispenser and receptacle). At $3, it's 77%. Either way, the majority of hikers are participating. And the willingness-to-pay data suggests a bag program can be financially self-sustaining.

Don't over-invest in minimizing carry time. Reducing the distance a hiker has to carry a used bag — by installing mid-trail receptacles, for example — had almost no effect on predicted adoption. Save that budget for the things that actually matter.

Communicate clearly and directly. The Grand Teton study found that fewer than 1 in 4 day hikers had received any information about backcountry waste regulations before heading out. Simply broadening the reach of existing communication — and being specific and direct about what's expected — would meaningfully move the needle.

Frame packing out as the norm. The social norms finding is actionable. Messaging that presents pack-out as what good hikers do, not just what the rules require, is likely to be more effective than rules-based communication alone.

There's really one: if you're hiking above treeline, bring a pack-out bag. Cat holes don't work in alpine environments. Waste deposited above treeline can persist for years, contaminate water sources, and degrade the places you came to enjoy.

The study found that 78% of hikers said they'd find it easy or very easy to understand the directions for a pack-out bag. 60% said it would be easy to carry a used bag to a disposal bin. The barrier isn't the act. It's the habit.

Make it part of your pre-hike checklist. The PACT Pack Out Kit goes in your pack, keeps things contained, and handles the enzymatic neutralization so there's no odor concern to stress about. Once you've done it once, you'll wonder why it took you this long.

The assumptions that have quietly shaped backcountry waste management for years — that hikers won't pack out, that asking is too much, that carrying used bags is a dealbreaker — don't hold up to scrutiny. Jack Edelson's research, the first of its kind to apply economic consumer preference modeling to this question, makes that clear.

Hikers are willing. They're just unprepared. Equip them, and they'll do the right thing.

We funded this research because we believe that to be true, and we're excited that the data agrees. We hope to use this research to continue driving innovative approaches to waste management in high use and sensitive ecosystems. 

1. Cilimburg, A., Monz, C., & Kehoe, S. (2000). Wildland recreation and human waste: A review of problems, practices, and concerns. *Environmental Management, 25*(6), 587–598. https://doi.org/10.1007/s002670010046

2. Goodwin, K., Loso, M., & Braun, M. (2012). Glacial transport of human waste and survival of fecal bacteria on Mt. McKinley's Kahiltna Glacier, Denali National Park, Alaska. *Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, 44*(4), 432–445. https://doi.org/10.1657/1938-4246-44.4.432

3. Colorado Fourteeners Initiative. (2026). 2024 Colorado 14er Hiking Use Estimates. https://www.14ers.org/2024-colorado-14er-hiking-use-estimates/

4. Jin, J. (2017). Acute mountain sickness. *JAMA, 317*(18), 1840. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2017.16077

5. Edelson, J. (2026). *Human waste management in parks and protected areas: Integrating visitor perspectives and management approaches* [Doctoral dissertation, The Pennsylvania State University].

6. Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics. (2025). Principle 3: Dispose of Waste Properly. https://lnt.org/why/7-principles/dispose-of-waste-properly/

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