Ridiculously extreme boondocking tips
If you have both unlimited power and water, stop reading -- you don’t need these tips. And if you are still reading, you already know the obvious things -- switch to LED lights, use paper plates ...
Forum Discussion
... Having said that, though, backpackers certainly go to the bathroom in the wild. They just dig a hole and bury it. So boondockers can do the same thing, perfectly legally...
Big difference between backpacking and boondocking --
Backpackers only deposit a relatively small amount at a time and it is well dispersed. LNT practices spell out in detail how to properly dispose of human waste in the woods.
Dumping while boondocking puts 70+ gallons all at once in the same location, and most likely in a spot you or someone else will use again.
Research studies conducted by the Forest Service and other entities clearly show human waste remains intact for a lot longer than people realize. For example, one test in the Eagle Cap Wilderness showed human waste buried above the timberline still had viable pathogens 18 months later. (I sometimes wonder how the poor undergrad research assistant that dug it up worded the experience in his resume.)
And no, it is not legal to dump black or gray tanks on National Forest lands.
Title 36 CFR 261.11
Sanitation.
The following are prohibited:
(b) Possessing or leaving refuse, debris, or litter in an exposed or unsanitary condition.
(c) Placing in or near a stream, lake, or other water any substance which does or may pollute a stream, lake, or other water.
(d) Failing to dispose of all garbage, including any paper, can, bottle, sewage, waste water or material, or rubbish either by removal from the site or area, or by depositing it into receptacles or at places provided for such purposes.
(e) Dumping of any refuse, debris, trash or litter brought as such from private property or from land occupied under permit, except, where a container, dump or similar facility has been provided and is identified as such, to receive trash generated from private lands or lands occupied under permit.
42 FR 2957, Jan. 14, 1977, as amended at 46 FR 33520, June 30, 1981
Not usually enforced for gray water. Nonetheless, it is against the law. Technically, it is illegal for a backpacker to do it in the woods also, but again not enforced for practical reasons. Popular backpacking locations are increasingly under 'pack out your waste' regulations.
