We need to add one more Essential--a trowel.

I'm sure you've read more than one article about the ten essentials to take on a hike:

Here's one from REI that covers the topic: https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/ten-essentials.html

Fine. But every one of those articles leaves one thing out. And I'm getting darn tired of it.

I've spent part of each of the last eight summers doing volunteer work for the US Forest Service in wilderness areas in California. I help clear and maintain trails, restore campsites, serve as a backcountry naturalist, and just help out wherever and however I can.

But there is one thing I am sick and tired of doing in the mountains.

I am sick and tired of cleaning up after other people's poop and toilet paper. If you're going on a hike, for an hour or a full day, you need to take along a simple plastic trowel to bury your poop and a sealable plastic bag to carry out your TP. Yes, that IS the suggested way to deal with issue in the Sierra Nevada.

Backpackers know the right way to do it, because they have to sign off on this when they get their permit: Find at spot at least 200 feet from water. Dig a cat hole six inches deep and poop into it. Cover it up well. Pack up your toilet paper and carry it out, so that it doesn't "bloom" all over the ground when wild animals dig it up.

But dayhikers? They often don't need a permit, and don't carry the gear they need to deal with the problem. Instead, they find a spot, do their business, and leave it for all to see. Who sees it? Everyone else who faces the same problem. They all seem to find the same spot. And lots of them seem to think it's just fine to leave the TP on the ground, where rodents chew it up, and the next thing you know, paper blossoms bloom behind every log and rock.

Meanwhile, the Forest Service and your friendly volunteers end up having to clean it all up, pile by pile, blossom by blossom. (Aren't you glad I didn't include any photos with this article?)

Take a trowel--they don't weigh more than 6 ounces and Walmart sells one for less than a buck. Get one, Add it to your daypack. You only need one per group, so you can be the hero.

Just remember now there are eleven essentials. And one of them is a $1 trowel. Don't leave on a hike without it.

Thank you.