Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Keep It Clean & Pack It Out!!!

On 07/12/08 I climbed the Mountaineers Route and battled the stormy elements at Iceberg Lake. As it turned out it was better at Iceberg than at the Portal that evening.

After a night of rain and hail, I woke up, much to my dismay, to piles of human poop close to a couple of the rock camping spots. Now I understand there are some people who prefer not to use the infamous “green bags”, but for crying out loud at least bury it if it’s so difficult to conform to the bagging rule of 2007.

I much prefer the view of Whitney over a view of Bandini Mountain. Let’s keep it clean & Pack it out!!!

I'll bet the open piles were made when there was snow, and then it melted, leaving behind the mess. Gross!

our 6 day trip from HM to Whitney Portal ended on the 12th - we were at the Dow that evening when all that weather came down -
I led a group of Venture Scouts - I explained several weeks before we left all about the wag bags and how to use them - I told eveyone that if they were not willing to follow the rules and use the wag bags in the Whitney Zone that they were not welcome and would like them to stay home - we ended up bringing out two bags of extra trash (all from the main trail and mostly from Trail Camp)
I'll stand on my soap box one more time tonight - "If you are unwilling to follow the rules" "Stay Home" "Don't leave your trash for someone else"
Dave

Last year, on one of my 1 day ascents, we stopped at the consultation lake campsites for lunch. We had to move three times, twice because people didnt want to use the wag bags, and once because the smell of urine was overwhelming. Not only do some people not have the respect to use the wag bags, but they relieve themselves on the campsites. Luckily, i won the game of rock, paper, scissors, so my partner carried down the 2 piles of crap with an unused bag!

John - I've stored the bags inside a thick zip lock w/ a piece of cloth soaked w/ fabreze but I saw a very smart solution recently: a guy had piece of PVC pipe, maybe 4"+ in diameter, with a cap on one end and a screw top on the other. Looked like about $5 worth of materials from your local hardware store. No risk of crushing that, reasonably light weight, with an air / water proof seal.

That's a brilliant solution! I wonder if a person could skip the WagBag entirely with such a system, assuming you could get ahold of some of the "magic powder" in the bags. Of course, you'd have to have good aim, and you'd need to be very sure to keep it right side up in your pack.
I'm thinking of how much plastic is used in a year on pack-it-out bags, and I am all for reducing that.

I guess they must have been part of what I refer to as the "entitlement generation". Those who feel entitled to do whatever they want to, regardless of how it affects others. Disgusting.

Here is a quote from my trip report "Dayhike TR dated 7-26-08"

"Oh, I almost forgot, Zakary had an adventure with packing out something very personnel of his.. yes we train them young and no Linda or I were not going to do it for him! Note to self: even double zip locks don't keep the smell all the way out."

Point is: If my 10 year old son can do it anyone can (should)!

I use a 2 gallon freezer bag to put the wag bag in and store it in a thick nylon stuff sack hanging on the outside of my pack. The stuff sack is red so there is no question what is in it. It holds down the odor and if there is an accident (breakage) it is contained. I can then wash my red stuff sack and reuse it for only this purpose.

I wonder if using the PVC without the wag bag is a two person technique. One to hold, the other to .... Wag away!