What to do when there’s no loo

We love our parks, and many offer toi­lets to keep things sim­ple. But when head­ing out bush or hik­ing in remote areas, it pays to be organised. 

If nature calls, do the right thing

When ven­tur­ing into remote areas you should always car­ry a trow­el or shov­el to dig a deep hole (don’t go leav­ing your busi­ness uncov­ered). Ensure the hole is at least 30cm deep so there is enough soil on top of what has been deposit­ed. This reduces the chance of ani­mals, attract­ed by smell, dig­ging up the area.

You can bury your toi­let paper, or burn it safe­ly (out­side of fire dan­ger sea­son in low fuel load/​sparsely veg­e­tat­ed areas or when veg­e­ta­tion is wet), just make sure it is gone. There is noth­ing worse than spot­ting toi­let con­fet­ti on your hike. You can also place toi­let paper inside a zip-lock bag and dis­pose of it when you spot a dis­pos­al bin site. 

Look­ing for some­thing a lit­tle more efficient? 

Enter the ​‘poo pot’.

If you reg­u­lar­ly vis­it remote areas, it may be worth invest­ing. A poo pot is a non-col­lapsi­ble con­tain­er you can car­ry waste in. They are small, which means they fit inside the water bot­tle pock­et on the out­side of your back­pack (it’s the lit­tle things). 

With­out get­ting into too much detail, you poo into a corn starch bag, squash the air out and pop it into a poo pot. From there, it won’t smell or get squashed as you car­ry it. 

The next time you spot a toi­let, emp­ty the bag in (it will quick­ly break down). 

You can also get nifty and built your own pot, just search online ​‘how to make a poo pot’. 

So, the next time you’re explor­ing the vast, toi­let-less expans­es of our nation­al parks, remem­ber these tips. Not only will you be doing your bit to keep our parks clean, but you’ll also be ensur­ing that the great out­doors remains enjoy­able for everyone.

Won­der­ing which parks offer toi­let facil­i­ties? Head over to parks​.sa​.gov​.au/​f​i​n​d​-​a​-park and select the ​‘Fil­ter Parks’ tab, from there you can select ​‘Facil­i­ties’ fol­lowed by ​‘Toi­let’.