How to Go to the Bathroom in the Woods (Without Stressing Out)

Your first overnight is booked, the gear list is nearly done, and one question keeps nagging at you: what happens when you need to poop and the nearest toilet is miles back at the trailhead?

It’s not something most people bring up with their hiking friends, so the question tends to sit there unanswered. Nobody is born knowing how to poop in the woods, and the steps aren’t obvious until someone lays them out.

Below you’ll find what to pack, how far to walk, how to dig a proper hole and what to do with the paper, plus what changes where you can’t dig at all. A small kit and a few habits cover most first trips.

Quick Reference Guide

Building Your Backcountry Bathroom Kit

Most of the stress comes from trying to sort this out on the spot. A trowel left in the car or a roll of paper soaked by rain turns a small job into a real problem, so pack a bathroom kit at home and leave it packed between trips.

Keep it in a small zippered bag you can spot at a glance, clipped to your pack or in an outside pocket. That way you’re not unpacking everything when the moment comes.

Here’s what goes inside:

• A light metal trowel, for digging through roots and packed soil
• Toilet paper in a sealable bag, so it stays dry, with a little extra
• Unscented wet wipes, for when there’s no water to clean up with
• Travel-size hand sanitizer, for clean hands before you touch food or gear
• Two heavy sealable plastic bags: one for used paper and wipes, and one spare

The two bags work as a pair. Used paper goes into the first bag, you seal it, and that bag goes inside the second. It helps keep the smell in and the mess away from your food until you reach a trash can.

The Duct-Tape Baggie Trick

If privacy matters to you around camp, wrap your used-paper bag in a few strips of duct tape before the trip. Leave No Trace suggests the same trick: the tape hides what’s inside, so the bag is less awkward to carry and pull out.

The 200-Foot Rule (and How to Actually Measure It)

The 200-foot rule is there to protect water and the places people use. The Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics asks you to dig catholes at least 200 feet from water, camp and trails, so waste, paper and germs stay away from streams, lakes and campsites.

You don’t need a tape measure. Walk about 70 to 80 adult steps, the figure Leave No Trace gives, or picture two-thirds of a football field.

Walk those steps first, then look for your spot. A slight slope, a cluster of trees, a big boulder or a dip in the ground gives you more privacy than you’d expect. You only need enough distance to feel comfortable and stay out of anyone’s way.

Near switchbacks, count your 200 feet from the closest stretch of trail, not just from your tent. Hikers cut corners on zigzag trails, and you don’t want your spot sitting right below one.

If you’d like to see how this fits with the other trail habits, my beginner’s guide to Leave No Trace covers them in plain language.

How to Dig (and Use) a Proper Cathole

A cathole isn’t a quick scrape in the dirt. It’s a small hole deep enough to reach the soil that helps break waste down: 6 to 8 inches deep and 4 to 6 inches across (15 to 20 cm deep, 10 to 15 cm wide).

Leave No Trace suggests deep, organic soil, the dark, rich kind under the leaf litter, because it holds the organisms that help decompose waste. A spot that gets sun helps too. Skip sandy washes and other places where water runs after rain.

Dry deserts, alpine tundra, rocky peaks and frozen ground are different. In fragile desert and alpine areas, Leave No Trace notes that land managers may require you to carry solid waste out. The WAG bag section below covers what to do there.

If you learn better by watching, REI’s short video, How to Poop in the Woods, shows the basics. Watch it once, then come back to the steps here, so the routine feels familiar before you’re doing it for real.

Dig the hole before you need it. Digging in a hurry is how people end up with a shallow scrape, so pick your spot and get the hole ready first.

In rocky or packed soil, push the trowel in at an angle and rock it back and forth to loosen the ground before you scoop. It takes an extra minute and gets you to full depth without a fight.

For balance, look for a sturdy young tree or a low, thick branch. Holding on with one hand while you squat takes strain off your knees.

When you’re done, fill the hole with the soil you dug out and press it down lightly with the back of the trowel. Scatter leaves, needles or small stones over the top so nobody can tell the spot was used.

Dealing with Toilet Paper and Wipes (Why Packing It Out Is the Simplest Habit)

In dry places like the desert, toilet paper breaks down very slowly, and the Park Service notes that animals may dig it up. That’s how hikers end up finding old tissue near a trail.

Leave No Trace gives you two choices: bury the paper deep in the cathole or pack it out, and it says packing out is best in dry places like deserts. Some areas require it, so check the rules where you’re going.

If you want one habit that works anywhere, I’d pack it out every time. It’s one more thing in your used-paper bag, and you never have to judge whether the soil will break it down.

Wipes are simpler: they always come out with you. Leave No Trace says that goes for wipes sold as biodegradable, too.

Put used paper and wipes straight into your first bag, seal it, slip it into the second and tuck it back in your kit.

Managing Menstrual Hygiene on the Trail

If you have your period on the trail, pack out everything: tampons, pads, liners and wrappers. Leave No Trace notes that they don’t break down readily and that animals may dig them up.

If you use a menstrual cup, Leave No Trace suggests emptying it into a cathole like solid waste, or packing the contents out where you can’t dig. The duct-tape bag from earlier keeps everything else out of sight until you reach a trash can.

What to Do When You Cannot Dig a Hole (Using WAG Bags)

A cathole only works where the soil helps break waste down. Deserts, exposed alpine areas and frozen or rocky ground have little of the organic soil that does that. The Bureau of Land Management notes that in some dry places, buried waste can take over a year to break down.

The National Park Service’s best practices for remote waste call carrying it out the best method on wild river trips, where it’s often required, and encourage it for mountaineering. Check the rules for your destination before you go.

WAG bag is the common name for a human waste pack-out bag: a double-bag kit with a powder that gels the waste and cuts the smell, as the Park Service describes it in its Leave No Trace guide.

You use it, seal it, carry it out, and throw it away only where the land manager allows.

How to Use a WAG Bag

1. Get it ready: open the outer bag and take out the inner waste bag before you squat.
2. Position the bag: hold the wide inner bag open beneath you, or drape it over a portable toilet seat if you carry one.
3. Close it up: drop used toilet paper into the inner bag too, then seal it completely.
4. Double seal it: put the inner bag into the heavy outer bag, squeeze out the air and seal it.
5. Pack it and toss it: carry it in a set-aside spot in your pack, and throw it away in a designated bin or trash can where the rules allow.

Never drop a used WAG bag into a vault toilet (the pit-style outhouse at many trailheads). Leave No Trace asks you not to put them in pit toilets, and park signs often say the same, so use the trash or a marked bin instead.

Plan on at least one bag per person per day, plus a spare. Some parks set a minimum: Guadalupe Mountains National Park asks overnight wilderness permit holders to carry at least one per person per night.

The Number One Rule: Peeing in the Woods

Peeing is simpler, but it still deserves a little care. Leave No Trace asks you to go about 200 feet from trails, campsites and water, to keep the places people use pleasant and the water clean.

There are local exceptions. In the Grand Canyon’s river corridor, the park’s river trip rules say to pee directly in the river or in the trip’s toilet. The Park Service notes that urine on dry ground may leave an offensive smell, so its river guidance favors the water.

Almost everywhere else, choose rock, gravel or pine needles over live plants. Leave No Trace notes that urine can draw animals after the salt, and they may strip plants or dig up soil to get at it.

If you’d rather carry less paper, a pee cloth is worth a look. It’s a small cloth you use instead of toilet paper after peeing, then clip outside your pack to dry. You don’t need one, but it means less paper to pack out.

Keeping Your Hands Clean

Use hand sanitizer right after you go, and keep it in an easy-to-reach pocket so you actually use it. Choose one with at least 60% alcohol, which is what the CDC’s hand sanitizer guidance recommends.

Sanitizer has limits, though. The CDC says soap and water work better against norovirus, and that sanitizer may not work as well on hands that are visibly dirty or greasy.

When you can, wash with a little biodegradable soap and water carried at least 200 feet from lakes and streams, as Leave No Trace advises. It takes a few extra minutes and keeps the soap out of the water.

You’re Ready for This

None of this takes special skill or expensive gear. On most forest trails, a small kit with a trowel and two sealable bags, plus the habit of walking well away from water and trails first, will cover you.

Before your trip, pack the kit at home and, if your route calls for WAG bags, practice with one once. If you’re still building your gear list, my hiking essentials for beginners guide covers the rest of what belongs in your pack.