The profound change in seasons over the past week has me excited for snowy activities in the winter ahead, but also reminiscing the warm and wonderful summer and fall adventures of the past five months. In early July, I wrote briefly about preparing for my annual summer adventure with my girlfriends, but I now realize I didn’t report on the trip upon our return.
For starters, there were a few significant breaks in tradition this year over the past seven years. Instead of trekking into the Bighorns’ Cloud Peak Wilderness, we took an 11-hour drive to the Main Salmon River in Central Idaho. Kristen wasn’t able to join us this year, so Wendy’s 14-year-old son, Ian, accompanied the other three of us. We traded in our hiking boots and backpacks for Chaco sandals and life vests. And, instead of avoiding as many people as possible, we spent our coveted time away with 26 other adventure seekers.
This year we opted to treat ourselves to an 89-mile, guided river rafting trip. While there were indeed a lot of differences between this trip and the previous seven we have taken, some things remained comfortably the same. We were in a vast Wilderness area and out of cell and internet communication the entire time. We were very limited with the amount of “stuff” we could bring along, and we ate, slept and went to the bathroom outside for six days.
Whether recreating outdoors with family, friends, students, or strangers, I have always been vigilant about following, and encouraging others to follow the seven Leave No Trace principles. One of my favorites to call attention to, and most other people’s least favorite to discuss, is principle number three: dispose of waste properly. The reason this is so off-putting to most folks is because it requires addressing human waste.
If you have done much multi-day, backcountry adventuring in the Bighorns then I’m sure you are familiar with carrying a bathroom kit, digging cat holes, designated carry-out areas, wag bags and peeing a long distance from our streams, rivers and lakes. Leave No Trace outdoor ethics recommend that we do many things at least 200-feet from trails and all water sources, not the least of which is relieving oneself. To put it into perspective, 200-feet is approximately seventy large adult steps, or the length of six school busses.
The canyon walls are high, steep and quite close to the river’s edge as you travel down the Main Salmon. As a result, our camps each night were well within 200-feet of the water so we were to use the groover (look it up, if you dare) for our number two business. Beside the groover sat a five-gallon bucket with a flimsy toilet seat perched on top, this is where we were to pee. It was the gross community bucket, or we could pee in the river. Wait……What?!?!
That’s right, the guides told us to pee right into the river if we were comfortable doing so — after all, dilution is the solution to pollution.
So why does this seemingly cavalier approach work on the Salmon but we need to be so particular here at home? The answer lies in the diluting power of the mighty Idaho river. On average, in July, the Big Horn River runs at about 7,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) and 2,500 cfs the rest of the year while the Tongue River runs approximately 180 cfs in the summer. By comparison, the Main Salmon River runs upwards of 70,000 cfs at its peak each summer.
Of course, we’ve already started brainstorming and plotting our 2023 summer adventure and we are all excited to get back to our familiar ways. Though I think I speak for Wendy and Jenae too when I say, there’s something to be said for peeing right into the river.
Julie Greer is a member of the Wyoming State Parks & Cultural Resources Commission.
