Something pretty gross happened to me while letterboxing last
weekend. Please read this to prevent becoming a victim (or--gasp--a
perpetrator) yourself.

Since I'm always noticing great potential hiding spots along the
trail, and because I noticed a sign at the trailhead discussing the
growing popularity of geocaching in the area, when I spotted an
unusually placed rock inside a hollow tree trunk next to the trail,
of course I looked under it. Naturally, I was expecting to find a
little treasure--maybe I'd discovered a geocache by accident?--but
NO! My curiosity was rewarded with a big blob of disgusting TOILET
PAPER!

I spend a lot of time outdoors and I've noticed a growing problem
with this gross white stuff appearing all over the place. All too
often, it's right out in the open and not far enough from the
trail. To make matters worse, now that letterboxing actually has me
willingly looking under carefully arranged sticks or rocks and
accidentally finding stuff that nobody was ever supposed to find,
even those people who bother to conceal their mess but do it poorly
and in a conspicuous place are also becoming a problem.

I like to think that the chances that a letterboxer would do such a
yucky thing are slim. But as a group, we do spend a decent amount
of time out there, and chances are that nature has called on all of
us at one time or another when there were no facilities in sight.
If it hasn't happened to you yet, it probably will. So I thought I
might take this opportunity to remind everyone here that it's not
acceptable to leave any kind of litter out there, including your
toilet paper.

Here are the commonly accepted rules regarding this issue as I
understand them:

To protect water quality and the aesthetics of the wilderness, you
must bury any human waste at least 6" deep and at least 100' from
water sources, camp areas or trails. Pack out all toilet paper.

So if you can't restrict yourself to using the porta-potty at the
trail head, and if you must use toilet paper, please also bring a
few extra zip locks so you can pack it out. I know packing it out
is less than fun, so if you don't want to do that, then get yourself
some biodegradable TP and a little plastic shovel at an outdoor
store so you can bury it at least 6" deep and at least 100 feet from
the trail, water and camp areas. (Ladies, same thing goes for your
girl stuff. Pack it out. I don't want it in my bag either, but
it's the only way.)

I don't think that's too much to ask! Please feel free to pass this
advice on to anyone else who might need to know this important
information! I think we all stand to benefit from this one. If
everyone followed the rules, then every letterboxer would be free to
look under any rock within 100 feet of the trail without the fear of
finding something they weren't looking for!

Thanks for listening,
Sunshine