About Us
Ultralight Wilderness Toilet Co
1916 E 5th Street, Vancouver, WA 98661
Call Mark at 360-607-1947 if you can't find the answers to your questions on the site.
Or email me - mark@ultralightwildernesstoilet.com
MISSION: Improve human health by helping heal wilderness - one Packit Toilet kit at a time.
Humans are ill from every sort of respiratory ailment, digestive ailment, skin ailment, imaginable. We live longer, but not healthier. The media seems completely oblivious to why numberless millions of people are on anti-depressants (American use 66% of all the anti-depressants made in the world; 27% of our kids are forced to take them) and hundreds of other drugs for other "minor" ailments. I believe like many contemporary biologists and environmentalists that if nature is ill, man will be ill. We ARE nature. The next few years are critical according to many naturalists - who continue to observe the deterioration of the natural environment.
The wilderness, back country, and park areas of the United States can no longer tolerate the amount of human poop and toilet paper left on the ground by careless hiker-campers, hunter-fishers, kayakers, rafters, etc. This site and its products are the result of my deep passion and need for the wild places. After seeing and smelling human poop nearly everywhere I went in the trailed wildernesses, I began working on a toilet that would be light enough and sturdy enough to attract hiker-campers, etc., to pack it in their backpacks, kayaks, boats, etc., and use it.
I asked over and over again, "Why are they doing this?" "Is it just laziness?" "Why do people have such low respect for the natural world?" I write the GOSWI blog as a probe into the reasons man is so disconnected from the natural world, and how we as parents must work to get our children reconnected. Kids need nature and nature needs kids to care about how they behave when using wilderness, back country, and parks.
The Packit Toilet kit was designed with this intention: to become a personal poop management system. It's light enough for 6-year olds to carry. It's sturdy. It's easy to learn how to take responsibility for your own body wastes when you're in wilderness, back country, or park areas. And it's about as dignified a way to do such a thing as I know about. We have to help our kids (and ourselves) get over the embarrassment of pooping. It's the way we're made. We simply have to learn to deal with it. Everyone and everything out there benefits.
I'm adamant about convincing kids (and then making it easy for them) to take responsibility for their own poop while visiting wilderness, back country, and park areas. The toilets in parks are overwhelmed before the first visitor arrives each year. Most toilets in summer are unbearable for children. If a truly sturdy ultralight toilet is now available, there is no longer any excuse not to manage one's own poop. Again, nature is unable to deal with the amount of human poop out there. Everywhere you go there's the ubiquitous toilet paper and mounds of human poop. It takes many months, even years, for toilet paper to decompose (we offer only biodegradable toilet paper and biodegradable bags with our toilet kit).
Animals find human poop and pee and lick it for the high salt content. In the process they pick up viruses and bacteria that affect their health. There are few studies being conducted on this issue, but those that have been conducted make some shocking statements: "Human poop may be the cause of many health issues with both the flora and fauna of forests, wilderness areas, rivers and creeks, as well as coral reefs and fisheries in the oceans" (U.S. Forest Service report 2006)
The Digger
People don't like to carry anything but the necessities. I believe a personal toilet kit IS now a necessity. I didn't like any of the trowels or shovels out there. They almost always end up poking a hole in my food packs, or my tent, even my backpack. I rarely ran into anyone who carried anything to bury their poop with. Human poop should be buried at least 8 inches deep. But typical forest soil is laden with small rocks, shallow roots, and often semi-packed dirt. There was nothing out there that allowed me to dig in this stuff effectively. So I invented a new device, the Digger, that makes it pretty easy. And it doesn't have any SHARP points to poke holes in things.
Made of a nearly indestructible plastic formula, it only weighs 1.8 ounces (like a moth), yet it makes digging a cat hole (a hole to bury poop and toilet paper) much more bearable - even for kids. Usually it takes about 7-9 minutes to dig an 8 inch deep cat hole - even in the rockier stuff.
It works on the principle of an auger - plunging and pinching dirt and rocks - much like a post hole digger. But you can also plunge and twist as it the Digger were a drill bit - and this action pushes the dirt and rocks into the middle of the digger making it much easier to remove the dirt and rocks. Also you can distort the digger slightly by pressing your thumb against the side - and it suddenly becomes a scrapper for refilling your cat hole. I love the Digger. "It's truly an ultralight device, but virtually indestructible. And it really works." (check out our Demo Video)...
Biodegradable Bags and Toilet Paper
I don't like burying plastic bags. Some plastic bags take 100-years to degrade. So I found a biodegradable greenbag that covers the whole toilet and thus makes it cleaner than your home toilet.
We now manufacture and offer for sale the world's lightest portable toilet kit: toilet, greenbags, toilet paper, and Digger. A complete and completely natural, dry, light to carry, easy to stow, toilet kit that does exactly what we say it does - all for $39.95. By the way, it supports 250 pound people.
Please read our Repair/Replace Policy our Testimonials, and our Ordering/Shipping Policy. "When you're going to places without toilets, or if there are provided toilets but they're overwhelmed through overuse, simply bring your own personal toilet kit. The wild places and the wild things that live there, as well as your fellow sojourners, will be very grateful, and your whole experience just improved significantly as well.
"There really isn't any excuse to ignore the dangers to wild creatures inherent in human poop. Animals too often dig up poop and toilet paper that people have buried (usually they didn't bury it deep enough). Bury poop and toilet paper at least 8 inches deep. Yah, it takes a little work. But how else can we save these places for our kids, our grandkids, for others who go there to interact with nature?"
For Those Who Hate To Or Can't Squat
Ultralight has nothing against squatting. But there are a lot of people, including me, who can't. The knees and hips and often a bad back prevent it. For these people the Packit Toilet kit makes it possible to get out into the wild places again. And we all need the wild places - just to maintain our sanity.
And there are those who can't stand to splash on their clothing or shoes. The Packit Toilet kit removes that possibility. It also removes the possibility for accidental messes - you know on your sneakers.
In short, it makes hiking-camping a whole lot more pleasurable for those people who either don't like to or can't squat, and for those who can't stand splashing on their underwear.
4 Snaps, a Greenbag, and Its Ready
"We have little kids as young as 6-years old who carry a Packit Toilet in their own backpack. You set up the toilet with just 4 snaps. Tear off a greenbag and insert it. When you're finished, tie a knot in the bag and either 'bury it or pack it out' (if management requires it). Make certain you bury the greenbag at least 8 inches deep and at least 200 feet from water sources (I know, but I keep repeating it because people keep burying their stuff to shallow).
"When people take responsibility for their own poop while using wilderness and backcountry areas it's good for them (there's a good feeling that comes with the experience), good for the wild places, and good for the wild things that live there."
Those who hate to squat, or can't, can now visit, or camp out in, the wild places again.
Thanks and enjoy,
Mark Marchus
President
Ultralight Wilderness Toilet Co