Leave No Trace: Canine Edition

If you wear Chacos and own more than one bandana, then Leave No Trace is something you're probably familiar with. For everyone else, heres the gist. 

Leave No Trace is an ethical guide to embrace while enjoying the outdoors. Simply put, leave no trace of your having been there. The Center for Outdoor Ethics has a stellar website that goes into detail about the various principles involved if you want to learn more about it.  

You can break Leave No Trace into about 7 areas to think about, but one that divides pet owners is waste disposal. Womp Womp. 

So, what do you do with your dogs poo when your out and about?

Do you do the same on walks around the neighborhood as you do in State Parks? 

The official answer on how to properly dispose of poop is one of two options:

1. Pack it in. Pack it out.

2. Bury it 6-8 inches deep and 200 feet from trails, water, and buildings

I'll be the first to admit that I used to treat walking my dogs downtown and heading off on trails VERY differently. AKA I was adamant about picking up poop on sidewalks and I didn't pick it up if it was off of the trail. my bad. BUT-You know better, you do better. If picking up my dogs poop will help preserve our natural places, I can do that. 

You choose whichever option works best for you and your crew, but now that you know about Leave No Trace, do better. 

You can dig cat holes to bury their poop in or you can bag it and take it out with you...OR you can be super cool and bring along a poop tube. 

I like to hike, but I'm not intense. In my head I imagine myself one day backpacking the Arizona Trail, until then I'll stick to my day hikes. BUT a girl can dream and some awkward google searches lead me to learn about "poop tubes." There are people out there that are SO cool and rock climb SO hard that on really big walls they have to have a way to dispose of human waste. The solution is a poop tube. 

Ill let that just sink in. Or float. 

Now, I still use my good ol' biodegradable doggy poop bags, I just have the greatest poop Nalgene to put it all into.  When you're out just bag your poop and throw it into your designated (preferably wide mouth) poop Nalgene and hang it on the outside of your pack. I recently upgraded to this cool color because being environmentally conscious doesn't have to be lame. 

Alright, so when I go somewhere, I roll deep.

I have a squad if you will- At least one dog and definitely my two little human sidekicks. 

I try to be as conscious as I can with reusable food packaging and pack whole foods to reduce waste, but who can hike without granola bars?! With granola bars come trash and with dogs come poop and when you know better you do better so Keep Calm and Carry a Poop Tube. 

The poop Nalgene is a great way for you to pack out yours and your dogs waste without having to carry around mini plastic wrapped stink bombs all day or be the guy who leaves bags of poo all along the sides of the trails for everyone to enjoy until you get back to them. 

Now, you have a place to stash all of your trash. The bottle locks in the smell, it stays on the outside of your pack, and when you get back to your trail head, just empty it out at the nearest bin before heading home. 

Leave No Trace.