Loo for two...

Memorial Day Weekend 2009, we headed down to Spotted Bear Campground, which is about as far as you can drive off the beaten path and still find an established campground. It's a long drive down the Hungry Horse Reservoir, but it's beautiful. We stopped about half way to stretch our legs and use the privy.

I walked over to the pit toilets and opened the door. I just about got my pants down to my knees when I heard crazy scurrying, scratching and moving. I let out a shriek and was out the door before I even had my pants pulled all the way back up. What if it had been a BEAR???

I caught the culprit on film once I had emptied my bladder (behind a tree and thankfully not on the floor of the pit toilet) and retrieved my camera. Privies can be home to numerous small creatures...but this was the first time I had actually been startled by one and not known it was there.

rawr

Killer squirrel. I just know it.

The makeshift privy...

Sometimes a privy is what you make of it. In the case of our family, we have a two year old that "when she needs to go, she needs to go NOW." We discovered that it's easiest to throw her Pink Princess Training Potty (PPTP) in the car so we always are sure to have a privy for her, no matter where we are. She's been trained since Christmas but better safe than sorry, right?

So the inauguration of the PPTP in the wilderness happened on Mother's Day of 2011. That is when my beautiful little girl looked at me, in the middle of nowhere, and said "Momma. I gotta go poop."

That is how she ended up pooping on the side of the road in Polebridge. All while rocking the cute little sundress and LL Bean Puddlestompers. She's got her own style, yo.

Princess Potty! Yea!

lwav: the toddler version.

Ultimate in privacy...

Sometimes it is difficult to find privacy on the trail. Bushes aren't tall enough, trees aren't wide enough, too many members of the opposite sex are scouring the nearby land for firewood. Any number of factors can contribute to your need to hike another 5 miles with orange trowel in hand to find the perfect place to do your business.

But nothing...nothing, I say...says privacy like the privy at Wise Shelter on the Appalachian Trail in Virginia. This is about 20 yards off the trail. A pit toilet.  On a platform. Up four stairs. With no walls. No coverage. No curtain. Ladies and gentlemen, please check your modesty at the trailhead and proceed to the highest point for some pubic public humiliation.

On a pedestal. 

My memory is a little foggy, but I'm pretty sure that big billboard says something like "HEY! CHECK OUT THIS HIKER! SHE'S TAKING A DUMP ON A STAGE!"

And yes...I used it.

Not your Momma's privy...

It was a miserable weekend on the Quehanna Trail in Pennsylvania. We literally experienced all four seasons in less than 24 hours. It was cold and we were wet, tired and hungry. The last night we were searching for the perfect place to camp and we finally found it. Over a little bank and next to a creek. The most unexpected bit of happiness shined upon us as we stealth camped in the backcountry...in the wilds...in the back yard of some poor hunter who was out of town.

This privy was a most welcome sight and most importantly, it was unlocked and it had toilet paper. We were desperate. The trailgaritas and bouncing booze had really taken a toll. We needed this reprieve. We needed this privy to save us from ourselves.

An oasis.

How do you show gratitude to the owners? We thought a nice lilac seat cover and lavender candle would be delightful in this privy. A return trip to this location would be necessary to achieve this. That meant at some point, someone in this group would need to return to the scene of the crime.

It's a gazebo, no...it's a privy!

Occasionally the charm of a privy comes from it's unusual looks. An example of that is the Cloudland Privy at the Thistle Hill Shelter on the Appalachian Trail in Vermont. It is essentially a gazebo, which offers not a lot of privacy but does make for good ventilation. It has even had the honor of being photographed for National Geographic magazine.

It holds the name of the original shelter where it was housed but has since moved on. My friend, MsKB, allowed me this action shot of the Cloudland Privy in use.

Hex on you!

Swiftcurrent Lookout...

Another fire lookout, but this one is in Glacier National Park. Swiftcurrent Lookout can be accessed by hiking from Many Glacier up to Swiftcurrent Pass and then up the spur to the lookout. It is active and manned during fire season. It is a gorgeous hike. 

I truly do not have much to add to these pictures because sometimes, no explanation is needed. It didn't even stink!

Swiftcurrent Privy from the side.

And one of my favorite views from a loo:

Looking out over the Western edge of GNP.

The pot at the end of the rainbow...

On the top of a mountain in the Northwest portion of Montana, up the bumpy North Fork Road, past Polebridge and every other piece of civilization, you will find one of my favorite places on Earth. Hornet Lookout. Hornet Lookout is an old firetower that is now rented by the Forest Service for folks who wish to stay the night. This one is special to me because it is one of the places that my boyfriend (now husband) took me on my first trip to Montana. We had spent some time hiking in Glacier National Park...but Hornet Lookout was special. It was remote and quiet and beautiful.

And the minute we set foot in the clearing of the lookout on top of that mountain...all hell broke loose. A storm blew in with wind, sleet, rain and thunder. We sat alone in a 12x12 foot structure with windows on all sides and admired what went on outside. It blew over soon enough...and against the dark skies, we were presented with the brightest double rainbow I have ever seen in my life.

Two perfect arcs of gleaming colors against the dark gray of the stormy skies...it led to one of my favorite privy moments. The "pot" at the end of the rainbow:

The "pot" at the end of the rainbow.

When the rainbow was gone and the dark skies cleared, I ventured down to the privy. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this was yet another, loo with a view (lwav). Facing East and enjoying the mountains of the Eastern side of Glacier National Park.

Yeah, I took this while I was peeing. So what?