How to poop in the woods, professionally.

0:00 Eva This is, you know, too much.

0:03 Shawnté I'm Shawnte Salabert, and I know too much about pooping in the woods.

0:07 Eva Welcome to. You know, too much. The bite sized deep dive, or however long it takes Letty to answer the call of nature that teaches you everything you never knew you needed to know about some of the obsessions shaping our world. I'm even McCluskey.

0:21 Pamala And I'm Pamala Busick Kim. And today our guest is Shawnte Salabert, host of the amazing Gear. Abby podcast, chanteuse and author, outdoor journalist and adventure junkie. Thank you. Shawnte is your new outdoor bestie. But before we get into it with Sean, either when was the last time you grabbed monkey Tail?

0:39 Eva Been a minute. How about decorating the Oval Office?

0:42 Pamala Perhaps pinching a loaf.

0:43 Eva Sinking the Bismarck.

0:44 Pamala Meeting the dragon.

0:45 Eva Killing the cobra.

0:47 Pamala Laying down some wolf bait, prairie dogging.

0:50 Eva Dropping anchor, dropping the kids off at the pool.

0:53 Pamala Dropping a biscuit in the basket.

0:54 Eva Alfresco number two.

0:55 Pamala Communing with nature. And with that, let's get into it. Hi, Shawnte.

1:01 Shawnté Well, hi. Hello, everyone. I, I'm so thrilled to talk about my favorite subject today, which is pooping in the woods.

1:10 Eva I think it's about to be all of our favorite subjects.

1:12 Shawnté I hope so, that's, I think, my first memorable outdoor poop actually happened in my 20s on my very first backpacking trip. Oh yeah, and it involved a bear. So what? Yeah, and a bear. But it was a bear animal and a bare butt together as one. I didn't mean for it to end up that way, but, yeah, I was nervous, I was nervous, I was like, am I going to be able to am just going to take a really good poo.

1:39 Shawnté Right. But yeah, I found a log because I thought I was like there's no way I can balance. I wasn't yet familiar with the yoga squat. So I found a log and kind of leaned in and got to a very peaceful state. I so doing some deep breathing. I was remembering my yoga classes, talking to myself like, you can do this chant, it's going to be all right.

2:03 Shawnté And yeah, I, I started my business and then I hear right behind me.

2:10 Shawnté Which is not the sound you want to hear unless it's coming from your body. And even then, I'm not sure if you want to hear it. Yeah, yeah. So I just looked over my shoulder and it was, in fact, Yogi Bear coming to say hello. My very first poop, in a backpacking trip. So, you know, the poop did not complete it.

2:27 Shawnté Went back inside. It was scared. I was scared it was a joint frightening thing. Yeah. Everyone scared everyone. The trainer was scared. The bear was like, why are you. What lady? What are you doing for you? Desecrating my land, right? Yeah. So I didn't poop, I think, for two days after that because I was so nervous.

2:43 Pamala But yeah.

2:46 Eva I'm surprised you were ever able to. To come back from. Geez, a bear with your pants. Literally your pants down.

2:52 Shawnté Literally your pants around the ankles. Bear over my shoulder. This I feel like this speaks to my inner strength that I was able to poop outdoors again. Many, many, many times.

3:02 Pamala The fact that you went back outdoors. Yes. How far away do you go from people? How far away do you go from the site? How far away do you go from your friends? What is the right distance away when you're going to go poop?

3:14 Shawnté This is a great question. So there is a set of principles called Leave No Trace, and it's these seven principles designed to help us, you know, be outside and leave less of an impact, you know? Okay. So one of them is, of course, how do you deal with human waste? So 200ft is the recommended distance. So sometimes though, you have to pay attention to the direction you're walking.

3:38 Shawnté If you're on a trail and you see a nice, you know, thicket of trees that you want to go drop a little deuce and, you know, usually you'll you'll know if you're far enough away. But the problem gets to be if you're not walking in a straight line, and if the trail curves and you don't realize it, you might just be sitting in full view of anybody around the other side of the trail.

4:00 Shawnté No, I just say add to ten feet. Yep. Yeah. So that that might happen. I don't want to, you know, name names, anyone on this podcast it may have happened to more than once. Especially not someone who's no better, but yeah, 200ft. So I have since. Well, you do eventually dig a hole. You don't want to just leave it out there like a little gift for the world, okay?

4:22 Shawnté Yeah. For you. So the the whole, the way most people are taught is you dig the hole, you, you know, perch yourself over it in one of many, many fashions. Sure. Drop your delivery and then you bury it. Six, six inches deep is the recommended depth. But I found that I got poop anxiety. Whatever I would do that, I was like, I can't.

4:43 Shawnté What if I don't make the hole? I don't know if it's going to land. You gotta aim.

4:47 Eva Until.

4:47 Pamala You got everything in it, so I sure.

4:50 Shawnté Yeah. You you get it? Yeah. So now I don't pre dig. I do, however, look for a place where I'll be able to dig afterwards downhill. So, I look for the surface to be permeable, I guess. And, make sure that I have my trowel. And then the thing is, you need a solid object with which to knock your solid object into the hole afterwards.

5:13 Shawnté So, like a rock, a lengthy enough stick. I love talking about the bidet, because I think a backcountry bidet also helps the process. But yeah, a lot of people are scared.

5:23 Pamala What is a beach, a backcountry today?

5:25 Shawnté I'm so glad you asked. Backcountry bidet is, as it sounds, a portable butt washing device. Not as fancy as those robotic ones you have in your bathroom, but essentially, it's a squeeze bottle. Yeah, some of them are purpose built, so I have one with a beautiful, long, beautiful. It is. You know, it is beautiful to me.

5:50 Shawnté I'm not good at. I'm looking it for ten, long nozzle. It telescopes out. It's got a little shower head like this thing is the Cadillac. Fancy packing bidets? Yeah, but then there's a bunch of them where you can, like, either put them in, like, a cork or screw them on to a little water bottle. Not as resilient as the purpose made per day, but, but, yeah, it's like a little shower for your butt after you go.

6:14 Shawnté And I think for a lot of people, they're not just grossed out by the thought of actually having to do the deed, but then how they're going to feel afterwards. And, giving yourself a little budget was underrated.

6:27 Eva Especially when you would be hiking, sleeping outside, eating outside, doing all of it. Yeah.

6:34 Pamala What other, accessories are there when when pooping outside?

6:39 Shawnté I love you. You're asking all the best questions. There are a lot of accouterment that you might bring with you. I so I carry everything in a little mesh baggie, and it has my birthday. It has toilet paper. It has. I use reusable, well, not after you put the toilet paper in them, but, zip top bags.

7:02 Shawnté So if I get a bag of lentils at the store and I cook them all up, I rinse out the bag, let it dry, take it on trail with me. And that's where I put my use TP, because we shouldn't bury it. Especially out west where things are dry. I have my hand sanitizer. And then for the gentler bathroom, the peeing.

7:21 Shawnté I have a cooler cloth, which is super awesome. They're just these little absorbent squares that you can fold in half and clip on to your backpack. It's like a status symbol among backpackers. Like, you have a cooler cloth. Yeah. You know how to go outside.

7:35 Pamala And you, are you rinsing it off and then clipping it to your backpack, or you just, like, wiping down and then clipping at your backpack? Moving on.

7:43 Shawnté Listen, the choice is yours. I so generally what I do is throughout the day. And this again, for anyone listening, this is just for number one, okay? You're not going to use a cooler for number two. I mean, I don't know that you do you. But we're introducing bacteria where we start mixing the streams. Yeah. I, I will dab that.

8:03 Shawnté You kind of shake. So my method is just while you're crouched down there in your little yoga squat, you kind of shake and things off drip dry and then dab. It's a little dabbing motion. So dab, clip it in half.

8:16 Pamala Wear it some other. Are there other accessories that you like you don't use but like other people swear by to poop?

8:23 Shawnté Well, you know, a lot of people do like to bring wipes. They're not really on the train. And you know, they want the seem pretty. So wipes are a little heavier for for the ultralight among us. But you know, it can be a.

8:37 Eva Lot of brands in those wipes. So then you have to take them with you too, right. You're not. But hopefully not burying those. Right. You just right back in your.

8:47 Shawnté In your verb Ziploc bag, zipper bag, hide away from the world.

8:50 Pamala It's like, where's the most difficult place you had to pull?

8:55 Shawnté Ooh, Mount Whitney.

8:57 Pamala I don't know why not. Whitney. Yeah.

8:59 Shawnté Tell me about Mount Whitney. Okay. Highest point in the continental U.S., 14,505ft. Give or take. I'm standing on the day. So Mount Whitney is one of those places where you are not allowed to bury your poop, and so they issue you something. When you pick up your permit, you get something called a swag bag. And that's why it's it's not what is that?

9:22 Shawnté Isn't there like wags isn't that of wives and girlfriends. Yes. So Victoria is actually a baggie filled with that absorbent stuff which is waist alleviating gel.

9:34 Pamala And it's that.

9:35 Shawnté Stuff that janitors would use in school to, like, soak up puke and stuff.

9:39 Eva Yeah. Bodily fluids. Yeah, yeah.

9:42 Shawnté So the issue these bags at the, you know, when you pick up your permit and you are expected to poop in the bag, wrap it up and carry it out with you because you can't bear it on Mount Whitney because it's a once you get high enough, it's all just granite. You can't dig into granite, can't.

9:58 Eva Dig in.

9:59 Shawnté And be. There's so many people out there that there is a human waste issue. Like if you tried digging a cat hole in the softer parts of Mount Whitney, you will just dig up little like, you know, petrified flowers and poop. My friend Rebecca finally had poop, but then we introduced the wag bag, and that is a whole nother variable.

10:15 Shawnté And she was like, I'm not going to poop until we get home. So I was the brave one. I was like, I can't, I can't hold it. That's the thing is, I want to feel lighter out there. I don't I want the zoomies. I want to feel good about myself. I want to poop.

10:29 Eva Not you don't want your poop on you once it's outside of your bod. I want it to the right.

10:34 Shawnté I want it to be gone. So I volunteered to be the first person to use the wag bag. And this. The thing about these wag bags is you're not supposed to pee in them because they get super heavy. They just imagine. Like that makes sense. But listen, the first time I use this thing, I squatted down as I peed separately.

10:53 Shawnté I was like, first I will, I'm gonna get that out of the way. Then I squat down and then as, as as you know how anatomy works, you start to get a little bit when you're trying to do the other thing. Yeah, I was like, did it so, but like scuttle off to the side again. And I was like, I shall try peeing more and like squeeze, squeeze.

11:09 Shawnté Okay. Little trickle. Yeah. Now I'm ready. Now it is empty in there. No it's not. No I could not separate the two. It was no separation research and saying.

11:18 Eva Oh yeah, yeah. Not just you but I.

11:20 Pamala Think you can't do one with I don't think you can poop without being. Yeah.

11:23 Shawnté It's like Bert and Ernie. It's they're meant to be together. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah I had a very heavy wag bag and the issue the other issue with these things is you're really, really only designed for one deposit each you know. Oh yeah. Right. But sometimes the human body doesn't work that way in a 48 hour period.

11:41 Shawnté So so I had to use it a second time. I was like, all right, well, this isn't great, but. All right. Two, two and done. Right. We're done. I've summited Mount Whitney. I've been the highest thing in the continental U.S.. Me and my poops are going downhill. Now. We're heading home. But then I have to go a third time.

11:59 Shawnté And. Yes.

12:00 Pamala Could you just use somebody else's?

12:02 Shawnté I. No, no no, no, they're all in use. Yeah, but the third time I this is where I admit, the one naughty outdoor thing I've done is that when we were low enough, I just went very, very, very far off trail, like, let's say 400ft. And I dug a hole and went because there was no way we were going to third round.

12:21 Shawnté That was enough to have three.

12:21 Eva Times in the okay.

12:23 Shawnté Even this girl, now she can't. She's a delicate lady. Okay. Yeah.

12:28 Pamala Precious. Okay. Is there anything that we need to know about outdoor pooping that maybe people don't? Maybe they think it's one way, but it's not. Or like, are there any stereotypes or anything you want to counter when it comes to having this skill?

12:45 Shawnté Yeah, I'd say the thing is, it's not as scary as you think it is. It's not as gross as you think it is. Everybody poops in a lot of places around the world. People already use drop toilets, which are basically, you know, holes in the ground with nice little porcelain around them. It's not like squatting is actually the natural way our body wants to evacuate.

13:05 Shawnté It's like kind of sends everything in the right direction. It's like a little internal slide happening when you do that. So it ends up sometimes making it a lot easier and a lot quicker than at home if you're squatting. And yeah, I'd say like it. It's not that scary. We all poop. You don't have to be embarrassed about it.

13:23 Shawnté You don't have to be scared. I promise a bear is not going to come up and lick your butt. Maybe some flies. A mosquito is if you're hanging out there for a while and your little buns. So just a little bit of maybe bug spray on your butt, you know, on your butt cheeks before you, before you squat.

13:37 Shawnté If you're worried about that. Yeah, that's a good tip.

13:38 Eva I don't think people know that.

13:40 Pamala Just a mist like Mr..

13:42 Eva Seems like your perfume.

13:43 Shawnté Yes, exactly.

13:45 Eva Let's walk through it.

13:47 Pamala Yeah. There. Is there an order of equipment like you have you said that you have all these things in your mesh bag, but is there like it? Do you lay them out in a certain order? Do you have them? It's like it's there.

13:58 Shawnté It's like you've been there with me. Yeah. And there is an order to things to have it. No, I laid them out on. So I feel like a really anyone who listens to me, who listens to this, who knows me is like, yeah, that tracks anyone who does and is going to be horrified. But no, I have I do have a, you know, an array of things I like to set out.

14:19 Shawnté I usually set them on a rock. If there's a rock nearby, that's my preference because there's less dirt involved. If there's not, I'll just find the least dirty spot that's not in the line of fire. Because remember, I am free balling until I dig the hole. Yeah. You know. Yeah. But I set out. I want the hand sanitizers.

14:36 Shawnté Open the doctor. Bronner's soap is open. The bidet nozzle is telescoped out with the water ready to go. And the non-dominant hand is the hand you're going to be wiping. So I do my business. Then I use for the day and a little bit of soap, non-dominant hand. You gotta suds up the tushy, and then I wince.

14:57 Shawnté Everything, wash that hand again, and then I bury everything. So it's really it's really a process. And I've got it down to a science at this point. It's probably one of the things in life I know how to do best is poop.

15:10 Eva You really do. And there is a system to it, and it is really helpful to know how to do that.

15:17 Shawnté Yeah, yeah, it's not as intimidating. I encourage everyone to give it a try if you have the opportunity. Maybe not in your own backyard, but if you if you're visiting a forest anytime soon, consider dropping a deals.

15:29 Pamala Yeah.

15:30 Eva Best advice for.

15:31 Pamala My gift to get rustic skied. Rustic skied.

15:34 Shawnté Something in the woods. I know maybe that should be my next book.

15:37 Pamala Yes.

15:38 Shawnté It could be a pic. Well, maybe not a picture book. Like a children's picture about everybody in groups. Shout outdoorsy.

15:46 Pamala Yeah, yeah, exactly.

15:48 Shawnté Yeah. Illustrators hit me up if any of you were listening and you want to illustrate this amazing book.

15:53 Pamala Thank you. Shauntay.

15:54 Shawnté That was amazing so much.

15:56 Pamala Thank you. Like it was great.

15:58 Eva So where should we call you? Rustic. We like to call you rustic. Do you have to earn that?

16:02 Shawnté You know, I had to earn it. You can call me rustic if you want. I love it.

16:08 Pamala Well, that's all for today's episode of You Know Too Much. A huge thank you to Shawnte for sharing your insights into outdoor trading, leaving no Trace practices in the surprisingly important art of answering nature's call in nature. And honestly, now we know too much too.

16:23 Eva If you enjoyed this conversation and please subscribe, leave us a review and share it with someone who'd love it. Explore more episodes and behind the scenes content about pooping outside at You know, too much. Stop media.

16:36 Pamala Follow us on Instagram and YouTube to keep the obsession going. Thank you so much!