New Waste Disposal Requirements for Coyote Gulch Visitors

[Nick]

Just saw this. It's dated from April but I hadn't heard about it anywhere else. It's about time if you ask me, but I feel there is going to be a major enforcement problem.

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For Immediate Release: April 23, 2015
Contact: Christiana Admiral, 928-608-6351, Christiana_Admiral@nps.gov

New Waste Disposal Requirements for Coyote Gulch Visitors

PAGE, AZ – Due to increased visitation and the lack of toilets at Coyote Gulch, hikers in the popular Coyote Gulch area of the Escalante backcountry will now be required to pack out their own solid waste using a portable waste containment bag. Appropriate products should be specifically designed to treat human waste and capable of being closed securely. These items can be found in a variety of locations, including the Glen Canyon Natural History Association at the Escalante Interagency Visitor Center. Waste containment systems must be disposed of in proper trash receptacles. This is per Glen Canyon National Recreation Area policy for all slot canyons where a 300’ minimum distance from water sources is not achievable.

For more information about backcountry permitting for the Escalante Canyons and appropriate sanitation options, contact the park by email at GLCA_Carl_Hayden@nps.govor stop by the Escalante Interagency Visitor Center in Escalante, Utah. Visitors to these and all areas of the park are reminded to visit safely and with respect.

 

[WasatchWill]

Well, those old composting toilets they used to have were great while they lasted. Cleanest & best developed toilet experience I've ever had in the backcountry. Unfortunately, there were still all kinds of used hygiene products sitting near the surface of the soil in the bushes surrounding Hamblin Arch.

This was back in 2009.

 

[Joey]

Definitely needed. I opened the pit toilets they have there and was disgusted to see waste piled to the top, almost over flowing. I really hope they actually enforce it. Do they have anyone to enforce it?

I heard them saying something similar about slot canyons. Saying they were going to require it for choprock and other similar narrow canyons.

 

[Nick]

Those really were the best pit toilets I've ever seen/used. Too bad that boy scout troop burned down the one by Hamblin Arch.

 

[BJett]

We stopped at the Visitor Center in Escalante a few days before our trip to Death Hollow. I asked about conditions and they seemed much more concerned about us taking and using wag/poo bags than anything else. Signs of things to come...

 

[WasatchWill]

Well, Maybe it'll help thin out some of the crowd. IF it can be effectively enforced.

 

[LarryBoy]

Poop disposal regulations only work in National Parks or similar, where there's the funding/rangers to enforce it. That being said, a wag bag rule in Coyote Gulch is definitely a good idea, given the visitation rates. The soil around there is pretty bad for burying anything.

 

[Nurrgle]

This is a much needed change and should almost be standard for the whole area.

Also, I could smell that pit toilet from a mile up canyon last time I went through there. It was nasty!

 

[Nick]

Also, I could smell that pit toilet from a mile up canyon last time I went through there. It was nasty!

That sucks. They were pristine and odorless when we were there in 2010. Must not have been able to keep up with the workload.

 

[WasatchWill]

That sucks. They were pristine and odorless when we were there in 2010. Must not have been able to keep up with the workload.

I was just going to say, sounds like everyone else had a different experience with them. I thought the pine savings or what ever it was provided to drop a scoop down did fantastic at keeping the odor under control.

 

[Dave]

I was just going to say, sounds like everyone else had a different experience with them. I thought the pine savings or what ever it was provided to drop a scoop down did fantastic at keeping the odor under control.

A composting toilet, by nature, should emit less odor than a regular old pit toilet. One's designed to turn poop into soil, the other's designed to hold poop in a vat until it can be suctioned out for processing elsewhere.

 

[Jammer]

The Interagency Visitor Center in Escalante told me about this new policy when I got my permit this spring. The ranger said that it applied to ALL Glen Canyon Rec Area canyons below the rim. He said that they have been told to strongly enforce it for Coyote, but technically it should apply to Stevens, Willow, 40-Mile (all on my permit) as well as Harris, 25-Mile, Moody and other popular canyons.

- Jamal