Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion WAG Bag Question

Paul: wb has let the scat out of the wag: as the other long thread on this site pretty clearly establishes, use of the wagbag or any other means of packing out human waste from the Whitney Zone is not required, in the sense of being mandatory and enforceable by Inyo or SEKI. Is is required by good practice, trail etiquette and common decency, but only by that.

Despite what the rangers will commonly tell you, in print Inyo very carefully words its discussions of wagbags to avoid using the word "required". "Only acceptable method" is how they describe it. As distinct from the bear canister, permits, and a bunch more which are properly described as "required".

I used to think that pointing this out was doing a big disservice to the community, possibly encouraging disregard of the wagbag practice. I no longer do. I think the wagbag deal is a miserable failure (one in which we all share BTW, not just Inyo's fault) and a problem to which there is an effective solution. Toilets. Like on the Half Dome route, where there are three locations in an 8 mile stretch.

And don't tell me that this is inconsistent with the "wilderness" designation. If anything is inconsistent with wilderness, its issuing 160 permits a day without toilet facilities.

Anyway, bottom line for NoBo and HST, etc hikers out of Whitney portal seems to be no wagbag, but please, if ya gotta go, ya gotta go right: away from water, away from the trail, and buried deep.

Saltydog, they have a bin with WAG bag at the junction of the JMT and Upper Crabtree Meadow...or did a few years ago.

I have toyed with the idea of refusing an WAG Bag but I use the MMWT so infrequently during the quota season, I don't know when I will get that opportunity to do so. I am just interested in the response. My guess it will be similar to the nonsense I've heard about Ursacks in the Inyo.

We all know that a WAG bag is required in the Whitney Zone; however, I am curious as to what is a hiker to do when only travelling through the zone. For example, a hiker is entering the backcountry via Trail Crest. The hiker uses the WAG bag at Trail Camp and then travels the next several days in the backcountry. Does the hiker carry the bag until exiting?

I asked that question to the ranger I got my permit from for a northbound JMT. The answer was - if you use it, you carry it out. You cannot burn it and there is no drop. That was in 2009, but I don't see how they could change that policy.