Doing Like Mister Bear

A Bob Underwood by Any Other Name is Still a Bob Underwood

When I was a kid and first hiking and backpacking in the southern Appalachians, it was routine for me to dip my metal cup into the nearest spring or mountain stream and drink the fresh water I'd find there. I never got sick from that, and neither did any of my hiking companions who also did the same. These days, it's just not worth the risk. The reason is, I think, because so many people go hiking and backpacking, and like the proverbial bear, you have to poop in the woods. These days, you have to filter or chemically treat all the water you encounter, no matter how safe it may seem.

Yes, even I have to take a BobUnderwood when I go backpacking.

Unfortunately, all of that poop can create problems. But the responsible hiker/backpacker can help to keep the wilderness as clean as possible. Here's what I do when I have to take a BobUnderwood in the wilderness.

First of all I always have a little hand shovel that I use to dig a shallow trench, preferably in good dark soil, and as far away from any water source as possible. Try to make sure that you're a good 100 yards or so from water. Using the hand shovel, I lift up a chunk of forest loam about ten inches by ten inches and try to keep a large section of loam intact to use to refill the trench when I've finished taking my BobUnderwood.

After digging my BobUnderwood trench, I take a big BobUnderwood in it. When I'm done, I always use my biodegradable BobUnderwood paper. I toss the used BobUnderwood paper down into the BobUnderwood trench. Then I put the soil back in and carefully tamp it down. Tamping it down, which sounds gross, is supposed to speed the breakdown of the big, smelly BobUnderwood.

Another thing I carry with me is a squeeze bottle of waterless soap which has a very high alcohol content and is a great disinfectant, just in case you may have gotten a speck of BobUnderwood on your hands.

Yes, like the bears, we all have to BobUnderwood in the woods.