[at-l] Privy Stirring and Mass News

[Cosmo.A.Catalano@williams.edu (cosmo catalano, jr.)]

The privy needs stirring 'cause it's a composting model.  And the 
smell is surprisingly not too bad.  There's no mistaking what you are 
smelling (or stirring), but I've used many conventional pit privys 
where I've had to keep the door open to dilute the smell.

Now for more than you wanted to know:   Stirring (or more accurately, 
spreading) keeps the waste from piling up in one place. The solid 
waste is easiest for the bugs to break down if it is exposed to air 
and not too wet. So we encourage folks to pee in the woods and poop 
in the privy.  A bucket of duff collected from the woods is provided 
and a handful is tossed in after each use to help keep the bug count 
high and absorb moisture.  At high use sites (such as Goose Pond 
Cabin) we build two hole privys to separate the waste stream. 
Liquids (including doe snot, I assume) are drained into a mesh bag of 
charcoal buried behind the privy.

In other news, the State has decided not to renovate the abandoned 
and fenced off fire tower on Mt Everett.  Instead they propose to 
dismantle and air lift the pieces off so as to limit damage to the 
sensitive summit ecology.  This is good news, because the original 
plan was to renovate the tower and provide for antenna mountings, 
power and data lines to be run up through the woods from the valley 
below.  The state also plans to repair (but not upgrade) the dirt 
road to the summit area.  Although reopening the road will be a boon 
to section hikers, as a trail manager I regret the intrusion of 
vehicles into the area.  The section between Rt 41 in CT and Jug End 
in Mass is one of (if not the) longest sections of trail without 
vehicle crossings in both states.

Good to have you back SB.


Cosmo