For the final project of the 2024 field season, GMC field staff installed a new moldering privy at Wintturi shelter on the Appalachian Trail in Bridgewater, Vermont. A new moldering privy is always an accomplishment, but this build actually marked the last privy conversion in Vermont, a long-awaited GMC milestone. Crews have converted 18 unsustainable, unsanitary pit privies to composting varieties in the past 5 years, a rapid pace that would not have been possible without your support.
Pit Privies were the standard backcountry bathroom option for decades. They’re just what they sound like: dig a hole in the ground, build a rough throne and some walls around it, and human waste goes directly into the ground. When a pit privy fills up, crews or volunteers simply cover it up and build a new pit some distance away.
In the 1970s, backpacking boomed and pit privies were filling up too quickly for GMC to keep up. With the invention of composting privy systems, we began the slow process of replacing pit privies at high-use sites. What started as a solution for high usage evolved into an effort in sustainability: we now compost all privy waste on the Long Trail System, turning it into soil free of pathogens and less harmful to trail users and the surrounding environment. This takes time, energy, and many individuals to do right. (Thank you caretakers and volunteers!)
It’s taken many years, endless planning, hard work, and incredible support from hikers and management partners to finally say goodbye to pit privies. to you, GMC is able to work toward long-term solutions to better the future of the Long Trail and the hiker experience. The next time you visit a Long Trail privy, thank yourself for making work like this possible!
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