Dig deep into this shit

December 28, 2022 6:20 AM

Parks Canada's most memorable public toilets of 2022
posted by jacquilynne (25 comments total)

Shitposting comes to Metafilter.
posted by curious nu at 6:30 AM on December 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

(This is such a neat article, thank you!)
posted by curious nu at 6:33 AM on December 28, 2022

The ultimate Canadian log cabins...
posted by aeshnid at 6:34 AM on December 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

Oh, that's a beaver logo. Hrm.
posted by hippybear at 7:21 AM on December 28, 2022 [4 favorites]

I am so pleased that there is at least one other person on this earth who photographs national park toilets. If I still taught this would definitely be a design exercise. Those wooden composting toilets are lovely!
posted by q*ben at 7:29 AM on December 28, 2022 [2 favorites]

I am partial to the pit latrines that one finds throughout the Boundary Waters and other places, which are simply a throne in the woods. Some are buggy and miserable, but the best have sweeping vistas of wilderness lakes. All have excellent ventilation!
posted by rockindata at 7:47 AM on December 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

I'll Number 2 to photoing remote thrones, there are a few standouts in the Minnesota State parks, especially up nord as noted by rockindata.
posted by djseafood at 7:52 AM on December 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

I'll Number 2 to photoing remote thrones

ISWYDT
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:20 AM on December 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

Does a Boishébert shit in the woods? I know Beaubears do...
posted by chavenet at 9:05 AM on December 28, 2022

But only 20 to 30 per cent of toilet systems are in use year-round

Hold it 'til spring
posted by aniola at 9:29 AM on December 28, 2022

We had the pleasure of utilizing the Loo of the Year in Jedburgh, Scotland.
posted by aiq at 10:35 AM on December 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

That was something. I especially liked the one that warned you that there was no lifeguard on duty.
Plus, now I've seen what something "built like a brick shithouse" looks like.

Meanwhile, I was thinking of making an FPP about this, but it seems like this is just as fitting a place to put it: The Most Exciting Part of Dining Out Is … the Bathroom? [NYT Shared link]
posted by Mchelly at 10:38 AM on December 28, 2022

I’ve used the boardwalk one in Kouchibouguac National Park.
posted by fimbulvetr at 11:27 AM on December 28, 2022

I've long-lined barrels of shit out of Parks Canada outhouses as part of a gig I had with the Alpine Club of Canada. This list is missing some classics, especially those in the high-alpine on the Wapta Traverse in between Banff and Yoho National Parks. A colleague was passionate enough about this that he wrote the book A Poo With A View entirely about high-alpine outhouses. Some of the best include the ones at Balfour Hut, Scott Duncan Hut and Fryatt Hut.
posted by furtive at 11:27 AM on December 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

Essential coverage of essential places, indeed.
posted by nickmark at 12:08 PM on December 28, 2022

One factor that I would want to know beforehand is how many spiders are in residence in each of these.
posted by sundrop at 12:13 PM on December 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

Spiders Outhaus contained 10,000 spiders and is considered an outlier.
posted by curious nu at 12:18 PM on December 28, 2022 [4 favorites]

I am partial to the pit latrines that one finds throughout the Boundary Waters and other places

My wife spent her summers in college working for the Forest Service in the Boundary Waters - she spent a lot of time digging those latrines and replacing the planks used to stabilize and support them. Her protip: If you find what seems like an unnaturally smooth and flat piece of wood near your campsite, it probably was smoothed by humans rather than natural weathering processes. And you may want to think twice before using it as a surface for meal preparation.
posted by nickmark at 12:31 PM on December 28, 2022 [4 favorites]

I almost always hate using the enclosed toilets while out camping (once I happened upon what looked like a recently built one in Frontenac Provincial Park that was bearable) and much prefer the thunderboxes that are installed near the backcountry sites although I'll do my best to hold it in so I can avoid using those as well. During the summer they stink and you have to deal with swarms of insects but in the late fall and winter they're almost pleasant because the insects are gone and the smell is greatly reduced. I remember one camping trip a couple of years ago where I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't avoid using the thunderbox any longer. It was a couple of degrees below freezing and there was snow on the ground so I was a bit worried I'd actually freeze my ass off but it was comfortable. Sitting there in a forest under the moonlight on a perfectly still night was actually pretty pleasant. Still much prefer the toilets at home though.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 2:26 PM on December 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

→ Spiders Outhaus contained 10,000 spiders and is considered an outlier.

by having far too few spiders
posted by scruss at 4:02 PM on December 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

I encountered one in the park region of Banff in June where there was an argument going on via graffiti. It was pro/anti trucker rally stuff. Must have been dozens of people that had come through and each added their own comments to the discourse. Some were treatises while others were punchy gotchas or inane tangents. Others had taken to editing and fact checking the graffiti.

It was like a low tech Facebook argument had taken over a toilet. It was to an extent I've never seen graffiti before, like one of those kitchscy diners except the only people writing on the wall are q-conspiracists, trolls, the annoying kind of atheist, and people that keep taking the bait.
posted by forbiddencabinet at 4:52 PM on December 28, 2022

From now on, I may refer to any toilet, indoors or out, as a "thunderbox."
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:14 AM on December 29, 2022

And use of said toilet as 'thunderboxing', obv.
posted by jacquilynne at 10:31 AM on December 29, 2022

[AC/DC intensifies]
posted by Kabanos at 7:09 PM on December 29, 2022 [1 favorite]

My favorite backcountry pooper was somewhere in the White Mountains in NH. Attached to a shelter/cabin (I think?), it was completely cantilevered out over a steep rocky slope or cliff. Once through the wooden doorway, you had a comfortable toilet seat, and also a decent view, since the other three walls were nothing but chickenwire. That certainly allowed for a nice breeze, so there was no smell, but there was also an updraft tickling your backside as you dropped yesterday's power bars 20 ft or so down the side of the mountain.

That's what I remember from some 30 years ago anyway.
posted by Kabanos at 7:28 PM on December 29, 2022