Blue bags

[TwoFortyJeff]

So what does everyone use and where can you get them?

 

The only area I have been so far that required them was Mt. Whitney, where the rangers gave them out. It was a double thick bag with some sort of gel stuff in the bottom. I never used it.

 

[highangle]

IKEA

Blue bags

 

Just kidding - you can order them through many of the gear co's, REI, Mtn Gear, or just keep all the ones you never use from Whitney, Rainier, etc.... I've also heard of others making their own bags - double bag with a little kitty litter, but I'm not that brave.

[cbcbd]

You can pick them up at various Ranger stations for free. The few that I have gotten them at - Longmire and Paradise (MRNP), Sedro-Wooley (N. Cascades NP station, on the way to South side of Baker), at Trout Lake (Gifford Pinchot NF Station, for South routes on Adams), and also at the Wilderness Info Center in Marblemount while heading East to the NCNF. I'm sure they're available at other stations.

 

The only non-blue bag I had was gotten at the Trout Lake station, where it was a mixture of plastic and paper bag with kitty litter... and a complimentary paper with a bullseye.

 

My advice: Don't put it inside your pack - try to strap it to the outside somehow - I use my outside crampon pouch if I can. If you don't or can't and have to put it inside, pack extra ziplocks or bags and double, triple, quad/quin/sex/sept... bag that s**t. The blue bag+ziplock combo they supply is usually insufficient for negating the powerful scents generated from energy-bar-fueled ascents.

[LostCamKenny]

Don't put it inside your pack - try to strap it to the outside somehow - I use my outside crampon pouch if I can. If you don't or can't and have to put it inside, pack extra ziplocks or bags and double, triple, quad/quin/sex/sept... bag that s**t. The blue bag+ziplock combo they supply is usually insufficient for negating the powerful scents generated from energy-bar-fueled ascents.

I know several who have made that unfortunate mistake... Too funny! After the fact, of course.

[TarHeelEMT]

Also remember, if you tie it shut while on glacier, then hike to a lower, warmer elevation... Boyle's Law is a bitch.

[Alpinfox]

[channeling catbirdseat]

 

PV=nRT indeed!

 

 

However, hiking to a lower elevation would not result in an expansion>explosion of sealed bag contents if that is what you are alluding to. It results in the opposite.

 

Take home question: What will have a bigger effect on the volume of the sealed bluebag: A delta of +25degC or a delta of +330mmHg?

 

[/channeling catbirdseat]

[TarHeelEMT]

Never actually thought that one out, but you're right.

[shortstow]

hood has them at t line now and then

[Frikadeller]

REI also sells a commercial version called a "wag bag"... Never used one, but I hear they work. I suppose just as well as Mt. Hood Bluebags...

[Frikadeller]

Also remember, if you tie it shut while on glacier, then hike to a lower, warmer elevation... Boyle's Law is a bitch.

 

Yeah, I hear that they shrink in size....

 

 

Boyle's law is not a "bitch" in this case.

[bstach]

I read somewhere that you can make a poop tube out of PVC pipe. Seems to me strapping that baby onto the outside of your pack would be a good way to carry. Anybody tried this?

 

I would add the suggestion of throwing in one of those little odour absorbent pucks that they sell for diaper pails. Again, never tried it, but seems like a good idea.

[DPS]

Sounds a bit heavy. What about a dry bag?

[KaskadskyjKozak]

I read somewhere that you can make a poop tube out of PVC pipe. Seems to me strapping that baby onto the outside of your pack would be a good way to carry. Anybody tried this?

 

I would add the suggestion of throwing in one of those little odour absorbent pucks that they sell for diaper pails. Again, never tried it, but seems like a good idea.

 

The Shasta blue bags (at least a few years ago) were pretty cool. They included a piece of paper with a target drawn on it, a paper bag with some kitty litter, and then the outer plastic bag. Works pretty well - even after a Mountain House Chili Mac runs its course.

[montypiton]

Back in 1988,(when the favored practice was to "shit on a shingle" or in a paper bag and chuck it off, my partner and I simply dangled an extra stuff sack from our haul bag on The Nose. We bagged poo in doubled plastic produce bags, obtained free from the Curry Village grocery store, and just added a couple of tablespoons of baking soda to each poo-bag. Had no problems whatsoever. Kitty litter or lime may be more effective than baking soda for stench management, but the baking soda did work...