Peeing in one’s canoeing shorts

PaddlingPitt · Dec 13, 2024

In 1990, Kathleen and I paddled the South Nahanni River in the Northwest Territories, with two other couples. On our first camp on the river, a caribou crossed the river. Half-way across, it peed in the river, which freaked out one of the couples. After that they refused to fill their water bottle from the river itself, but always filled from a tributary. They didn’t explain why they thought animals would not pee in tributaries.

Alasgun · Dec 13, 2024

Im surprised no one has mentioned the chance of contracting Giardia (Beaver fever) from Any water source. Up here you can get it from flowing water at the very top of the mountain’s as both the Sheep and the Caribou are up that high and probably don’t pay attention to where they pee OR poop which is where the “G” bacteria comes from!
Im not aware of any Disease you will catch from someone peeing in the water?

lowangle al · Dec 13, 2024

I guess their needs to be a study. Group A - Pees in the water with their shorts on. Group B - Pees in the bushes and may or may not use TP. At the end of the trip do a bacterial swab to see which group has the higher bacteria count, or you can do it the old fashion way.

As far as the women in the story, I think the one whose car it was over reacting. I assume the peer's shorts were dry or she would have sat on a towel. No big deal either way.

I'm glad it's recommended to pee in the water, now I don't have to feel guilty about peeing in my bailer while underway.

yknpdlr · Dec 13, 2024

Watch the Canadian historical period movie "Black Robe" and you will see a priest hanging out over the gunwale of a Voyageur canoe taking a dump. We did not do that during the Yukon River races, but we stopped for such serious necessary bio stops for no more than an agreed allowed 7 minutes to land, get out and back in the canoe. As navigator, I was the official timer.

At one such break stop landing near a clear cold water babbling brook coming down a mountainside beyond Dawson City, we all decided to fill our Nalgene water bottles at the stream to avoid the clarification process necessary of the very silty river. Once back in the boat, Teresa turned her bottle over to discover a flake of gold slowly sinking down. I quickly marked my GPS and later discovered that that particular stream had not ever been mined.

SouthernKevlar · Dec 13, 2024

You may pee in your canoeing shorts or in the river but NEVER, EVER in your DRYSUIT!

Not from personal experience.

Gamma1214 · Saturday at 7:55 AM

Seems that peeing in someone else's canoe shorts would be worse but I mark my territory in the bush (like the animal that I am)

recped · Saturday at 5:53 PM

I spend (part of) a layover day attempting to calculate how much animal poop was in the river I was paddling. I never came up with a reliable figure but it was obviously a lot.....

Beaver
Porcupines
Bears
Caribou
birds
fish
Moose
1 guy in a canoe!

yknpdlr · Saturday at 8:02 PM

Studies of lake associations where Canada geese like to congregate say that whatever goose poop you find on the land where they walk and feed, multiply that by at least a factor of five for what they leave in the water.

memaquay · Sunday at 5:58 AM

Beaver, Porcupines, Bears, Caribou, birds, fish, Moose all sh1t in the woods and sometimes in the river because they are innocent beasts of the forest, devoid of human sensibilities. A thousand or so humans congregated in a small area, swilling beer and voiding into the river should know better.

As I recall, the author of "How to Sh1t In The Woods" maintains that the spread of beaver fever to all areas of the North American continent was facilitated by loathsome bipeds, crapping near or in the water. It's just his theory, but gives one pause to think before dropping the kids off at the pool, er, in the river I mean.

Odyssey · Sunday at 9:49 AM

There should be no need for a pee police, but unfortunately as we all may know common sense and knowledge are two tools not everyone has in their toolbox much less show any practised prowess in exercising them. TP mounds near campsites are proof of this.

Black_Fly · Sunday at 4:27 PM

What about #2? Pacific Islanders did it all in the surf. Better than pit toilets, which leach into the lakes and streams anyway? Big savings on maintenance, and none of those white flagged minefields around popular campsites like those in Quetico.

Steve in Idaho · Monday at 12:25 AM

yknpdlr said:
Studies of lake associations where Canada geese like to congregate say that whatever goose poop you find on the land where they walk and feed, multiply that by at least a factor of five for what they leave in the water.

The local lake is the centerpiece of a large wildlife preserve. Its primary reason for existence (the preserve - not the lake) is to benefit migratory waterfowl. By some coincidence, waterfowl is a perfect term- because in the massive numbers that spend their time there, they most definitely foul the water. Especially the white pelicans. The end of the lake where they congregate always has a perpetual greasy sheen scattered with white smears of pelican poo.

I always carry plenty of my own fresh water when I paddle there. But as Glenn mentioned, if you go out to the middle of the lake it doesn't look half bad.....if you forget about the farm run-off. Late summer usually includes a blue-green algae bloom too, so there's that.

yknpdlr · Monday at 8:04 AM

Steve in Idaho said:
it doesn't look half bad.....if you forget about the farm run-off. Late summer usually includes a blue-green algae bloom too, so there's that

At a lake management conference I recently attended, it was reported that studies show that a critical threshold is, if the land watershed for a lake includes more than 26% agricultural land coverage, then there is, or likely will be problems with excessive algae growth, possibly including harmful algae blooms (HABs). Add to that natural increases from migratory birds and other wildlife, plus poorly managed septic systems and residential landscape chemical applications. Phosphorus is the major enemy.

Black_Fly · Monday at 8:56 AM

I’ve learned that HABs dramatically increase with the proximity of megafarms, where enormous numbers of animals are kept (often under roof). The fields cannot absorb the massive amounts of manure being produced and spread on local fields as fertilizer.

We lost the Totogatic to paddling entirely this past summer due to BG algae.

Blukanu · Tuesday at 8:51 AM

Alasgun said:
Im not aware of any Disease you will catch from someone peeing in the water?

Don’t think there is one. From what I understand urine contains very little bacteria to the point urine was often considered sterile. Well, as long as the person is healthy. Imagine having a UTI would change that dramatically.

Peeing in one’s canoeing shorts

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