Thunder boxes, are they good or bad?

[tomo]

In the BWCA, I think Thunderboxes are absolutely necessary. In the Quetico, not so much. My teenager preferes the BWCA to the Quetico because of the Thunderboxes in the BWCA. We disagree on this point.
I prefer the BWCA style Thunderboxes to, say, the outhouses one finds at the free campsites on the Flambeau River. But in a more populated place like the Flambeau, a Thunderbox would be weird.

 

[Black_Fly]

im late to the thunder box discussion. I’m conflicted about them. Certainly they are unsightly, not a wilderness feature, and a management nightmare. I waited 10 years to take my granddaughter to a lake where there’s a couple 5 star campsites. Both boxes were full to ground level. Now, I’d hate to be the crew responsible for digging new holes in nearly solid rock and moving these boxes, but I realize that curtailing over-use of the resource is already a lost cause. Just remember to filter and treat your water. The days of “dipping a cup to drink” directly from such recreational lakes is long past. They’re a necessary evil until mankind destroys his domain so completely that his sh!t won’t matter.

And they ARE necessary in parts of Quetico, mostly along the border. They just aren’t there.

 

[yellowcanoe]

I think they are necessary at least on islands in more popular parks.. Casual canoeists think islands are safer than mainland as they are not aware that bears can swim well and use islands as rest areas. Back thirty years in Quetico one island was so badly marred by tp flowers we kept going even as dark approached.

 

[Crazy Trout Craft (CTC)]

Here is the La Verendrye box from this summer’s trip

Some were new… others … not so much

 

[soloskip]

Slightly off topic:
It can be dangerous to use a thunder box....

Oh my, I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time. I was expecting an enraged Bigfoot bursting out of the port-a-potty/ outhouse looking for the joker who tipped him over.

On topic, I would make the argument that many of the things I find offensive and damaging in the backcountry is/are “front-country” types of behavior and lack of consideration. When Covid came along, the front-country campers were forced into the backcountry because there was no space/vacancy in the front-country.

I know it happened in the Adk. Backcountry sites never required reservations, if the site you wanted was occupied, you moved on. They (DEC) started requiring reservations for a particular backcountry site, which should have solved the problem except they couldn’t read a map and paddle to a particular site. So a common solution (for the front-country types) to this is/was to occupy the first site they found unoccupied.…tough luck for the person who reserved that site when they showed up.

On a more positive note, I haven’t seen this much in the past year. Hopefully they stay away.

Skip

 

[Jatfomike]

I am in agreement with most everyone on the need for them in the BWCA, especially the past couple of years......with that said, I think the USFS work crews do a good job of placing them and maintaining/moving them. I prefer the older brown lidless fiberglass ones over the newer green ones with lids that I recently encountered. The brown ones were textured and at a glance looked like a big tree stump.....weren't as noticeable.

 

[billconner]

Would have liked to say in on the design discussion that arrived at the new design.

I kind of wonder why they don't expirement with a "mouldering privy" as the NFCT does and as I've read they are using on the AT.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

A Privy is a Privy is a Privy, or is it? - Green Mountain Club

The article previously appeared in the Fall 2013 Long Trail News. To Pee or Not to Pee –Lee Allen The Long Trail and Appalachian Trail in Vermont are well known […]

www.greenmountainclub.org

 

[billconner]

A Privy is a Privy is a Privy, or is it? - Green Mountain Club

The article previously appeared in the Fall 2013 Long Trail News. To Pee or Not to Pee –Lee Allen The Long Trail and Appalachian Trail in Vermont are well known […]

www.greenmountainclub.org

Have read that. The national parks have some good research as well. I am considering a mouldering privy on a piece of river property we own. They seem well suited to lower use areas. Not sure they'd work in BWCAW. An average of 4 occupants every day for June July August as a lot of the sites see is a lot of you know what.