Dig a cathole 6 to 8 inches deep and 4 to 6 inches across, at least 200 feet from water, trails, and campsites, then pack out anything that doesn’t fully bury — that’s the standard set by the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics, and it’s echoed word for word by the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (SRC-01, SRC-02, SRC-03). In fragile alpine or desert terrain, land managers can require you to pack waste out entirely instead.
It sounds like a small detail for a trip plan already crowded with permits and mileage, but human waste disposal is one of the seven Leave No Trace principles for a reason: done wrong, it contaminates water sources, slows decomposition in dry or cold soil, and leaves the kind of mess that gets popular trailheads closed to camping. Done right, it’s a two-minute task with a fixed set of numbers you can memorize before you leave the car.
What exactly is a cathole, and how deep does it need to be?
A cathole is a small, individual hole dug for a single instance of solid human waste, not a communal pit. The Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics specifies a hole “6-8 inches deep and 4-6 inches in diameter” (SRC-01), a depth range the National Park Service repeats in its own principle summary (SRC-02). That depth sits in the organic soil layer, where microbial activity is highest and waste breaks down fastest — go shallower and decomposition slows along with concealment; a garden trowel or a lightweight plastic trip shovel gets you there without adding real weight to a pack.
How far from water, trails, and camp does it have to be?
All three sources converge on the same figure: 200 feet, roughly 70 to 80 adult paces, from water, trails, and campsites (SRC-01, SRC-02, SRC-03). The Fish and Wildlife Service extends that same 200-foot buffer to washing up — carry your water and any biodegradable soap 200 feet from the stream or lake before you rinse dishes or hands, rather than doing it streamside (SRC-03). The distance matters most near water: waste buried too close can leach into a stream during runoff or a hard rain, which is the exact contamination Leave No Trace’s waste principle exists to prevent.
What do you do with toilet paper?
Toilet paper goes in the cathole with the waste and gets buried, not left on the surface and not set on fire. Leave No Trace is explicit that burning it is discouraged because of wildfire risk (SRC-01). The more conservative, and increasingly common, alternative many backcountry travelers now carry is to pack used toilet paper out in a sealed bag, the same way they’d pack out any other trash — a habit worth adopting on multi-day trips through fire-restricted terrain where you can’t count on the paper fully decomposing before the next visitor arrives.
When do you need to pack waste out instead of burying it?
In some places, digging a cathole isn’t an option at all. Leave No Trace notes that in fragile alpine or desert settings, land managers may require that all solid human waste be packed out, and calls out narrow river canyons specifically as terrain where burial isn’t permitted (SRC-01). Thin alpine soil, slow-decomposing desert ground, and canyon corridors with heavy foot or boat traffic all share the same problem: not enough organic soil depth or turnover to break waste down before the next person digs in the same spot. That’s why popular high-use canyons and alpine zones increasingly require a portable toilet system, commonly called a WAG bag, that you carry out with the rest of your trash.
Because pack-out requirements are set locally, check with the managing land agency for your specific route before you go — a permit page or ranger station bulletin will say plainly whether catholes are allowed or whether you need to bring a waste-carry kit. Conditions change; check with the managing agency before you go.
Why does this one principle carry so much weight on popular trails?
Waste disposal sits alongside choosing durable campsites and packing out trash as one of Leave No Trace’s seven principles precisely because it scales badly. A single cathole dug correctly, 200 feet out and 6 to 8 inches down, has essentially no lasting trace. Multiply that by the visitor numbers on a busy summer weekend at a popular trailhead, and shallow or close-in burial becomes the kind of cumulative impact that pushes land managers toward permit caps, seasonal closures, or mandatory pack-out rules for everyone who follows. The fix costs nothing beyond planning: bring a trowel or a WAG bag depending on where you’re headed, know the 200-foot distance before you need it, and treat the two minutes it takes as part of the hike, not an afterthought.
For a related planning perspective, read How to Get a Half Dome Permit in Yosemite.