Agency says pack your poop out of wilderness areas

The U.S. Forest Service hopes Conundrum won’t be a dirty word this summer. The agency will try to get backpackers to pack their waste out from campsites near the Conundrum Hot Springs, the most heavily visited overnight wilderness destination in the Aspen area. The Forest Service will place a dispenser full of human poop bags at the trailhead this month and urge backpackers to use them, according to Kevin Warner, wilderness crew supervisor for the Aspen-Sopris Ranger District. The Forest Service received a $2,950 grant from the Aspen Skiing Co. employees’ Environment Foundation this spring to purchase the bags. The manufacturer of a product called Restop 2 also donated to the cause. As a result, the Forest Service has 2,000 of the special human poop bags for use this year. Pit toilets aren’t a legal option in officially designated wilderness lands, where humans’ impact is supposed to be minimal. The Forest Service won’t provide a trash receptacle at the trailhead because it doesn’t want to bear the cost of picking up the waste bags, and probably a substantial amount of other garbage...Aspen Times