Mt. Baker Climbing - Sanitation

 

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Protect the environment and ensure public health and safety and pack-it-out.

Most areas on the Mt. Baker Ranger District where backpackers and climbers camp are in the sup-alpine or on glacier. This environment is absent of adequate soils for burying and decomposing waste, or is dominated by rock, snow and ice, creating exposure to fecal contamination in the watersheds.

Visitors are asked to pack out all their waste. This includes human waste, food scrapes, packaging, wands, and anything else that was brought in with you. The use of cat holes for human waste is not suitable in sub-alpine or alpine environments due to inadequate soils and disturbance to fragile vegetation, and to heavy use.

• Toilets are not available at most camps in the wilderness and NRA, or on the mountain.
• Bags for packing out your solid human waste are available at the ranger station in Sedro Woolley or the Glacier Public Service Center.
• There are no collection facilities at the trailheads or on the routes for bags or other pack-it-out products. Visitors can properly dispose of used pack-it-out products in garbage receptacles or empty contents down the toilet upon return home. Do not bury bags in snow, toss in a crevasse or moat, or leave along the side of trail.

Thanks for doing your part in helping to keep Mt. Baker clean.