What’s the typical camp bathroom? A filthy pit toilet in a dark, dusty bathroom. Spiderwebs and flying creatures buzzing overhead. It sounds like something from a horror movie, but if you’ve been camping you know I’ve described most campground bathrooms.
→ Products in this article: Wolf-Wise Pop-Up Privacy Tent and Reliance Portable Toilet
Maybe your camping in a desert or not-so-wooded forest where there is little privacy to go number 2. And for the ladies, this is especially a problem for both pee and poop sessions. It’s not always as easy as digging a hole.
My wife is not the type to care about this common occurrence on camping trips — she just deals with it. But now that we have a little girl who’s out of diapers, I decided to think of a solution in-case the restrooms were too nasty or far from our campsite. When planning remote camping or overland trips where there will be no bathrooms, I need some type of privacy for the entire family to handle business.
On our recent camping trip to Idyllwild, I tested out the first version of our private camp toilet setup. Like everything else in my gear list, I needed something light and compact to keep the truck as easy to pack as possible. Overlanding and camping isn’t exactly easy with a family of four plus dog so it’s crucial to only take what you need and nothing more — it’s amazing how fast a 6ft truck bed can fill up.
The two items in my camp bathroom setup are both easy to pack and light. Here they are:
Wolf-Wise Pop-Up Privacy Tent and Reliance Portable Toilet
First off — we’ll talk about the tent.
Wolf-Wise Privacy Shower/Bathroom Tent
Price: Around $40 at Amazon
This folds down small like a circular car window shade and pops up to a tent big enough for a person 6ft to stand in. I have plenty of elbow room to move around and it even has pockets to put the toilet paper and whatever else inside. Be sure to stake it down before use and practice setup and take-down a few times at home so you’re not wrestling with it in the forest. It’s not hard to do, but definitely helps to learn it first.
Reliance Fold-To-Go Collapsible Toilet
Price: Around $40 at Amazon
I’ve had this for awhile and it’s handled business just fine. The cool thing about this is you can dig a hole underneath it or use the potty bags (which work great) to safely dispose of your waste. Make sure to buy the bags with bio-gel. This camping toilet folds down nicely to fit in a tight corner of the truck bed.
Rules: Boys gotta pee behind a tree or use the campground bathroom. Sorry this isn’t for every single use. Even my wife popped a squat most of the time when dispersed camping. Dads: teach your son to pee and poop in the woods. This setup is mainly for the ladies and when there’s too many people around.
I’ll admit I used the setup towards the end of our trip when nature called at 5am and I didn’t feel like going far.
Despite us trying to cut down on the amount of gear we bring camping, this will go with us on all our trips. We may or may not need it — but you’re more likely to convince the family to get out more when you have this setup in your arsenal. For those that made it all the way to the end of this article, congrats on catching my cheesy pun!
How do you handle poop doodies in the forest?
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