GSI Outdoors  Cathole Sanitation Trowel

This little trowel gets the job done. Very sturdy without being heavy. It also has measurement lines for making sure your hole is deep enough and instructions on proper waste disposal which is a nice touch. It's not at all the color in the picture (more of a very light grey/green color) but that obviously doesn't impact its ability to dig holes.

Yes you read that right, it digs a mean hole! My wife and I used this in Yosemite up near Dewey Point and it was able to get into the dry dirt easily. Some spots had dead plant roots and the serrated edge actually cut well through it. I was afraid to get the plastic shovel versus the metal ones. But the plastic they use is very sturdy and like how the shovel has a depth gauge and Leave No Trace tips on cat holes. They will wear off eventually but it is a part of the molding process and should last a while. When the depth gauge goes away the tip of the shovel to where it meets the handle is about 6”.

This trowel is about as light as the come at 90 grams, but I still got heat from my fellow ultralight backpackers for carrying a trowel. That was until I took a hack saw and cut off the handle. It now weighs only 1.4 oz, which I'm willing to tolerate, especially since there's no telling when nature will call and sometimes I don't want to waste time looking for a decent rock to dig a cat hole. If anything, I'd say it works better without the handle. I even drilled a hole in the top for a loop of cord to hang it on my pack.

I may have used every trowel out there and this is the one I like best. It's much stronger than the old orange ones; I've abused mine for over a year now and it still hasn't cracked. I like the green color which is much less obvious than the orange, and I like that it's made from recycled material. It's simple and has no moving parts to malfunction or break; it has no itty bitty plastic parts that can get lost in the woods. Most importantly: it's inexpensive, lightweight and reliable.

This trowel was suggested to me by a very knowledgeable REI employee, and I'm glad he did! It is light, durable, inexpensive, and gets the job done respectably :). The serrated edges helped greatly in the root rich soil of the Hoh rain forest where me and two others recently went on our first back packing trip, and the depth markers are helpful, especially for inexperienced cathole diggers such as myself ...forty miles and the trowel never failed! Buy one, heck, buy five, it feels good getting exactly what you need for such little money!

First trip out with this tool. There is a 2 inch layer of very fine roots on the forest floor. I cut a circle through the roots to dig a cat hole and shove the trowel in to start removing soil for the hole when I hear *kapowww*. Honestly not the sound or action I wanted to hear at that moment. It was the first time it was used so I can not say that it was abused or stressed. Just not up for the job.

A cheap alternative to the other trowels out there and does the job well. Used extensively on my recent 21 day backpacking trip of the John Muir Trail. Very sturdy.

This worked well for three weeks straight with no problems. My next trip I woke up the next morning and in a hurry went to dig a hole in some reasonably soft Rocky Mountain soil, rocky but loose, and the shovel broke. I'm sure I hit a rock which broke it but it seemed too easy still. It's not a bad shovel and will take care of you if you take care of it but I'd rather go with a collapsable metal shovel to avoid a repeat.

I am a Leave No Trace Master Educator. This is such a great improvement over the orange trowel. We would get many complaints about that one breaking, and difficulty in rocky soil, or many small roots. This one works so much better, and less than 5 bucks. We give it to all our LNT Trainers who take our course.

Well, you dig a hole, do your business, and refill the hole. Works like a charm. I won’t add a photo or video!