The Islip Saddle Sheraton?

c) Andrew Carter, 2021

True confession time. You aren’t really a long-distance hiker until you’ve slept in a latrine. Here’s the “room” I stayed in the night I was road-walking part of the Angeles Crest Highway to get around a 20-mile section of the PCT which was closed due to last year’s Bobcat Fire.

Of course, some caveats. The Angeles Crest Highway is closed each winter due to snow. Part of the highway had just recently opened. As a consequence, this latrine had had little recent use and didn’t smell at all. I would have to be very hard up to spend the night in a smelly latrine. You will also note that there is a ground cloth separating my bed from the floor and I am as far away as possible from the actual toilet.

Now, why on earth would I spend the night in a latrine? One, it’s enclosed and I was on top of a very windy ridge. I’ve also spent the night in a latrine on a cold, rainy night. Two, I was walking through a fire zone, and I was not supposed to leave the highway and enter what remained of the woods to make camp. Three, a latrine floor is perfectly flat. No slope that causes you to slide off your air mattress in the night. And no rocks that dig into your back and backside.

I can tell you that I’ve become a connoisseur of latrines. Only the modular concrete ones are big enough to sleep in. Thank you, Americans with Disabilities Act. This concrete latrine (usually called a “vault toilet” or a “waterless restroom” by the industry) was manufactured by Boom Concrete in Newell, SD. I’ve also slept in one made by CXT of Spokane, WA and Hillsboro, TX. It was nicer because it was bigger. I’ve never had the opportunity to sleep in a Romtec or Missoula Concrete vault toilet. From an aesthetic standpoint, those are the top of the line, with the concrete sides molded into fancy faux field stone and faux log timber. But someday ….

So yes, I know that you, dear reader, are tittering while you read this. But until you’ve “been there,” I won’t bother to listen.