You marvel at friends’ stories of weeklong adventures in the backcountry.

You dream of joining the millions of hikers who hit the trails each year, but you feel like you can’t without the answer to one nagging question: Where’s the bathroom?

If taking care of bodily business outside seems too messy or too awkward, products are available to make the experience a little easier.

Trowels or shovels. While your standard garden trowel will work just fine for digging and filling cat holes, gear manufacturers have designs that are lighter or collapsible. REI (www.rei.com) sells products that range from the bright orange, plastic Sanitation Trowel for $1.75, to the U-Dig-It stainless steel folding shovel for $17.95.

Portable toilets. These are geared more toward car camping than long hikes since they are too heavy or too bulky to carry for long distances. REI sells the PETT Portable Environmental Toilet that takes a liner and folds into a carrying case, $89, the Reliance Luggable Loo, $16, and the Century Portable Toilet, $69.

Women’s devices. The Sani-Fem Freshette F.U.D. (feminine urinary director) allows women to urinate standing up and not expose themselves. A tube extends from a cup. REI sells it for $19.95.

Waste bags. Blue bags and twist ties are available at an increasing number of parks and national forests. The WAG Bag waste kit comes with a waste bag, zip-close storage bag, toilet paper and hand sanitizer. Waste bags contain an agent that turns waste into a stable gel, neutralizes odors and catalyzes decomposition. REI sells the single kit for $2.75, or a pack of 12 for $28.

How-to guides. Many hiking and backpacking books include chapters about how to urinate or defecate outside. One book, considered the comprehensive guide, is a humorous look at the subject: “How to S* in the Woods: An Environmentally Sound Approach to a Lost Art,” by Kathleen Meyer. Village Books sells it for $7.95.

Taking care of business off the beaten path doesn't always entail all the comforts of home, but it needn't be a reason not to hit the trails.

For more information about proper outdoor human waste disposal, go to www.lnt.org, the Web site for the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics.

For those who are greenest to outdoor life, taking care of basic human functions outside can be baffling enough to keep them within close range of a flushing toilet.

Judging by the messy, stinky piles, not everyone lets their lack of knowledge keep them out of the forest.

“Every year we have a problem with higher-use cross-country zones,” says Michelle Blank, a North Cascades National Park wilderness ranger. “People will poop in the snow, the snow melts, and it leaves piles of waste.”

This year, 15 rangers patrolling North Cascades National Park campsites and cross-country zones encountered 109 piles of human feces or toilet paper. That’s up from 63 piles in 2005.

Trailheads can be a problem, too, because of the higher concentration of people, says Magenta Widner, a forest technician for the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.

“Some of the trailheads … you would walk off from the parking lot and would find toilet areas where people had just left waste.”

That has been less of a problem as more toilets have been installed at parking lots near popular trails.

Besides detracting from the outdoor experience for passers-by, human waste also can present a health hazard, especially if feces wash into nearby streams and lakes.

And with population increases putting more pressure on parks and wilderness areas, leaving outside places the way you found them becomes more important – for the next human visitors and the resident flora and fauna.

What to do when you have to go doesn’t have to be a mystery.

“It just seems like a new skill to learn like a lot of backcountry skills,” Blank says.

She and other local experts have a few tips for how to be responsible when you have to go:

For feces:

¢ Choose a spot 200 feet from water supply, campgrounds and trails. Choose a private area that people are unlikely to encounter.

¢ Dig a hole. This only works for areas with rich soils that can decompose waste. The hole should be 6 to 8 inches deep. Cover waste when you’re finished. According to the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics, new studies show that waste is slow to decompose, lingering in cat holes for more than a year. But the group endorses burying it over leaving it in the open.

¢ For toilet paper, opinions vary on whether to bury it or pack it out. If you choose to bury it with waste, use it sparingly and be sure the soil isn’t too densely packed on top of it.

¢ Pack it out at higher elevations, in snow, and in areas that lack deep soils. Burying waste in snow accomplishes nothing.

¢ Be prepared. Bring a trowel and bags or other container. “If you didn’t bring a shovel and you have to go, you’re still going to go,” Widner says.

¢ Dig the dirt first. Pat Kennedy, a sales specialist at the Bellingham, Wash., REI, points out that digging the hole before you go means you only have to touch dirt with your trowel.

For urine

¢ Avoid plants. Use the trail, rock or bare ground. Urine can attract animals that will try to dig at the plants and lick them to get to the salt.

¢ Consider diluting with water.

¢ Streams are OK. Urinating in water or near water is considered acceptable, although some argue ammonia and other substances in urine will become a problem as the population of outdoor enthusiasts increases.

¢ Don’t use composting toilets. These toilets function better when they are dry.

Getting comfortable

For the uninitiated, a little positioning advice might be helpful.

Choose a level spot, stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart and squat.

Women might consider finding a soft surface to avoid splashing and facing uphill on a slight incline to avoid pooling around your feet.

“It’s one of the huge hurdles for people when they first start getting into the backcountry and in the woods,” says Kennedy. “But it’s really natural.”