Nothing can spoil a river trip so quickly as the discovery of human waste and toilet paper at a prime camping spot. To protect the quality of the Rio Grande ecosystem and to enhance the wilderness experience of a river trip, all users of the Rio Grande must apply the Golden Rule to the issue of human waste. Kayak-only or single-canoe trips are exempt from this requirement.

The National Park Service requires all commercial outfitters and private river parties to carry out their solid human waste. We require all river users to carry out solid human waste in a bagless system compatible with RV dump stations. Bagless containers can be emptied at most RV camps for a nominal fee. A list of suppliers for washable reusable toilets is provided. Currently bagless systems may be rented locally at Desert Sports (432-371-2727) in the Terlingua area.

The location in Big Bend National Park for dumping human waste from bagless systems is located at the Santa Elena take-out. Mariscal trips can dump at the RV station at the Rio Grande Village campground. For river trips exiting Boquillas Canyon at Heath Canyon, there is a dump station at the Heath Canyon Ranch Resort. For Lower Canyons trips there are dump stations at the Dryden Mercantile and Canyon RV park in Sanderson. There is a small fee for use of any of the dump stations outside the park.