K-Bone Memorial Shitter Construction

November 1-2, 2014

Last weekend Carly, myself, a whole crew of BD folks, and Bozemanites traveled to Indian Creek to construct a toilet, or more appropriately a shitter. Indian Creek’s campgrounds are fairly minimalistic and they don’t have many toilets. Superbowl Campground only had one for instance. After the passing of Kevin “K-Bone” Volkening last year in a climbing accident his friends decided the best way to memorialize him was by building a shitter in his favorite climbing area. For some out there this may seem like a strange way to memorialize and remember someone, but for those that knew K-Bone it is quite fitting of his personality.

The wheels were set in motion by many including the BLM, Friends of Indian Creek, Access Fund, Kolin Powick, Marge Volkening, and of course all the generous donators. The money was raised and the date was picked during prime Creek season to draw the biggest possible crowd.

We had a huge crew show up and put up the structure in about four hours. The toilet is a “Class B” according to the BLM. This means that it is open air with a 180 degree entrance for privacy. It is a wood/metal structure primarily, attached to a concrete foundation which was previously installed. We were responsible for the wood/metal structure. To add a little flair we brought some skeletons of raw material from BD. These skeletons were nut tools and pitons. We laser cut them out of a large sheet of steel and what remains is similar to the dough after cutting cookies.

After we finished Marge said a few words of thanks and remembrance of Kevin and pulled the coating off the awesome plaque attached to the entrance. This plaque will be plainly visible to every user of the shitter and they hopefully will be inspired to let a little of the wolf spirit roam in their own lives.

All the volunteers available made construction go quickly and we were able to get some climbing in during the afternoon. Many folks went to 2nd Meat Wall and it was a great time conversing, climbing some cracks, and enjoying the scenery.

Sunday didn’t pan out for climbing as we got a storm that rolled through in the wee hours. Many people split up to do their own thing. Carly, Andreas, Kasi, and I went to Canyonlands National Park just down the road from Indian Creek and did a nice 9.5 mile hike. The scenery was great with clouds, sun, rain, and wind changing the sky every few minutes. The park is an amazing place as well. I can’t imagine trying to navigate through it without a very detailed map. The topography there is mind boggling. I’m glad that the weather pushed us into visiting.