When Waterton Lakes National Park got its new visitor center, it went all in on unique washrooms/Jennifer Bain

Welcome to my second annual celebration of public toilets.

As a writer who travels across Canada — and sometimes the United States and beyond — exploring national parks, national historic sites and protected places, I am a heavy user of public toilets. It's always a luxury to find a proper washroom with heating, electricity, toilet paper, running water and soap inside something like a visitor center. Usually, though, I'm scrounging around for some kind of standalone building that is hopefully open year-round and probably is some kind of vault toilet.

Put all these loos together, like I did last year, and it's fascinating to see the differences and the toilet trends.

Without further ado, here are 15 places where I gratefuly relieved myself in 2023.

Waterton Lakes National Park (Alberta)

This bathroom stall at Waterton Lakes National Park's visitor center celebrates cougars/Jennifer Bain

I was so struck by the fabulous washrooms at the Waterton Lakes National Park Visitor Centre that I immediately went online and nominated them for the Cintas Canada's Best Restroom Contest. There is a fleet of individual stalls — some with toilets, some with urinals — wallpapered with enlarged photos of animals that can be found in the southwestern Alberta mountain park that's near Glacier National Park in Montana. I poked my head in all of the stalls, both inside the visitor center and outside in a separate building. Black bears, bald eagles, cougars, foxes, great blue herons, elk, beavers and coyotes watched over people as they did their business — perhaps as a subtle reminder about what it would to relieve yourself in the wild during a back-country hike.

Lower Fort Garry National Historic Site (Manitoba)

These washrooms at Lower Fort Garry National Historic Site showcase Tyndall Stone and are hidden in the southeast bastion/Jennifer Bain

Hidden in the southeast bastion at Lower Fort Garry National Historic Site — Canada's oldest stone fort — is a lovely washroom that showcases the site's signature Tyndall Stone. The cream-colored limestone is only found in Canada and only quarried in Manitoba. It's also full of fossil fragments and has a distinct, tapestry-like mottling. At least one Parks Canada employee, based nearby in Winnipeg, told me that in all her years visiting Lower Fort Garry, she never even realized this bathroom existed and always trekked back to the visitor center.

Elk Island National Park (Alberta)

At Elk Island National Park, this washroom randomly has two toilets/Jennifer Bain

This was a first for me — a utilitarian washroom building with two side-by-side toilets and two toilet paper dispensers. Was it built for a parent and child, siblings, a couple, friends? Or was it a mistake? Nobody seemed to know. I stumbled upon it in March at the Moss Lake trailhead in Elk Island National Park before taking a Métis-led snowshoe hike through the park, which is actually home to more bison than elk. Some things are better left a mystery.

Forillon National Park (Quebec)

In Forillon National Park, this bathroom is hidden underneath Hyman & Sons General Store/Jennifer Bain

In Forillon National Park in September for a story about cruising to Parks Canada places in Quebec and Nova Scotia, I almost missed this hidden washroom. I had just visited a reconstructed Hyman & Sons General Store during a guide hike, and saw a couple squabbling by a door at the bottom of the buiding. She had to go to the bathroom and he didn't, but was following her in for some reason. That's when I realized there was something worth seeing inside — a secret bank vault concealed in the cellar's stone and brick walls that just happens to be beside the washroom. A Parks Canada interpreter told me that in his many years at this park, he had never even heard of this bathroom/bank vault.

Terra Nova National Park (Newfoundland and Labrador)

This roadside washroom in Terra Nova National Park is a thing of beauty/Jennifer Bain

A last-minute research trip to Newfoundland in April was tough because so many things are closed on the island until May or June. Driving through Terra Nova National Park on my way from St. John's to Twillingate, I was relieved to see this roadside washroom still open at the eastern end of the park, and wound up writing a fun piece about the very short trail behind it. The washroom itself has a lovely design and includes a covered seating area plus interpretive signs.

Port au Choix National Historic Site (Newfoundland and Labrador)

An oceanside loo at Port au Choix National Historic Site has a random bit of boardwalk/Jennifer Bain

I came across several outhouses in my 2023 travels that were perched by the ocean and cried out for windows. That was the case with this one at Port au Choix National Historic Site. You can find it by the Point Riche Lighthouse, looking west over the Gulf of St. Lawrence towards Labrador. I'm not entirely sure what the long, narrow deck is for other than decoration since it doesn't quite work for wheelchair users and isn't wide enough to hang out on.

Banff National Park (Alberta)

Banff National Park has been experimenting with a powdered hand soap in winter/Jennifer Bain

I was so excited to find freeze-proof, powdered soap at the Johnston Canyon P1 trailhead at Banff National Park last March that I already wrote about it. It was part of a pilot project using Eco Gold Hand Soap from Worx Environmental Products in Calgary. The biodegradable product doesn't contain plastic beads, nutshells or harsh chemicals. Dry and lightweight, it can be delivered in bulk which reduces waste in comparison to big liquid soap drums. The freeze-proof soap can apparently withstand fluctuating temperatures. Many of Banff's washrooms are closed over the winter when liquid products often freeze. It's expected that this product can be left in the dispensers over the winter to save on labor and drastically reduce spoiled or wasted products. Parks that are open year-round should take note.

Gros Morne National Park (Newfoundland and Labrador)

In Rocky Harbour, the Gros Morne National Park Visitor Centre has a wheelchair ramp/Jennifer Bain

Three things I loved about the washrooms outside the Gros Morne National Park Visitor Centre in Rocky Harbour. First, it's wheelchair friendly with a ramp and wide stalls. Second, the stalls are unisex (more on that below). And third, these toilets are outside the center and so can be accessed any time. I spent nearly a week exploring this enormous park, so this wasn't the only loo worth mentioning.

Gros Morne National Park (Newfoundland and Labrador)

At the Tablelands trail in Gros Morne National Park, a colorful washroom awaits in the bushes/Jennifer Bain

On a surface level, this outhouse stood out because it was boldly painted red and reminded me of the one we had at our cottage when I was a kid in the 1970s. I found it tucked in the bush by the parking lot for the fabled Tablelands hike at Gros Morne National Park. Tablelands — where you can hike across the Earth's mantle and marvel at alien orange rocks — is the busiest trail in the park, and while the Parks Canada Discovery Centre is just minutes down the road and offers indoor washrooms, I had to wonder why there weren't more toilets at this busy trailhead. Maybe everyone else is better at holding it than I am?

Gros Morne National Park (Newfoundland and Labrador)

it's a relief to find unisex loos at Gros Morne National Park's Western Brook Pond trailhead/Jennifer Bain

Call them unisex. Call them gender-neutral. I'm always happy to see washrooms that have single stalls that anybody can use. I've spent too much of my life standing in long lines for women's washrooms while the men's rooms stood empty. I've also ducked into those men's rooms when it made no sense not to make use of them. In Newfoundland and Labrador for most of July for book research, I hiked to Western Brook Pond with my family for a boat tour of this glacier-carved, land-locked fjord. But first I used the modern, open-air loo by the parking lot.

Prince Edward Island National Park (Prince Edward Island)

In Prince Edward Island National Park, this toilet is actually a recycling toilet/Jennifer Bain

I do love the weathered cedar shingles that adorn some of the outhouses in Prince Edward Island National Park. This bathroom, near Stanhope Beach, looked ordinary but a sign explained that I was actually using a recycling toilet. The toilet uses no water or chemicals, and waste is composted in equipment hidden below the building. I visited the island in June to check on nesting piping plovers and do a few sections of the Island Walk (PEI's Camino), including one that goes right through one section of this popular seaside park that's known for its sandy beaches and fragile dunes.

Riel House National Historic Site (Manitoba)

This washroom building has a water bottle refill station at Riel House National Historic Site/Jennifer Bain

Rather than tuck a washroom into the historic house at Riel House National Historic Site, there's one in a separate building outside. During a visit to Winnipeg in June to write a series of stories, I took a moment to admire the way the weathered exterior blended with the surroundings. But on that unexpectedly scorching day I was mainly pleased to see a water bottle refill station — something that seems to be automatically included in every modern washroom design.

Jasper National Park (Alberta)

It's hard to find Parks Canada-branded outhouse toilets, like this one in Jasper National Park/Jennifer Bain

It's always a thrill to stumble upon a vintage Parks Canada-branded toilet since they're slowly being replaced and on the verge of becoming obsolete. I found this beauty one winter day in Jasper National Park after doing an icewalk in Maligne Canyon last March. It was in a no-frills outhouse by the Fifth Bridge parking lot and shows a yellow version of the federal agency's beloved beaver logo.

Kootenay National Park (British Columbia)

In Kootenay National Park, where cell service is spotty, some washrooms come equipped with SOS phones/Jennifer Bain

When I finally made it to Kootenay National Park for the first time in November to explore Radium Hot Springs, winter was on its way and it was that dead zone between when people can hike and when they can snowshoe and ski. While I was roadtripping along the Golden Triangle, I found this outdoor washroom by the Marble Canyon Day-Use Area. The building itself was ordinary, but the bright yellow emergency phone was unusual to me. Cell service is spotty in this part of British Columbia, just over the border from Alberta's Banff National Park. But Kootenay offers SOS phones for 911 use only if people need to call police, fire or ambulance.

Rogers Pass National Historic Site (British Columbia)

Bird songs from the hermit thrush are piped into the bathroom at the Rogers Pass Discovery Centre in Glacier National Park/Jennifer Bain

I ended my 2023 Parks Canada washroom explorations on a fun note at the Rogers Pass National Historic Site in Glacier National Park. Here at the Rogers Pass Discovery Centre, while chatting with visitor experience attendant Lisa Longinotto, I heard the distinct sound of birds inside the building. "Did you hear a flush? Or was that a thrush?" a cheeky sign says inside the washroom. It turns out Parks Canada pipes in bird songs from the hermit thrush, a small, spotted bird that lives in the forests of this mountain park. "Its flute-like song usually follows harmonics found in human music," a sign explains, "which may be why it is a favourite bird song of many birders."

Random Bonus Bathroom: San Juan National Historic Site (Puerto Rico)

At San Juan National Historic Site in Puerto Rico, this woman's washroom has a seaside balcony/Jennifer Bain

In September, I visited San Juan National Historic Site for a story about the stray cats that call the urban park home and mainly live along the Paseo del Morro National Recreational Trail. But I also took a guided tour of Castillo San Felipe del Morro ("El Morro"), one of three fortifications that the National Park Service protects and preserves. The open-air women's washroom was charming, with sunshine poring in from one end and a small balcony overlooking the sea. To be honest, this bathroom offered way better views than what I had at my convention center district hotel.

The open-air washroom at San Juan National Historic Site's Castillo San Felipe del Morro has a balcony with an ocean view/Jennifer Bain