Crapping in the woods - an experiment

No experience like having sudden mexican food aftereffect in the woods, dashing to nearest bush, doing the business and wiping the business end with moss.
 
A.L. said:
No experience like having sudden mexican food aftereffect in the woods, dashing to nearest bush, doing the business and wiping the business end with moss.
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For a really fun time, try Amoebic dysentery when you're deep in a jungle. Trust me, there's no experience quite like it.

ETA: I should point out that improper disposal of waste is one of the things that can spread Amoebic dysentery. Keep it clean out there, boys and girls.
 
The two most horrific examples of dysentery in real life stories were Col. Greg "Pappy" Boyington's in his biography and Col. Nick Rowe's in "Five Years to Freedom." Both of which are simply excellent reads.

Listen to Uncle Bob and bury your squatchunks. :D
 
Codger_64 said:
I guess the "rules" (etiquite etc.) depend largely on where you are when nature calls. High user wilderness areas require different personal disposal methods that the seldom visited backwoods. In some high use areas there are no sanitation laws but there are a lot of sick visitors., possibly due to poor sanitation methods of prior visitors, or due to the methods of those very people who get sick.

LNT (leave no trace) is not a motto that every backwoods visitor is taught or adhears to. I do appreciate the experiment by the OP and the suggestions by others here in this thread. I agree that decomposition takes place better in the upper few inches of soil where oxygen, moisture and microbes abound.

Using the popular 2,178 mile-long Appalachian National Scenic Trail as an example, according to one source (NPS) the annual number of A.T. users has generally been reported to be between three and four million. Various other estimates place it higher or lower. Even if the actual number of users is a lot lower, that is still a large number of people performing bodily functions along that trail. Transmission of disease to humans and animals is, without proper sanitation, a very real possibility.

2jo7c.jpg
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compare that to some areas where i hike, where there may be a max of two people a year.

i'm quite amazed at the numbers for the AT :eek: i had no idea that many people used the trail! i figured around a couple hundred a year, if that. :eek:
 
Don Rearic said:
The two most horrific examples of dysentery in real life stories were Col. Greg "Pappy" Boyington's in his biography and Col. Nick Rowe's in "Five Years to Freedom." Both of which are simply excellent reads.

Listen to Uncle Bob and bury your squatchunks. :D
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There's nothing quite like it. You're out in the middle of nowhere when you start feeling a little funny. Then you start feeling really funny and, suddenly, you have to go. I mean, you really have to go... and go... and go. In my case, within a couple of hours (at most) I was drifting in and out of consciousness, was too weak to walk, and I was delirious. My men had to carry me quite aways to get to a place where they could call for transport. I woke up in the hospital in Danang in an ice bath with all kinds of lovely tubes coming out of me, and a nurse saying "we didn't think you were going to make it, lieutenant." All that from a little tiny isty-bitsy bug.

This lovely little bug (Amoeba, actually) is only one of a number of little critters that can lay you low... or kill you... that can be spread by improper sanitation. Yes, please, as Don said "bury your squatchunks."
 
This thread is useless without...oh, never mind.

I'm just wondering what you'll do for an encore. This is forum immortality! You really never need to ever post again.

Oh, and this should be made a sticky. Sticky. Ha! That just slipped out. Wait, so did that! Well, gotta go! I can't stop myself.

(just joking with ya)
 
I could do experiments and testing on various methods for "cleaning yer backside"

moss, snow, a** rag, leaves etc etc....
 
Bushman5 said:
I could do experiments and testing on various methods for "cleaning yer backside"

moss, snow, a** rag, leaves etc etc....
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Please take note: I DID NOT WRITE ANY OF THE THINGS YOU LEFT YOURSELF OPEN TO!

No, no — no need to thank me; that's what buds are for.
 
"Squatchunks" . Never heard that before, but I like it. I hope you haven't copyrighted it.

When I'm out in the bush, and I've squeezed the icing bag, I will generally cover the product with soil or leaf mould and maybe a few sticks and rocks.

Although one has to be sensible about hygiene I think that sometimes people fear what might happen too much. In my case I feel that I am healthy and am not carrying any nasty disease, so my waste going into the forest floor is possibly a lot less of a threat than all the droppings left by animals.

Naturally what I leave behind (or what leaves my behind) will contain bacteria so some forethought is needed. It would be irresponsible to leave waste near a water supply for instance. And it would be worse to take a dump without burying it deeply if you knew you might be carrying some sort of bug.

A worthy topic thanks Bushman5.

Incidentally..... we have a tree down here that is nick-named 'bushman's friend' because it has large strong leaves with a furry underside. A few of these strewn around the place are hardly noticeable compared to toilet tissue.
 
When I was a kid I used to just get a big stick and pick it up and chase my brother around with it. Worked for me.
 
coote said:
Incidentally..... we have a tree down here that is nick-named 'bushman's friend' because it has large strong leaves with a furry underside. A few of these strewn around the place are hardly noticeable compared to toilet tissue.
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Coincidentally, brother coote, we have an herbaceous plant up here called 'Camper's TP'. It's more common name is Mullein (Verbascum thapsus), and like all good survival plants, it has more than one use.

It's leaves can be used like pot holders around a campfire, rolled up and dried, they make excellent oil lamp (primitive) wicks, the plant stalks are favoured hand drills for friction fire (not mine :thumbdn: ) and the plant has medicinal qualities (colds, lung congestion) and is also a fish poison. Dipped in fat or suet, it can be used as a torch.

Your turn. :D

Doc
 
I'm an avid hunter so I use one of two creeks that are nearby so not to leave any more human scent in the area than I have to.
 
Bushman5 said:
so, in the interests of keeping this in WS&S, lets review basic woods sanitation shall we?

- pick your latrine AWAY from camp and water sources.
- dig a hole, use it, burn your TP if not fire season, and cover with a bit of mixed soil and leaves.
- wash hands with soap and water, or if camped for some time, use a bucket with bleach and water in it.
- scrub under nails very well.
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Bushman,
Excellent list. I listened to Practical Backpacking podcast episode #9 this weekend. The host interviewed Shana Tarter, head of the NOLS Wilderness Medicine Institute, and she gave nearly the same list regarding camp/wilderness hygiene.

Thanks for sharing the results of your experiment.

Ralph
 
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