The Psychology of Shitting in the Woods.

It's not what you think...

This could honestly be the subject of a Master Thesis for a Psychology major. It’s findings totally and completely dissected and put forth for a peer reviewed publication in the likes of The New England Journal of Medicine. But it’s not a very glamourous topic for the leading Psyc doctors to write about and discuss. So I’ll do it. There are so many layers to this. The times in which you go, how you go, and where you go. I will cover all of these but there is still a LARGER layer involved here. Why is it that when you get back from digging a hole EVERYONE wants to know “how did it go”? This layer has overarching communal and social structures built in that almost no one realizes or understands.

“How was it?”

For something that seems so personal the amount of communal conversation that revolves around one’s trip into the woods is worth investigating. When we are on a roll there is so little time that you get to yourself. We eat together, hike together, sleep in proximity to each other, and travel together. This in turn causes everyone to be hyper aware when someone is missing or away from the crew. You can tell someone is absent and swiftly take notice.

“Where did {insert name of the guy that’s always gone “scouting”} go?”

When you look at the day to day family social structure you see something similar. Mostly the family socially interacts with each other unless they leave for work or school. But what happens when that family member comes back? Around the dinner table they ask; “how was it?”, “how did it go?”, and “was it good?”. This is a normal social interaction that shows the individual that you care about their absence and want to know what happened while you were away.

In wildland fire the most regular time you are away from the group is when nature calls. We are together an uncommon amount of time. So when someone leaves our tightly knit collective it is ingrained in us humans to be inquisitive about their expedition. There is also the carnal need for family interaction and connection, especially among social groups living in the wilderness. So the entire conversation about “how was it out there?” and “did it go well?” is the social reconstruction of the family dinner table conversation. It’s the equivalent of “how was your day at school today?” One could argue that the post poop interrogation is the glue that holds crews together.

We know you can’t but only feel bad when a buddy reports back sub par performance in the pines. You feel bad because it’s like a family member saying “I had a horrible day”. The psychology there could be studied for years. But alas, now that we further understand the depths to which these events bind crew cohesion together we will pull apart the intricacies and environments surrounding these trips into the timber.

Time of Day, Does it matter?

Morning :

These folks most of the year have to deal with colder conditions but are often rewarded with the best views. A morning sunrise as you hear others wrapping up their bedrolls and sounds of Jet Boils firing up. These crewmembers are arguably braver than most since the conditions are less favorable and time constraints may apply in the morning. They may also be “forcing one out” because of a rammer hike that they know looms in the distance. While others may actually use this as an excuse for performance issues on the hill. “I should have dug a hole this morning”. The morning is also when you see the most fear in a puckered crewmember’s eyes.

“If I don’t get this out now I’m fucked!”

“Do I have time?!”

Some people have a morning schedule all worked out. Wake up, drink a coffee, pop in a chew, grab a Pulaski, and start your morning walk into the woods. They are proud of their schedule and make sure everyone on the crew knows they have one. But beware of these folks. When they say to you “my schedule is off” they will blame everything on it. Their mood, their performance, their cutting ability that day, and even their attention span. You must keep an eye on the crewmember whose “schedule is off”.

Heat of the Day:

I am to believe this is the most common time for the majority to venture out. But after some reflection I started to ask myself “why?”. If you have saw chaps on it’s another whole layer that has to be dealt with. If you don’t undo all the buckles it could backfire but it also consumes precious time when they are undone in totality. Then all the sawdust chips waterfall down after you spend attention and care to ensure that didn’t happen earlier.

In the heat of the day is also when the flies are out. The afternoon hole diggers must contend with a myriad of insects that are not out in the morning. However, the sun has risen and they are living their short 48 hour lifespan by finding you digging a hole in the middle of nowhere. Buzzing nuisances that distract the squatter and could impair and disrupt your carefully planned balancing act. The fire beetles are out at this time as well which