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Staying Clean When Backpacking and
Camping |
Cleanliness and personal hygiene are not
big issues on a short backpacking trip. Other than a change of socks, why bring
any extra clothing for an overnighter? Why even think about washing your hair if
you will be camping for a weekend?
On longer trips, however, you will need to wash yourself at some
point. On any trip, you'll probably want to brush your teeth.
Here are some general tips for cleanliness and personal hygiene
while on the trail.
Teeth
Cut your toothbrush handle short. This isn't even as much about
weight as it is about fitting it more conveniently in your
bathroom kit. For a short trip, you can brush without
toothpaste. For longer trips, it may be better to bring a little
baking soda in a plastic bag, and brush with that. If you forget
your toothbrush, some tree twigs, like dogwood, can be chewed at
the end, and the resulting "brush" used for your teeth.
Body
If you bring soap, make it biodegradable and use very little.
Wash away from water sources. Rub water on yourself, lather up,
and slowly rinse off by pouring water over yourself. Dome right,
you can get a good shower from a liter of water. Washing without
soap works well enough on short trips.
There are many who think we should essentially have no contact
with nature except to walk through it. I don't buy that idea.
Wash up in that lake or stream - just don't use shampoo or soap.
Towels? I never bring them. Shake off the water and stand in the
sun for a moment. When the weather is fine you'll dry quickly
from hiking in any case. I often use any clothing I have as a
towel, and let it hang from the pack to dry.
A handkerchief can be used for simple "sponge baths." Get it wet
and wipe yourself down, or at least wash out your underarms. The
handkerchief should be rinsed out away from stream and lakes.
Hair
For a trip of a few days or less, wash your hair well before you
leave, and leave it at that. People used to do just fine washing
their hair once per week. On longer trips, rinse it out in a
stream or lake once in a while. If you do use shampoo, use it
away from water sources.
Clothing
Swimming in a lake with your shirt on will wash it out well
enough, and it will dry quicker if you just leave it on while
you hike . To wash socks, carry some water away from a stream or
lake and wash the socks out by soaking, scrubbing, then rinsing
them as you slowly pour water over them. Wring them out and hang
them from your pack to dry while you hike.
Washing Dishes
The "leave no trace" fanatics actually recommend straining out
food particles from your dishes and packing them out. The wild
carrots all over the wilderness are the same species as the ones
I bring with me, so how can a few pieces hurt? They can't.
Go ahead and wash out your pan using water from a lake or
stream. Just dump the wash water away from the stream at the
base of a bush, or in a small hole scraped in the sand. The odd
noodle or two may be ugly, and certainly can attract animals
(keep that in mind), but otherwise there is no study showing
that our dishwater is destroying the wilderness.
I don't use soap. The pan will be sanitized by cooking, and
bowls and spoons, if scrubbed with sand and dried thoroughly,
will be safe enough.
Pooping
In many crowded parks, you are asked to or required to carry
your fecal waste back out with you. This may be a good idea in
those areas. In most areas, it is enough to scoop a hole in the
earth and bury it - at least 100 yards from water sources. At
high altitude there are not the necessary microorganisms
to break it down. The newest technique, therefore, is to smear
it on a rock , where the sun can disinfect and dry it to break
it down.
Use as little toilet paper as you can. In some areas it is
appropriate to bury it along with your poop, while in others it
may make more sense to pack it out, or at least burn it before
you bury it. Not all environments are equally fragile, and
you'll have to think for yourself on some of these issues.
Urine usually isn't a problem, being generally inert. In some
crowded areas, like the Grand Canyon, they advise peeing
straight into the river. The volume of water there makes this
appropriate. Otherwise, the few good places to camp start to
smell of urine from the thousands of visitors.
A Few More Cleanliness And Hygiene Tips
- Anti-bacterial hand sanitizer, in one-ounce plastic bottles,
is a convenient way to clean your hands on the trail. Regular
rubbing alcohol does the same thing and costs less.
- Crushed spruce needles can be rubbed under your arms to mask
odors.
- Washing socks with crushed pine or spruce needles can help
make them smell better.
- Water bottles are more sanitary than bladders, because there
are no outside exposed mouthpieces that can get dirty.
- Add three times as many iodine tablets as normal to water, and
you have a decent disinfecting wash for cuts or skin problems,
or to wash foods that may have bacteria on the surface.
- Hanging clothes in the sunshine and air will partly disinfect
them and make them smell fresher.
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Planning to have campfires? It may be tough to start one if everything is
damp. Carry a fire starter or two, to make it easy. Pieces of
cardboard soaked in candle wax work well, even when wet.
Dried peat moss can be used for insulation to turn a light
jacket into a warm coat. Just stuff the jacket full without
removing it. It can also be used as mattress material or toilet
paper.
Sleeping bags should not be stored in stuff sacks. This constant
compression will eventually crush the insulation, making for
less loft and therefore less warmth. Store bags unpacked on a
shelf or in a large cloth bag. |
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