HYGIENE ON THE TRAIL

When a Shower is Three Days Away: Hygiene Tips for the Trail

I’m excited to wind down this Thursday by taking my bro-in-law Jamal out for dinner at our favorite sushi joint in Boston, Avana Sushi. If you’ve never been, I highly recommend! I managed to get to the restaurant a little early, which is great, because now I have a bit of time to chat with you guys about something I’ve wanted to talk about for a long time: keeping up with hygiene while backpacking or on long camping trips.

And it’s really tough! Especially when you’re outdoors in a place where running water is limited. I’ve been through many, many camping trips where showers were scarce and really beautiful outdoor experiences were slightly dampened by the uncomfortable feeling that layers of dirt and grime were caking onto your skin. I will add, hygiene needs depend on the climate. I personally prefer desert climates like California’s Death Valley because the arid environment immediately evaporates any sweat, which prevents bacteria from growing and spreading. No matter the climate, though, there are a few simple hygiene steps that will help you to enjoy the great outdoors even more!

So here are some tips:

1.)  Baby wipes are key! I can’t stress this enough; they’re one of my necessity items for any camping trip. Wiping down the body with just a few baby wipes after a long hike makes a huge difference. Plus, even if there’s access to showers, baby wipes still come in handy in all sorts of versatile ways, including messy s’mores snacks, soothing an injury, or having an embarrassing diarrhea emergency on the trail (hey, it happens!). I even bring these bad boys on backpacking trips, though admittedly in much smaller numbers; I usually will count out 5 per day per person for the trip, and then separate them from the main pack and compress them in a zip lock baggie.

2.)  Do not wear cotton bases. I’m not backing this up with any science, though I’m sure it’s out there, but in general I find that cotton bases (i.e. underwear and undershirts) hold in sweat a lot more than non-cotton materials like spandex. Not only does non-cotton stuff smell better after, say, five days without a wash, but they also insulate and help you regulate your body temperature better. Below are a few items that I use and wear regularly for camping trips.

3.)   Follow your nose; clean your tent when it smells. Bacteria is really helpful in telling us where it’s growing by smelling really bad, so always sniff around when you’re setting up or breaking down the tent. If you have room, and I recommend you make room, try to bring small packages of disinfectant wipes with you as well and wipe down the tent every time before breaking it down. It’s easy for a tent to get stinky in no time, especially if that’s where you’re storing all your stuff, so if mid-trip you begin to smell something, a few quick wipe-downs of the tent, and anything else that smells, really helps against your tent getting that stale body odor smell. As a last resort, you could use odor maskers, but I usually avoid them since they don’t really tackle the stink’s source and are also often carcinogenic. J

4.)  Keep things dry. Everyone loves a dip in the lake, but if you pack a damp towel or bathing suit, your things will smell musty in no time. It’s important to dry out everything that gets wet or damp, even sweaty clothing, before packing them away. If I don’t have a clothes line with me, and I usually don’t unless it’s a very luxurious kind of car camping with family, I like to leave wet things draped over my tent on sunny days. The sun’s UV rays also act as a disinfectant, so you’re technically drying and disinfecting at the same time!

5.)  Separate icky from non-icky. Those plastic bags that inevitably accumulate somewhere in your pantry have a lot of versatile uses, including keeping dirty laundry away from clean and unused clothes. It’s easy for dirt and smells to travel in tightly packed bags like backpacks. Keeping dirty laundry bagged and separated from everything else will help to make sure that your clean clothes stay clean! I’ve also noticed that most back-packing backpacks have two main compartments, which you can also use as a barrier between dirty and clean.

Those are my main five tips! Just remember: it’s easy to get hung up on the little things, but try to remember that the outdoors is meant to get you a little dirty. You’re supposed to get dirt between your toes and twigs in your hair. It’s a part of the experience! So focus more on finding a comfort level that’s right for you rather than being as pristine as possible.

Anyway, let me know what you think! Do you have any hygiene tips of your own? Follow my "Creative Camping" Pinterest Board to get more ideas.