Question on taking a real shower/bath on the trail

[krshome]

Ok I have been backpacking for many years and have tried many different ways of keeping clean on the trail. I was wondering what others are doing and using to bathe. I'm not looking for the baby wipe, wipe down or dipping in the creek but more of a soap and water cleaning away from the water source. What are you using for a water containers and how are you using them? What kind of wash rag are you using for wiping down with? Do you do you laundry at the same time with the same water? Thanks all

[QiWiz]

I also like to stay clean on trail. I bring a collapsible Sea to Summit bucket (see http://www.rei.com/zoom/ii/d8773db7-...9ef9b1.jpg/440), a pack towel, and a small squeeze bottle of camp suds. I fill this at my water source and head off into the woods carrying with me my "camp/sleep clothes" until I'm out of sight of others. Then I take off hiking clothes and start with getting head/hair clean and proceed downward from there. I can get almost as clean with a mostly full bucket as I can at home, and still have enough water left over to wash out my hiking clothes (shirt, boxers, socks) which I then hang up on a light clothesline in camp. The next day I again wear the same hiking shirt, but switch to a second boxers and socks while the previous day's are finishing to dry on the outside of my pack as I hike.

[Another Kevin]

QiWiz described exactly my routine, except that I try to keep the water in the bucket clean for rinsing with, so the soapy rag goes in my cookpot, and the boxers and socks get soaped up in the pot and rinsed in the bucket. I use peppermint Dr Bronner's as camp suds.

In wet conditions, I carry another pair of socks and change and wash my socks at my lunch break. Yeah, in wet conditions, I can't ever get either pair dry, but clean wet socks are better than gritty, muddy wet socks.

Fine art illustrating the final stage of the process. (Artist is Grant Wood, the same man who painted American Gothic. Image is NSFW in some workplaces.)

[BirdBrain]

I also use a sea to summit bucket. I use unscented Dr Bronners and my bandana for the wash cloth. I have a Walmart absorber towel that I use to dry off with. It is a multiuse item and gets cleaned and used a ton. I normally get so filthy that between me and my clothes it takes several trips to the water source. I still stink though no matter how much I try to stay clean.

[Bronk]

I've lived off grid for nearly 10 years and I shower every day with a 2 gallon bucket. I usually boil between 2 and 3 quarts of water to mix with a gallon to a gallon and a half of cold water and it usually comes out warm to hot depending upon how cold the water is to start with. Like others have mentioned, I keep the water in the bucket clean so it can be used to rinse. Splash some water on your face and head, under your pits and in your crotch and then soap up. When you're ready to rinse I've found it best to pour some water directly under each armpit and across your chest before squatting down and dumping the rest of the bucket over your head. This ensures that you are thoroughly rinsed on both the front and back. With a collapsible bucket you can do this just about anywhere you can access water.

[Tipi Walter]

I've lived off grid for nearly 10 years and I shower every day with a 2 gallon bucket. I usually boil between 2 and 3 quarts of water to mix with a gallon to a gallon and a half of cold water and it usually comes out warm to hot depending upon how cold the water is to start with. Like others have mentioned, I keep the water in the bucket clean so it can be used to rinse. Splash some water on your face and head, under your pits and in your crotch and then soap up. When you're ready to rinse I've found it best to pour some water directly under each armpit and across your chest before squatting down and dumping the rest of the bucket over your head. This ensures that you are thoroughly rinsed on both the front and back. With a collapsible bucket you can do this just about anywhere you can access water.

Like Bronk I too lived in primitive conditions for decades (including my wilderness backpacking trips) and have come up with suitable bathing options (although one winter at the Tipi I went 76 days without a bath).

** Build an outdoor fire and heat up several gallons of water in a pot. Cool with cold water. If available pour water into hanging solar shower and stand underneath. Use one gallon to get wet and suds up with Bronners. Use the last 2 or 3 gallons for rinsing.

** Build a sweatlodge and cover with tarps and heat up a couple dozen rocks in an outdoor fire and do a sweat. This is the best technique in the winter to get squeaky clean. Have a bucket of cold water outside the sweatlodge for rinsing. See below pic---

** When backpacking you have several options: Take a rag or sponge bath with cold water and wipe down your body. Obvious.

Jump into a creek and thoroughly wash. Suds up with Bronners away from the creek and rinse with cold creek water from your cooking pot as a scooper. When it's really cold alot can be accomplished by washing just your hair, scalp and face. Also wash out your underwear (have two pair) because on Day 10 or a 20 day trip a pair of clean underwear will make you feel 20 years old for about 25 minutes.


Sweatlodge frame in foreground of pic. Cover with blankets/tarps and do a sauna.

[Another Kevin]

Oh some more thoughts.

I carry a piece of Tyvek that can serve as a footprint if I'm pitching my tent on an abrasive surface like sandstone. More often than not, the Tyvek serves as a doormat in the tent vestibule, a dry place to sit, or a bath mat - or, Heaven forbid, to keep my stuff off the dirty floor of a shelter.. It's nice to be able to rinse off without immediately finding myself standing in a mudhole, and have a clean space to sit while I'm washing my feet.

Oh, and if the bugs are bad, or it's chilly in the evenings, or I might be making a dry camp, I might bathe in the heat of the day instead of in camp. It just means getting a little farther off the trail.

I try to get as much soap as possible off the pits and bits with a bandana before resorting to pouring water, to save as much of the bucket as possible for rinsing my hair and beard.

I'm with BirdBrain that washing clothes takes at least one more trip to the water source, and I might even need another bucketful before my hair feels rinsed.

I don't bother with boiling up a large volume of water. I might take some of the chill off the bucket with a Grease Pot full of boiling water, if I think I can spare the fuel. But a Grease Pot is the only vessel I have for boiling water in.

[BirdBrain]

I don't heat my water. I like to swim a lot too. That works the best. An hour in a lake leaves me about as clean as I can get.

[krshome]

I'm now looking at the sea to summit Ultra-sil folding bucket to give a try. I'm wondering if the sea to summit kitchen sink would work better being that it has a nice big opening?? Any feed back on trying that??

[BirdBrain]

I am not sure how the kitchen one works. I like the handle on the bucket. There are times that the water source is not convenient. It is nice in those times to lug a bucket full and hang it on the side of a tree for later.

[squeezebox]

Every time I tried to use the sea to Summit bucket it fell over. Suggestions??

[BirdBrain]

Every time I tried to use the sea to Summit bucket it fell over. Suggestions??

Don't set it down unless it is on a reasonably level surface or naturally depressed. Even then, watch the handle and sides. The bucket can easily collapse inward and then spill out one side. I try to hang it where I can and be really careful when I can't.

[TwoSpirits]

Just a thought on making a sweat lodge: Take care in selecting the rocks you are going to heat in your fire. Rocks that have even small fissures where water can hide will explode like a small bomb once they heat up and the steam inside blows out. And nobody wants that.

Sent from...wait, where am I?

[CarlZ993]

I use a 3-L capacity Backpackers Pantry Pack Bowl (just over an oz) & some Dr. Bronner's soap. I fill up the bowl & take it away from the water source. Use some No-Rinse Shampoo on my hair first. Then, I'll add some soap in the bowl & do a quick sponge bath - face first. When it's time to clean the buttocks area, I switch to a different colored bandana & pour (rather than dip) the water over the second bandana & finish up cleaning.

After finishing the sponge bath, I'll use some alcohol gel on my hands & I'm done.

I got a compliment in one of the huts in the Whites: "You don't smell bad for a thru-hiker."

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/76983474854955401/

[squeezebox]

Birdbrain - I am naturally depressed.

[krshome]

Ok being that the sea to summit buckets seems to be a little tippy i'm wondering if the Ultra-sil model is worse. Does anyone have any experience with the ultra-sil model? I have also seen that the bucket can be folded downward for strength to make it more like a kitchen sink but only gives you half the water holding capacity. If that works with the Ultra-sil Ill be set.

[BirdBrain]

Birdbrain - I am naturally depressed.

Well the... I guess you know where to place the bucket.

[QiWiz]

hang it from a tree branch or propped stick.

[perrymk]

When I was a puppy my bicycle water bottle had two lids. One regular and one with holes like a salt shaker. It made a handy shower for a short rinse after taekwondo class. I'm thinking when I thru in 2020 to bring along and extra lid with holes drilled for my gatorade water bottle. First use the water bag method others have described, then use the bottle for efficient rinsing.

[Just Tom]

I've found that with collapsible buckets you just need to tie a cord around the trunk of any tree (branches or not) five feet up and then with the other end tie the handle and synch it up so it stands while the bucket is still on the ground. Provides just enough support to help it stand up.