What do you do with your dirty clothes?

[Shrewd]

So it's been a long day and you've set up camp, changed, made dinner and all that.
do you keep your sweaty hiking clothes in your tent? Hang em on a line outside? What if it's raining?

i imagine keeping them in the tent would get pretty rank after awhile

[Cheyou]

I wash me and clothes every day . Sox shirt running shorts wear to dryif needed

[CamelMan]

You can string a clothesline. Wash them every night, try to let them dry during the next day if possible, then wear your clean set to bed.

[Slo-go'en]

Wash them every night? Who's got time and energy for that? (and NEVER, NEVER wash anything in a water source!) The only time I wash clothes is in town at a laundromat.

Wet clothes never dry unless they are hung in the sun for a while. Leaving them out overnight can get them wet just from dew.

I roll my clothes up and put them in the sleeping bag stuff sack (if their not too wet) just before I climb into the sack. By that time my pants are pretty dry from body heat and the only thing which might still be damp is the hiking shirt, unless it's warm enough I didn't have to change out of it right away and body heat had a chance to dry it.

[MuddyWaters]

Pretty much wear them to dry them, unless soaked. They get ripe, but no more so than you. Whats this "changed" thing? The only way to dry stuff once sun goes down is to wear it,

[Don H]

I lay my dirty clothes over my food bag in my tent at night to keep the bears away

[Christoph]

(and NEVER, NEVER wash anything in a water source!)

Most important post of the day right there but I saw it happen a lot on my thru attempt. That's another story though.

After hiking for the day, I'd wash up with wet wipes or whatever, then get into my "camp clothes" (usually the ones that stay dry and double as town clothes). As for wet stuff, I just slung 'em over my pack in my tent. Put them back on in the morning and they dry rather quickly with body heat while hiking. If they get too smelly I carry a few Walmart plastic bags for trash and stuff, I'd just use one of the bags and a little camp soap/water, and mix it up a while (away from any water sources or anywhere near the shelters/campsites. Then hang em on my pack to dry or lay them in the sun. Didn't wash every day but did in towns/hostels mostly.

[evyck da fleet]

Well I wash my clothes in town but my pack doesn't get washed until I'm thru so that's probably the nastiest thing in my tent. Clothes go over food bag like Don H said.

[jimmyjam]

I wear mine around camp until the sweat dries. Then I change into my sleep/camp clothes and put my hiking clothes in a plastic grocery type bag and throw them in the tent. If its going to be cold over night I'll put the bag under my pad so my clothes aren't freezing when I put them on in the morning.

[daddytwosticks]

In cooler/drier weather, I wear them for awhile when I stop to make camp. Hopefully, body heat will do some drying. I then tend to change into camp/sleeping clothes and air out the hiking duds on a line. At bedtime, they get folded up and put under the head of my pad for some elevation. If they don't stink too bad and are relatively dry, into the stuff sack they go for a pillow.

In warmer/humid weather, they get hung to air out, semi-dry as soon as I stop for the day. They will no doubt reek and be soaking wet from sweat. I clean up as best as possible then into camp clothes. The damp, stinky hiking clothes get folded up and placed under the head of my mat for some elevation.

I ALWAYS have a fresh and dry set of camp clothes to hang out and sleep in.

[rafe]

I certainly don't wash them every day, that's for sure. About all I really do is segregate the really foul bits from those that are still wearable, until the next town stop where I can wash it all.

[OneDoesNotSimplyWalk]

I usually just hang them up to air out over night and then just pack them into a trashbag during the day. If anything gets particularly rank I just bring up some water and give it a rinse. Overtime me and my girlfriend just kind of get used to the smell though (we're just sexy like that).

[RockDoc]

The good thing about hiker stink is that you don't smell your own, so if you keep to yourself it's not a problem.

Other people do, however...

I recall a conversation at a gas station in Virginia, where the cashier said "I know you're not a hiker, because you don't stink". Actually I was a hiker, but I had washed and put on clean clothes before going out in public.

[swjohnsey]

Wear them. Except for socks, I don't carry extra.

[nsherry61]

If the weather is warm enough that I am sweating enough that I need to wash my cloths (frequently, maybe every day in summer, rarely in winter), I generally try and do it in the early afternoon while it's still warm and I'm warm. I wash my cloths and wash myself and then put my wet (or just damp if rung out with a towel) cloths on and finish hiking the rest of the day. Cloths are dry in a few minutes typically (extra socks hanging on backpack may take a couple hours). Then, when I make camp, I'm fairly clean, my hiking cloths are dry and not too horrid (only a few hours of hiking in the cooler afternoon), so I often don't change my cloths at all. I don't carry dedicated sleep/camp cloths, but often my long-johns are only used at night, so they end up being sorta dedicated. If the weather is hot enough that I am still overheating at the end of the day, I will often postpone my bathing until I stop for the day so I'm extra clean (sunscreen and bug dope free) crawling into bed.

[CamelMan]

Wash them every night? Who's got time and energy for that? Wet clothes never dry unless they are hung in the sun for a while. Leaving them out overnight can get them wet just from dew.

Well, there are only 4 things to wash, that there are duplicates of, and 2 of them are socks. It's very hard to dry anything, yes, but in 2010 I didn't start until May 5th or so, and remember having to make a turban to prevent red neck (not that there's anything wrong with that) so I probably got lucky that I could dry things on my pack at least some of the time. I do remember having to put things on wet, too. I took to carrying a cut off milk jug that felt really light and I could do laundry in. Don't carry it upright in a rain, though. Of course I had the full 8 oz bottle of liquid soap and a small shammy for washing up, and even some spare bungee for a clothesline. Now that I think about it, maybe all of this is part of the reason it took 3 weeks to get to Fontana... Great hike though.

[garlic08]

I'm in the "wash during the afternoon and wear it dry" camp. I try to be decently clean when I set up camp. I don't mind a couple hours of hiking after doing laundry/bathing. Now, there are plenty of days there are zero opportunites or not enough surface water for either, and/or it's raining, and then things can get pretty rank. That's the hiker smell, and there's a reason it's so well known.

[Dogwood]

I'm in the "wash during the afternoon and wear it dry" camp...

+1 And if it's raining hard all day during summer I wear, will even change into my dirtiest rankest clothes to wash while wearing on the move. It's about not waiting to clean clothes until all clothing pieces are filthy especially when going UL and not stopping in town every 5-6 days to launder. Wearing wet and washed apparel is usually better than wearing dry and funky tiger striped ripe! In summer drying this way is great whiloe also helps keeping cooler. Rarely do my rain pants and rain/wind jacket get truly unbearably funky so are virtually always a clean set of clothes to change into. From my trail observances most folks don't fully utilize their rain/wind wear wearing also when not windy or wet.

I almost always have two sets of clothing that are worn interchangeably on the go and when at rest on a LD hike. The ripest clothes right before a town laundromat visit make a nice pillow stuffed into a WP(AND ODOR PROOF) stuff sack and placed over trail shoes. Embrace it! You will reek at times! Funny as shart watching tears well up in a trail dog's eyes when they get too close and get a whiff of you. Pay back for all the greasy steamy smelly dog piles I've stepped in that I had to scrape off shoes.

[Dogwood]

Ohh, and yes a tent can start getting smelly too. That's why there are hoses at hostels, Fire Depts, hotels, etc. Wash tents, traps, trekking poles, packs, shoes, orthotics/footbeds(replace when needed!), cooking gear, etc also on a LD hike. I have long ago lost any trepidation for washing a sleeping bag/quilt as well when needed.

[Feral Bill]

dirty clothes + stuff sack = pillow.