Cleaning up when camping

[hikinboot]

How do you keep yourself clean while you are camping? We tend to camp near a water source whether it be a river, stream or a lake. what about you?

[IndianaHiker]

Carry large baby wipes is what I use when backpacking as not always near a water source. Or sponge bathe with a pack towel.

[Refrigerator]

Originally Posted by hikinboot

How do you keep yourself clean while you are camping? We tend to camp near a water source whether it be a river, stream or a lake. what about you?

who said clean! I am thinking about developing a backpackers and Campers deodorant so we can smell good all the time. You see this is my philosophy on the subject of clean while camping....You use a spray or roll on Backpackers or Campers deodorant apply named FRIDGY"S smell like the woods juice. If everyone would do this then we all would smell alike sorta...then I could take all the revenue in and continue in my research for Dehydrated BEER. We all win

[Susie]

We carry two plastic dish tubs with us. One is used for dishes, the other is used for washing up. You just heat enough water when doing your cooking to be able to clean up as required.

[outdoorsy]

We only camp where there are showers -call me a wuss I'm ok with that. I don't care if they are quarter operated or free, I'm showering. We also take several dips in the pool on hot summer days at the campground.

[Grandpa]

The Pacific northwest is loaded with non-commercial hot springs. Nothing like a hot bath in the middle of a trek.

I started to say non-developed but that is very wrong. People have developed some of these remote springs to a very high degree of sophistication. Old bathtubs, hot tubs, wooden boxes have all been used along with plastic piping to make hot potting a high tech adventure.

A favorite, somewhere along the Salmon River, just a few miles east of Stanley, Idaho, is an old de-activated WWII mine. A 6 ft diameter ball with the top 1/3 cut off and welded to the bottom as a base. Hardwood seats around the edge. A drain valve to let enough water out to add the hot from a plastic flex hose tiled into the hot spring. If I ever learn who built it, I will definately treat them to a steak and a sixpack.

[Stormypath]

I would love to visit a hot spring some day, we do not have such a thing. They are from geysers, are they not. That would be so cool.

[IndianaHiker]

The cheers for the dehydrated beer! Can I request R&D for a good doppelbock?

[JollyRogers]

Depends on the location. For quick cleaning and deordorizing I use bio-degradable wipes. For full scrubs, it could be bathing in a stream or it may just be using my folding bucket, a wash cloth and a little soap.

In the desert it is usually just wipes and smoke baths.

For those unfamilliar, smoke actually acts as an antibacterial agent that helps neutralize the bacteria that creates body "funk". So you can build a small fire and bask your smelly bits in the smoke to get rid of the foul smell and help deordorize. Sage brush works really well for this.

[mccallum]

Swim; use soup in the lake if I smell realy bad and if shower in camp ground well there you go. I usually figure after swimming a couple of times I have bathed.