[pct-l] dishes and bathing on the trail

[Connie Davis]

Some cleaning up ideas:

Dishes: I hate doing dishes on the trail. I hate doing dishes  
anytime. While on our thru hike in 2005, we only had to wash our pot  
twice and that was because we had found edible mushrooms on the trail  
and cooked them in oil in our pot.  (Luckily for me, Mongous really  
knows his mushrooms!  Morels and gem-studded puffballs. I don't  
recommend eating mushrooms unless you are certain on  
identification.)  We used our cups to rehydrate our breakfast oatmeal  
and we used the container of dehydrated meals or quart zip-loc bags  
to rehydrate dinner. The dinner bags went into my fleece hat to stay  
warm while rehydrating.  (I know there are lots of concerns about  
plastics, especially heated plastic.  Do what seems okay to you.)  We  
then just had our cups to clean and used the "backpacker tea" method  
mentioned by others, saving a bit of our heated water to pour in our  
cups, use the back of our spoons in circular motions to get all the  
food bits off and then drink the tea.  There is something nice about  
the after  dinner routine, savoring every morsel of food.  The  
garbage from the day goes into the zip-loc bag and back into the food  
bag with the other smellables for disposal in town.

Bathing:  I use gallon zip-loc bags, bandanas and baby wipes.  Fill  
two one-gallon zip-loc bags at the water source and walk a couple  
hundred feet away.  Prop your zip locs carefully among rocks, your  
shoes, pack, whatever, so they can stay open while you wash up.  Use  
a baby wipe to wipe off the dirt, use one of the zip locs to rinse it  
out and keep using it as a washcloth.  The little bit of soap in it  
is all you need.  Wash up (dirtiest parts last).  Use your bandana  
and the other gallon bag of water to rinse off.   If it isn't windy  
or warm enough to air dry, then use another bandana (or a small camp  
towel) to speed up the drying process. Rinse out your bandana in the  
last of the rinse water.  If there is any water left, toss it in an  
arc onto the land around you.  Hang your bandana and camp towel on  
the back of your pack with baby diaper pins.

Washing out undies & socks:  I carried a basin we made out of the  
bottom of a plastic 5 gallon water container that we found on the  
trail (between Campo and Lake Morena, no less.)   This basin comes in  
handy for many things, including helping you collect water from a  
tiny trickle.  You can use a drop of CampSuds if you want.  (Soap is  
just a surfactant, loosing the dirt from the object you are  
cleaning.  Plain water will do the same thing eventually.)  Remember  
to do this at least 200 ft away from a stream. Scatter water.   Hang  
washed items on your pack with your baby diaper pins and hike until  
dry.  (It helps to have brightly colored underwear.)

We also carried alcohol gel in our bag with our toilet paper, baby  
wipes and trowel.

Happy trails,
Lookout
http://trailjournals.com/lookoutandmongous/