Originally Posted By: hikermor


Then I'll bet you would not have enjoyed a three week trip I once took with two companions. It was cold (-20F was warmer than average)and at altitude and we shared a north Face tent, ripening together. No issues as a result of that practice.

Our trip ended with a helicopter flight and the first thing on the agenda was a long shower. On other trips in less severe circumstances either swimming or a solar shower has worked very well. I don't deliberately try and render myself smelly and dirty in the woods,, but depending upon the mission and the circumstances, hygiene can easily become an exceedingly minor issue.


Yes there are always extenuating circumstances for not being able to always maintain hygiene. However the plaintive and oft excuse of "we are just camping/hiking", IMO does not constitute a reason not to maintain basic hygiene...
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Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.

John Lubbock