Packtowl, Do You Carry One?

[garlic08]

A cotton bandanna is all I carry. It doubles as a pre-filter, something I don't think I'd do with a towel. It's more flame-retardant than a synthetic pack towel if you use it as a pot holder, which I used to do back when I carried a stove. As for wiping tent condensation, sometimes I'll do that and use the distilled water for a quick sponge bath. I've had some dewy desert mornings when that's pretty welcome.

[nickgann]

Definitely a pack towel kind of guy myself. An interesting thing about gear though is many times i see people finding uses for things simply because they have the item, so you could always experiment with your hiking style and see if you use it because it's there or if it serves an actual purpose for you.

[Braveheart_SOBO13]

I carried a small one, no bigger than a washcloth during my thru hike. I found that it came in handy, whether I used it for bathing or wiping down my wet tent while setting it up. Small ones dont weigh that much.

[xokie]

I did not carry a pack towel. One day I left my tent open and was blithely gabbing away with some people in the lean-to when I noticed that it had been raining hard for five minutes and simultaneously remembered my open tent. When I got to the tent about four inches of water had gathered in the downhill corner. A generous and smarter than me thru-hiker loaned me his sham chammy and the problem was cleared up in five minutes. Now I carry a pack towel.

[Dogwood]

A cotton bandanna is all I carry. It doubles as a pre-filter, something I don't think I'd do with a towel. It's more flame-retardant than a synthetic pack towel if you use it as a pot holder, which I used to do back when I carried a stove. As for wiping tent condensation, sometimes I'll do that and use the distilled water for a quick sponge bath. I've had some dewy desert mornings when that's pretty welcome.

No matter what you decide, to carry a pack towel or not, if U do decide to carry a synthetic pack towel YES they get burn holes in them rather easily and can melt like if picking up a hot pot by the handles with them or leaving near a campfire. Not that ever happened to me because something I absently minded did. What Garlic and others are saying in regard to possible pros/cons of a bandanna or pack towel is the reason why I carry both. It's not a critical piece of gear though. U shouldn't over anal-lyze this.....as uhh I'm doing.

[slbirdnerd]

I carry a couple Zpacks Lightload Towels: http://www.zpacks.com/accessories/towel.shtml. They are kinda like a semi-disposable shammy. A 3-pack is $5.45. Three different colors, all kinds of uses: dishes, foot washing, tent drying, sucking the water out of your shoes, when it's hot I keep a wet one on my pack strap to wipe my face or neck. And they are great for sending with my son to scout campouts because WHEN he loses them, it's not that big a deal...

[Hikes in Rain]

I carry the small one, and reserve it almost exclusively for the ablutions needed to insert and remove my contacts. I like the almost velvet softness when I blot the fluids from my eyes. Much nicer and generally cleaner than the bandana I use for almost everything else. And it dries faster than the bandana.

[The Old Boot]

Yes, I carry a pack towel but then I also carry a couple of bandanas. Each has come in handy more often than not. One piece of pack towel is in my kitchen kit and another is in my 'personals' kit for drying me off. The bandanas have been variously used (not the same one at the same time) for pee rag, snot rag and sweat rag.

I also have a couple of 'camp towel' thingies from the Dollar Store. They're like a compressed j-cloth, about 1 1/4" dia., weight next to nothing and have come in really handy at times, then can be disposed of. At 4 for a buck they're a deal!

[Weefee]

I found one at the Dollar Tree. It is 12x12 and like a sham wow. Works grat.

[Sheriff Cougar]

Biggie, I agree with you about this cloth. It works great for everything and can soak up a mass amount of water. Squeezed out it dries quickly and weighs almost nothing.