you won't notice the 'rank' odor after a while
This is another reason I love a hammock. I have a double layer, so after the sweat dries I change into dry sleep clothes. Then I place the hiking clothes inbetween layers so they are somewhat warm when I wake up. I would put them between the pad and sleeping bag when I used a tent in the old days.
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Never understood the concept of putting clean(er) clothes on a dirty body
Agreed, I simply wear my dirty clothes and launder them in town. I might on a very long resupply rinse them out once using a gallon zip-lock bag.
Lonehiker (MRT '22)
Originally Posted by Obiwan
If there's enough water to wash my clothes, there's enough to wash myself, too. The clothes are off anyway, might as well.
"Throw a loaf of bread and a pound of tea in an old sack and jump over the back fence." John Muir on expedition planning
I wear mine around camp to try to get them to dry. If it is sunny, I hang them on whatever I can to try to get them to dry. I made the mistake in Maine of rinsing my clothes out in the water. They never dried by morning. If you were hiking in the desert, it is probably safe to do that. As hiker midnight approaches, I put in my camp/night clothes and store my dirty clothes in a stuff sack in my tent. On drier nights, I have hung some items inside my tent with varying degrees of success. I agree with everyone who said the only time you wash your clothes is in town.
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A lot depends on where you are hiking. In drier locales (out West), it is easy to dry out your clothes with a little sun & not much time. Out east along the AT, I found that I never got anything dry until I did laundry in town. If I was staying in a shelter, I just hung up my damp clothes on the same nail as my pack. In my tent, I'd place them beneath my sleeping pad under my feet.
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Yeah, I never understood why people bother hanging clothes on a line overnight on an AT summer. The relative humidity was high enough on a few days in June and July there was fog in the morning when it was 70 degrees--ugh. That's 100% RH, and nothing will ever dry. The only way to lower humidity, other than wait for the weather to change, is to add heat--body, fire, or a mechanical source.
I found that damp and clean was much better than damp and dirty. The latter led to chronic skin problems for me. So even on a rainy day, hiking in the mud, if I came across a source of free-running water, I'd at least rinse out my soaked and muddy socks, put them back on soaked and clean, and feel much better. Sometimes I'd be lucky and dry out by evening, often not.
+1. No soap required. In dry climates (desert sections of PCT, CDT, AZT etc), I find even a half liter or so captured while back-washing my filter in a gallon Ziploc freezer bag rolled down halfway is enough to wash the salt from my body. I feel great afterward. If there's water near my campsite or a mile or so before I reach it AND if it is sunny and appears it will be sunny the next day, I do the cleanup well away from the water source using about 1-1/2 liters in the ziploc, then rinse out socks (lightweight Smartwool PHD), briefs (Ex-Officio boxer briefs) , and T-shirt (Icebreaker 150 weight wool) in same ziploc well away from water source. I switch into my alternate socks and briefs, hang the well wrung out socks and briefs on the back of my pack, with TWO safety pins as I've had stuff get caught and pull one safety pin apart, then wear my hiking shirt. It will be almost dry by the time I reach camp and will continue to dry while I cook and eat dinner. I love light weight wool hiking T's as they stay relatively funk-free.
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Like Garlic said, putting really ranky grimy clothes on over a dirty body adds to problems like skin infections. Of course, I'd assume one always wants to put clean clothes on a clean body but sometimes that doesn't happen. Nice to have a bandanna to wash oneself off away from water sources on these occasions.
Kinda easy to give apparel a rinse on the rather water abundant AT especially socks, shorts, underwear, and shoes.
From my observances AT Thru-hikers will avoid stopping to dry out clothes on trail because they are too much in a forced rush to a supposed finish line. PLENTY of sunny spots on the AT to dry clothes.
Since we're taking about cleaning and wearing dry clothes it makes a lot of sense to consider clothing that doesn't need cleaning as often, such as clothing with odor reducing technology(light wt merino tees with ventable panels and chest zips, Silver ion embedded shirts, strong wicking clothing in humid environs, etc), clothing that doesn't absorb or show grime as easily(dark colored light wt VERY AIRY nylon running shorts for example on the AT, dark or Earth colored shorter socks or even polyester dress socks), and clothing that doesn't absorb as much water and dries faster(shorts rather than pants for example).
And, it makes sense, part of not needing to wear dirty clothing and/or launder clothing as often is keeping our bodies clean.
Hang them on a guyline if I actually ran one. I'll hang wet socks off the back of my pack if its a sunny day. Classy.
Hanging clothes to dry and then wear even though they might still be damp not having dried all the way when putting back on cuts down on the wetness factor and can more easily be dried the rest of the way through wearing from body heat. Absolutely, a little damp and clean is a whole lot better to me than dry and raunchy.
I switch to camp clothes once I get my tent up. Then I string a line and hang everything I wore hiking until I go to bed. Simply airing them out for a few hours does wonders, and they're usually dry by bedtime unless they got soaked in the rain. Even then, it usually helps a little. I even take a few clothes pins -- although they're actually half-size novelty paper clips that look like clothes pins.
I use a walmart bag for dirty hiking clothes to keep them separate from the clean(er) clothes in my clothes bag, which becomes my pillow. I also have another walmart bag for dirty socks and underwear, which I only wear twice before I wash them out. I carry the bottom of a gallon milk jug to use for washing things (like my hands).
It's usually only 4 or 5 days between town trips, so the funk doesn't have to get as bad as people make out, if you keep things aired out. Heck, when I was a kid back in the olden times before everybody had their own fancy hotel shower, nobody took a bath more than once a week, and people commonly wore shirts a couple of times between washings.
For me, it is more about switching into non-sweaty-damp clothes. My "night clothes" get pretty ripe, but they are not damp, and that makes my sleeping more comfortable....
Unfortunately, I have found that my hiking clothes do not dry during the night unless I was able to put them out in the sun in the afternoon after I set up camp. I just put them on damp and deal with it. I am going to try keeping them on when I arrive at camp to see if they dry (as someone suggested). I usually can't wait to change and do so immediately.
What do I do with my dirty clothes? I hang them in camp then in the morning I put them back on and hike. If they are egregiously dirty I might rinse them and wring them out as best I can. Usually they are still pretty wet in the morning (more so if I hang them under the eaves of a shelter and it rains sideways on them all night long. Ask me how I know this....)
I do like to have dry clothes to put on in camp and for sleeping. Mostly that's a set of 150-wt merino wool long johns and a l/s merino top.
I don't know if this is true for everybody but, for me, putting on a clean pair of socks, no matter how dirty the rest of me is, makes my sore feet feel a little less sore.
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I wash things that are dirty whenever there is an opportunity, like during a noon break near a good water source.
When hinking, usually I wear a plein cotton T-shirt which I switch to a dry one in camp (in hope to get the wet one dry during the next day). Depending on the weather, if there is any chance to dry out damp clothes over the night I try to hang them, but all too often there is none so I just use them in my pillow bag. Its just a short moment of uncomfort to put them on again next morning. After a few days into a hike I become rather tolerant against sweaty/salty skin, and damp and filthy clothes. No use in cleaning up perfectly when you start the dirty work next day again anyway.
I'm very picky about my private hygiene - but the outer clothes are not part of this.
And sure I always try to keep a clean set of clothes for civilisation use.
hang them on my hammock straps under the fly or put them in a large zip lock in my pack which I also hange off my hammock straps wash my dirty clothes in town
2 gallon zip loc bag, couple oz bottle of body wash. In summer, wash clothes and myself when the need and/or ability to do so comes along.
Everyone is different, but I do not wash my clothes. I reek after the first day and eventually get use to it.
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