Washing Up, was [at-l] "Good stuff" not found in books

[janl2 at mindspring.com (Jan Leitschuh)]

> Offhand, I think hygiene is a huge topic that needs more attention.
> I can't say I've mastered it, by a long shot.  How do you deal with
> the sweat, grime, DEET, sunblock, etc. -- using just a tiny
> washcloth or bandana, without messing up the stream, your
> cooking pot, or anything else...

A shower sounds heavenly. One way I've washed is using one of the the 
Glad Stand N' Zip bags. It's a stout zip-lock that actually stands on 
its own, and fills with a decent amount of water.

If you ever hike or travel with a dog, it's an easy thing to tuck in 
one's fanny pack, fill, and use as a dog bowl away from the water 
source. (Little disturbs me more than seeing someone's dog splash into 
the spring and drink lustily, then flop down in the pool. Can't blame 
the dog here. But I digress.)

To wash, I would fill my water bottles, then retire to a clearing.
I use the bag as my staging area. I fill the bag, rinse off with a 
bandanna. Then I add a smidge of soap (very little; I use a dot of 
shampoo in an tiny eyedrop bottle I got at REI.) to the bag, mix with 
more water and soap up. Then I rinse off with the bandanna again.

To wash my hair, I wet hair, then dump the remainder of the soap "bag" 
onto the hair. Scrub, scrub, scratch, scratch... ahhh... Longer hair 
is troublesome, so I generally use all my water bottles to rinse.

  Washing up is so worth it. The Stand N' Zip bag has been my tool to 
date.

An opportunity to swim is the ultimate.

Getting clean in the woods is a fabulous pleasure.

CleanShoe

PS - The Stand N' Zip bags also make a useful "washing machine" for 
sweaty undies and muddy socks - same procedure, just agitate in the 
soapy water, wring out well away from the water source, then re-rinse, 
agitate and wring. Hang on a bush or walk dry.
Synthetic socks work better for this than my beloved Smartwools, which 
never dried out the entire AT (unless they went in someone's dryer).

So there you have it - dog bowl, washing machine and wash basin all in 
one.

-- 
========================================
     	AT Journal:
	http://www.trailjournals.com/Liteshoe/
	Jan Leitschuh Sporthorses Ltd.
	http://www.mindspring.com/~janl2/index.html

========================================