After the backpacking trip…

for a 2 week trip I generally just lay my quilt out in the sun for a few hours (I try to wash it once a year, or after a month + long trip).

Same with the pack – I tend to just keep in the sun, let the UV rays do their thing…

The shelter I hose off if necessary (I don’t use a footprint) and then leave it up in the sun with a nice breeze for day or so to dry and air out.

I make sure to clean my water filter and then store the hoses and water bags in the freezer so they don’t get all mildewy.

I keep the quilt fluffed up in my closet on a shelf, the shelter loosely in a very large stuff sack, my pack just lies on the shelf in my closet, any puffy worn is hung up, cookset washed and dried and stored with the rest of my gear: in the 2 tupperware bins under my bed

eeh, just leave it rolled up in the stuff sack and you can use it as excuse to buy New Shiny.

“Baby we need a new tent, this one is covered in mildew!”

If anything was put away wet I lay it in the sun for a little while. I leave my sleeping bag in the sun a little while regardless. I’ll shake the dirt off once it’s dry, whatever it is that has dirt on it. I usually keep things packed up ready to go. EDIT: Except the sleeping bag. I’ll put it in the bigger storage sack so it stays fluffy. Usually. Sometimes I forget. Seems not to matter since I usually just shove it into the bottom of my pack, not into any stuff sack.

+1 on what Jennifer wrote.

Cheers

I leave stuff hanging in garage until next trip, although after a week I could loosely pack it somewhere more convenient

Occasionally I’ll hand wash something in small amount of soap, and rinse it a bunch after

Atsko Sport Wash would be good, although I happen to have some Woolite, so I just use that.  Fairly dilute.

On the drive back home, after a trip, I will spend some time reviewing what gear/equipment that I used and what I did not use….looking for opportunities to see what stuff I can leave at home on the next trip or to see if there are things that I would change so I can be lighter/more efficient.

Once I get home, I like to have the following done within 48 hours of returning home:

• empty everything from my backpack (I have a frame less GoLite Jam2)
• if the pack is really dirty, pre-soak in tub or bucket with warm soapy water and plunge it around to get any dirt that I can out of it before it goes into a front loader washing machine…air/sun dry
• if the pack is not all that dirty….lay out in the sun for a few hours, then air out 2 days
• Lay out bivy/tarp with stakes and guylines, quilt, sleeping pad, and all clothing in the sun to air out/dry out for 30 minutes or an hour, til warm and dry….taking time to flip over the gear to get sun on both sides
• Will shake out the bivy to clean the inside and to get off any dust and dirt from the exterior. Roll up and store in stuff bag with stakes and guylines that have been cleaned to remove any dirt and mud. Same with tarp…..hosing off with water if necessary.
• Quilt, down jacket, down hat stored loosely in closet…..rarely washed, if possible
• Spray oven cleaner on the exterior of my MSR Titan Kettle and let sit for 30 minutes, then rinse off with warm water….this removes any esbit fuel residue from the bottom of the kettle. Wash exterior and interior with hot soapy water along with spork
• Fill Platypus water bottles with warm soapy water and let soak for hour or two….adding few drops of bleach if I feel the need to be extra clean. Empty and rinse out with warm water til no soap left. Toss inflated bottles inside my car on a sunny day to dry out completely.
• Back flush Sawyer mini filter with cold or warm water few times…..can even push the soapy/beach water from my Platypus through my filter for an extra good cleaning for long term storage. Rinse repeatedly by pushing few liters though the filter to make sure all the soap and bleach is out of the filter. I will then suck on the output end of the filter to try to get all the water out of it that I can. I will also shake the filter to try to get any other moisture out of the filter. Then air dry for two days.
• Socks, pants, base layer hoody soaked in warm bucket of water and plunged repeatedly to move as much dirt as possible….repeat til water is relatively clear and then wash in machine

At the end of 48 hours, repack gear into backpack and restock/refill any liquids, fuels, toilet paper, soap, pills….any consumables.

I will remove the batteries from my headlamp and store the headlamp and loose batteries in my stuff sack/ditty bag in my backpack.

Then store in closet til the next trip.

For me, I find that by doing this, I have less of a chance of forgetting something for the next trip.

As everything was fresh in my head right after the trip, I find it easier to repack and put in all the stuff that I need, remove things that I found on the trip that I did not use….to a point where I don’t use a check sheet before trips.

Tony

Ha, good timing with this thread. We just got back from a 4 day trip ending in a monsoon like downpour the last night/day in the ADK’s. I had to laugh thinking of what my porch looked like last night and this afternoon covered in gear in various stages of drying, cleaning and organizing.

Aside from shopping for and repackaging food it takes me about 15 min. to pack for 2 and about two days to get everything cleaned up and stowed. Maybe I’m a bit obsessive about caring for gear :)

No, you are not being obsessive. You are just being careful that the next time you really need to be able to rely on your gear, you can.

Cheers

Thanks Roger, I do feel that proper care is key to reliability and although we carry all we need, we need all we carry to perform well for a safe and enjoyable outing. Thanks for backing me up.

Cheers to you!

Fimmx, please do post a trip report in the relevant forum.  I’m contemplating hiking that same trail next summer, and would like to hear from the newbie perspective.  I’ve done a 10 day trip on the Wonderland Trail, but the Tahoe Rim Trail will probably be solo, and will be a different level of planning.

I typically clean some of my gear once a year and the rest only if they really need it (like if poison oak exposure was a concern).  Things like packs, I take with me into the shower with a sponge and soap and go over all the surfaces.  Longer items like bivy sacks, I use the tube method mentioned above.  For a tent, I’d set it up outside, hose it down and use a sponge with soap if it needs it.  Ground cloth just gets hosed unless poison oak was an issue.  I let everything dry and put them away.

I’ve done a few pretty filthy trips myself, and have always found that things shake off pretty well after a few hours in the sun.

When I get back, I pull out everything that needs to get cleaned, dried, shaken out, etc. and take care of that, as well as anything that shouldn’t really be stuffed (i.e. down).

That said, once everything’s more or less sorted, I do wind up storing about 70% of my gear in my pack, for the simple reason that it makes packing again much easier, and I tend not to have a huge variance in needs for anything but my “big trip” or two of the year. Obviously, this doesn’t include my down or anything else that needs to be stored in a specific manner, but it does keep things like my FAK, repair stuff, etc., all in the same place and keeps me from having to find stuff every time I go out.

Hose stuff down, dry it out of the sun, pack and store in a cool and dry place. I have a bunch of hooks in the ceiling of our garage for hanging gear after trips. I get home, wet or damp stuff gets hung in the garage, clothes go in the washer, food stuff back in the backpacking drawer, anything left goes back in the closet. Simple unpacking process which is the same every time and takes 5 minutes.

Running down bags in the dryer occasionally has seemed to keep them fluffed a bit better and will perhaps prolong the necessity of washing (which I dislike).

Shake it, beat it off (the dirt/dust).  THen hose it down, leave it out to dry completely if its really nasty.  Then store in one place in your house where its nice and dry.