Any tips on how to wash clothes on the trail?

You can wash your body and your clothing without soap just fine, if you don’t mind a low amount of baseline grime on your skin or in your clothing. I just do a quick upper body wash with water within 15 – 30 minutes of getting into camp, or I’ll pack an extra 1L of water into camp for this purpose.

For my hiking shirt, a few times each day I dunk my hiking shirt in the river and wring it dry several feet from the bank. This is good to do before a long hot uphill climb, or before you get into camp at night. For underwear, they stay pretty clean by taking a swim from time to time during a trip. Pants I don’t worry to much about – if they get muddy I rinse with stream water and let them dry while hiking.

The only soap I carry is a small 0.5ounce bottle for washing my hands after defecating, which is always done far from any water sources. When finished, a small “bidet” attachment for a smartwater bottle lets me rinse the bottom and the crotch areas with soap and water too.

The old tried-and-true ziploc bag washing machine works well.

Just add biodegradable soap and some clothes, close bag, then shake, press, and squeeze, then drain away from any water supply.  Add water to rinse and repeat as needed.

I believe some vendors sell bags made especially for washing clothes.

We typically carry one small bottle of soap for the two of us.

Most Staffed Camps have showers houses with wash basins on the end with wash tubs to do laundry in. Water is pumped up from wells and heated by solar panels so they are usually out of service on cloudy or rainy days. And if your trek doesn’t pass through many staffed camps, it is good to have a back-up plan.

Like Elliot Wolin said, I carry a two-gallon re-sealable freezer-grade plastic bag as my washing machine and my 4-oz bottle of Campsuds.

Philmont issues the crew a 4-oz bottle of Campsuds to wash dishes. Don’t rely on it for personal use or you may run out. Everyone should carry their own small bottle for personal use.

First, I half fill my washing machine with clear cold water only and rinse out the heavy dust and sweat a few items at a time changing the water frequently disposing of it in the Camp Sump. Then I wash a few items at a time using Campsuds, likewise changing the water frequently. Then I rinse everything the same as before.

I also carry 25 feet of 1.5 mm Kelty Triptease light reflective cord for my clothesline and to air out my sleeping bag daily. I usually wear my hiking T-shirt and shorts to dry them, but socks must be line dried. Carry safety pins to hang them. I keep one pinned to the top of each sock.

You can give yourself a sponge bath the same way using your washing machine, bandana and Campsuds. Its big enough to soak a foot.

“Philmont should be enjoyed, not endured.” Moonshine

The only thing I will say about washing your cloths on the trail is to make sure you have good weather to let them dry. Our trek was at the end of July into August and we had some rain every day. On day 3 a father and son decided that they needed to wash cloths and they used the bag method. For the rest of the trek they didn’t have any dry cloths because of the afternoon thunderstorm we had to deal with. They would hang stuff over there packs as we hiked but the temps and sun never dried the clothing.

Jeffery, I wonder what the fiber content of that father and son’s clothes were, possibly cotton?

If you only carry and wear 100% synthetic fiber clothes you should not have a problem drying them.
We make sure all our crew members only have 100% polyester base layer T-shirts, nylon hiking shorts and synthetic blend socks. After washing some of us simply put our T-shirt and shorts back on and wear them dry in just a few minutes, except maybe the waist band. Its best to choose clothing that has less pockets, extra layers or too many thick seams that dry slowly.

Socks are a different matter. Even though they may be synthetic blend they are thick and slow drying and won’t dry in your boots. You need to line dry them, best in the sun and breeze. Hang them by the toes with safety pins.

In a pinch, I have worn wet socks to bed in my sleeping bag. Surprisingly they dried rather quickly. They were cold and very uncomfortable at first but warmed up quickly and felt good shortly, go figure. But I would not normally choose this method for drying socks. LOL

“Philmont should be enjoyed, not endued.” Moonshine

I use a modern, lightweight dry bag (like the set of 3 in Walmart’s camping aisle for $11) to let the clothes (mostly socks and underwear) sit in soapy water and be agitated a bit.  If you only use a liter for two for the wash cycle a mile before you make camp, it will slosh around a lot in your pack.  Then I do two rinse cycles.

I’ll get some pushback on this and if Philmont has rules about only using “biodegradable soap”, then fine, but I use often use small amounts of modern high-efficiency laundry detergents (like Tide) which is much more effective at cleaning clothes, especially of stinky body oils and food smells.  It’s really effective – a pinch or two does it.  As a professional civil engineer, I design and inspect septic leach fields (although more of work is making soil bacteria happy at toxic waste sites).  Spending just a few days in the subsurface in the soil breaks down most biologically active molecules.  I go far from surface waters, select a spot that as warm as possible (south-facing, unshaded) and whose underground path will give months or years of transit time.

For clothes lines, I use 130-pound-test braided dacron line (I bought 500 yards of it at a garage sale for $5).  I always carry 25 feet of it for clothes line, securing gear, (light) bear-bagging, emergency shoe laces, lashing, etc.  PM me if you want me to snail mail you some.

I do not carry any kind of soap. I just rinse stuff out, change into my night long johns, hang stuff up under the tarp to dry. No. they never dry completely. My hiking shirt is synthetic. My underwear and pants are nylon. They’re generally damp in the morning but dry within 10 minutes of putting them on even on a cold (35F) morning.  Sometimes, say at a stream crossing on a warm day or at a sand landing on a lake, I’ll drop my pack on the bank and empty my pockets, then just jump in…cloths and all. At night I make a hot cocoa, with the extra cup of water, I saturate my bandana, then do a quickie sponge bath. Then I rinse and wring it out tightly. Then do another sponge bath. Then, always dribbling water from my pot, rinse it out two or three times. Always pour the water onto the bandana, never dunk it in.

I’ll get some pushback on this and if Philmont has rules about only using “biodegradable soap”, then fine, but I use often use small amounts of modern high-efficiency laundry detergents (like Tide) which is much more effective at cleaning clothes, especially of stinky body oils and food smells.  It’s really effective – a pinch or two does it.

They won’t like that, I’m sure.  Don’t they make you swallow your toothpaste?

Philmont does not expect you to swallow your toothpaste. But they do expect / require you to brush your teeth over the Camp Sump and spit the paste and rinse water into it along with all gray water from dish washing, laundering or bathing.

On Philmont Scout Ranch all authorized camps have sumps and you are expected / required to disposal of all gray water in them. Off the Ranch on adjoining property, that some treks go into, there are no sumps and you are to broadcast gray water over a large area 200 feet away from camps, trails and surface water. See your Handbook.

Philmont issues Campsuds unscented biodegradable soap for dish washing. If you bring soap for personal use such as showers, laundry or anything else it is to be unscented biodegradable soap and I think that should be self-explanatory in a heavily used fragile environment with bears.

I don’t think you’ll find any “sand landing on a lake” or “stream crossing” to “just jump in…cloths and all” at Philmont. Bathing, or doing much else, in surface water is not allowed at Philmont because it is drinking water for everybody downstream.

“Philmont should be enjoyed, not endured.” Moonshine

I’m with Elliot – ziploc bag method.

And I’m with David – a tiny amount of real detergent goes a long way at getting stuff clean. Dr B’s and Campsuds – not so much. I spent my grad school years studying the breakdown of detergents and soil is remarkable for its ability to clean up soaps and detergents. Just discard far away from water sources, campsites, and sensitive vegetation.

I seldom wash clothes or body on short hikes of less than a week unless it’s really hot. On longer hikes, I consider it essential, at least to my emotional well-being! But it’s definitely related to heat, sweat, and my inability to bathe in lakes and streams.

Most detergents/soaps break down rather quickly, or, are consumed by surrounding plants.  The big thing back in the 60’s-70’s was over fertilization of the water with soaps and detergents leading to calling them pollutants.  I don’t use soap, though.

I don’t see any difference between me rinsing off in a stream and going swimming. They have basically the same effect on the water. All the critters, water bugs, fish, amphibians, deer, bear, etc live in or near the water. They urinate/defecate in it, too.  I don’t worry about bodily stuff as much as soap and a drop or two doesn’t do much. Mostly it is designed as an emulsifier for oil and water.

My son and I once took a swim/rinse in a small lake in the Adirondacks in the height of summer, we were pretty sweaty.  It felt great, but shortly thereafter we noticed a 50 m oil slick emanating from where we washed off (no soap, just a swim, it was body oil, I don’t recall us using sunblock but we may have).  I understand the slick was only molecules thick, and it disappeared fairly quickly, but we prayed no one would get a look at us and accuse us of dumping engine oil into a pristine lake!

“Hi all, looking for ideas on how to wash clothes. Do you use soap or just rinse them out?”

If you absolutely must, for emotional or comfort reasons, rinse them out in water away from lakes and streams.  Personally, I have seldom felt the need on trips up to 17 days, but I am most likely an outlier in that regard.

“but I am most likely an outlier in that regard.”

And a rather smelly one at that….

“And a rather smelly one at that”

Heck, Doug, we’ve only hiked together for 6 days at a stretch.  You ain’t smelled nothin’. ;-]

Tom K “looking for ideas on how to wash clothes. Do you use soap or just rinse them out?”

Read my Jun 3 post.

When you pass through Staffed Camps take advantage of their shower house to shower and wash basin and tubs to do laundry.

We cannot carry deodorant or deodorant soap so even after we take a sponge bath or shower and put on freshly washed clothes, we stink again in just a short time. But we are clean and feel so better, just not fresh smelling.

“We all stink the same together.” That’s just the way it is so accept it. You’ll smell your own stink more than your tent mate’s, really.

“Philmont should be enjoyed, not endured.” Moonshine

“Read my Jun 3 post.”

??

Tom k, Philmont is a long hot dusty and sweaty trek. You will want to bathe and launder clothes as often as possible.

Everyone should carry their own small bottle unscented biodegradable soap (Campsuds) for personal use and a 2-gallon freezer-grade re-sealable plastic bag (washing machine) to do laundry in and 25 feet of 1.5 mm light reflective cord (Kelty Triptease) to air out your sleeping bag daily and for a clothesline.

You should only carry and wear 100% synthetic fiber clothes, polyester base layer T-shirts, nylon hiking shorts and synthetic blend socks and you should not have a problem drying them.

To launder clothes, half fill your washing machine with only clear cold water to rinse out dust, dirt and sweat a few items at a time changing the water frequently disposing of it in the Camp Sump. Then wash using Campsuds in the same method as before. Then rinse using the same method.

I usually wear my T-shirt and shorts to dry them, body heat drives moisture to the surface to evaporate. But socks must be line dried. Carry safety pins to hang them. I keep one pinned to the top of each sock.

You can give yourself a sponge bath using your washing machine, bandana and Campsuds. Its big enough to soak a foot in.

In a pinch, I have worn wet socks to bed in my sleeping bag. Surprisingly they dried rather quickly. They were cold and very uncomfortable at first but warmed up quickly and felt good shortly, go figure. But I would not normally choose this method for drying socks. LOL

“Philmont should be enjoyed, not endued.” Moonshine

“Tom k, Philmont is a long hot dusty and sweaty trek. You will want to bathe and launder clothes as often as possible.”

Hi David,

Thank you for the detailed instructions on how to maintain one’s personal cleanliness under difficult conditions.  I will take them to heart and see if I can clean up my act on my own, somewhat similar hikes. :0)

Bathing, or doing much else, in surface water is not allowed at Philmont because it is drinking water for everybody downstream.

AMEN BROTHER!  You might THINK you are chemical free, but did you (or your Scouts) use any sunscreen? Bug spray? Stove fuel? Were your clothes washed before you got to PSR?

To the experts who are saying that detergents breakdown quickly in the soil, will it be that effective or safe if 22,000 people do it? Will there be a scent that attracts wildlife?

“The Philmont Way” is ALWAYS based on what happens if 22,000 people do something, not just “how bad can it be” if one person spills one drop.

If you absolutely must, for emotional or comfort reasons, rinse them out in water away from lakes and streams.  Personally, I have seldom felt the need on trips up to 17 days, but I am most likely an outlier in that regard.

+1

And no washing equipment = less weight (light weight has become blasphemy?)

I most often hike in dusty, hot deserts so even if I wanted to wash, water is too precious to waste. I don’t worry about what other people may think about how I may smell or look, but then, I usually hike alone — perhaps there is some cause and effect going on…

JUst kidding….

Gerry H,

<span>https://sciencing.com/detergent-break-surface-tension-5452223.html</span&gt;

<span>https://www.rsc.org/Education/Teachers/Resources/Contemporary/student/pop_detergent.html</span&gt;

From: <span>https://www.lenntech.com/aquatic/detergents.htm</span&gt; “Phosphates in detergents can lead to freshwater algal blooms that releases toxins and deplete oxygen in waterways. When the algae decompose, they use up the oxygen available for aquatic life.”

Lots more, Gerry H, look it up.

Like I say, I do not recommend or use any of that stuff.

Umm, I’m the one that said AMEN to people NOT jumping in the stream and pointed out that the pro-detergent guys were wrong.

Not sure what you were trying to say.