How can we get backpackers to wash their hands?

[JAshley73]

AK Granola, what does your hand washing kit look like? Anything special, or just water from your drinking bottle, and a small container of soap?

[David Thomas]

AK Granola:

1) Washing hands over your cat hole and letting the soap and water percolate in there is also good for breaking down the feces – soil moisture helps and soap and poop can provide different macro and micro nutrients for more microbial action.  At our latitude (but at high elevations, too), try to pick the warmest soils – a south-facing slope for us that will thaw sooner and get warmer than more shaded areas.

2) Yes, Grand Canyon rafting groups, commercial or private, are required to follow many best practices by GCNP.  You shit into a water-tight (gasketed) metal “rocket box” / “military surplus ammo can” / “groover” (after the grooves it left on your butt cheeks before the use of real toilet seats on top of them).  And you transport those groovers of poop all the way to the take out where they may be weighed against the expected output of the days and number of assholes on your trip.   The groover is the first thing set up when you beach at your camp and the last thing to get packed up to maximize its availability.  There’s also a required, hands-free wash station between the groover and camp so you pass right by it on your return.  A foot-operated pump takes river water from a 5-gallon bucket to a little hands-free faucet for soaping and rinsing your hands.  There’s typically a pretty obvious place for the groover and wash station since the same place gets used each night by a different party, but they leave only footprints, no poop, pee, holes, etc.  Fellow rafters on your trip, IME,  are militant about everyone following procedures because they don’t want their trip cratered by sickness and helicopter evacs just aren’t possible along much of the river.  And that the cooks for that meal all go to the washing station before touching the food.  You pee into the river to avoid added nutrients in the riparian zone.  Caveat: It’s been 15 years for me, so procedures may have changed.  But I’d say it’s a good SOP for any heavily used area.

[AK Granola]

I don’t have a photo of my kit, but I have a small ditty bag with Bogler trowel, a tiny bottle of campsuds, and my bidet. My bidet is a small squirt bottle, which provides enough water for the bidet, and then i use the remaining water to wash my hands with. I also do carry hand sanitizer and a few wet wipes just in case (packing my fears?). My hands don’t come in contact with the feces since I’m not scraping with dead trees, but I still wash anyway. I use a bidet at  home too; I hate when I’m forced to use TP somewhere. I’ve gotten so used to just being clean.

David on the GC trips… so you’re literally pooping and peeing in front of  your whole group, right? These things keep me from ever doing such a trip. I don’t mind a skinny dip, but that groover would be way too much familiarity with my fellow travelers.

[Todd T]

Lots of theory here that doesn’t really apply to wilderness IMHO.  Can’t be cranking up the soap intensity in the stream.  Don’t have enough water to flush things away from the stream.  Don’t have hot water…unless you boil some, which will cause you to touch your stove, canister, pack, stuff sacks, etc., contaminating everything.

The main things we can do:  don’t share food; don’t camp in shelters; don’t mess with other people’s gear.  Whatever washing we can manage is a small improvement over the main things.

[David D]

I get asked to take pictures of people with their phones on trail.  Nope.  They look at me like I’m being an ahole even after explaining but I’ve spent time with fellow travelers evacuating from either end and I have no intention of blowing precious vacation or making anyone else sick

[AK Granola]

So that they don’t get upset with you,  you could just say “sorry, I would but I’ve had the worst diarrhea!” They won’t ask twice.

[Dan]

There’s nothing BPL loves more than a poop thread. I predict this will go for many pages. :-)

[David D]

“sorry, I would but I’ve had the worst diarrhea!”

AK: ultralight loves nothing more than a multi-use item and that phrase might just top the list!

[David Thomas]

AK Granola, “you’re literally pooping and peeing in front of  your whole group, right?”

No, the groover is set up well off in the bushes a fair distance from camp.  There’s a rope tied on the side of the trail to the groover that serves as a “occupied” sign – leave it down as you leave, string it across as you go past the hand-washing station to the toileting equipment.

As for peeing, that ought to be done into any moving water.  Wander down the river bank around a corner and squat.  Or, at 105F, you’re often wading into the river with your clothes once or twice an hour anyway to cool off and re-wet your clothes so just spend a bit longer “wading”.

[Mina Loomis]

We went on a Grand Canyon Dories trip in 2010.  Yes groover was hidden in the brush but also yes we were supposed to pee into the river.  But they did require us all to pee within sight of the group, not hidden around a corner.  They said it was a safety rule because of a real danger that someone walking into the water unseen would wash away and never be seen again.

[d k]

I recently saw ads for a product called Nowata which is like a hand sanitizer but has been tested (and supposedly effective) against a mouse version of norovirus as well as other pathogens.  I’m still skeptical, but it might be worth checking out.

[Miner]

Oh. I wish I had known about Nowata last year on the AT. I would have loved to have tried it given all the outbreaks. Still doesn’t help against touching a contaminated surface after washing, but better than doing nothing. And you would be prone to use it more often since it is less hassle than real hand washing.

[Dustin V]

When we hiked the Kalalau Trail about 15 years ago, we could see how it would be easy to get sick. It’s constantly hot, humid and sticky. And there were people all over the place. We scrubbed our hands and brought the best filters we could find, but still boiled our water which made for kind of un-refreshing drinks. We were also cautioned to not eat the apple-like fruit that dropped off the trees in the middle section of the trail. The temptation to drink the water and eat the apples was powerful.

TBH, I’m surprised we didn’t get sick from dipping hats and shirts into the water to cool down or from the cute feral cats that appeared out of thin air whenever there was food.

[Terran]

Use your phone. Email the picture.

[Author]

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