Optimizing time at resupply points

They have USPS flat rate boxes at Reds and MTR. You could ship stuff home. They charge maybe $10 on top of the regular cost of the box to ship it for you.

My $.02 is you are going to freeking reek no matter what so don’t worry too much about laundry. Take two pairs of underwear and socks and give them a good rinse each day. On a nice warm day you can take a swim in your hiking clothes and walk them dry.

You can also wash your clothes on the trail in a gallon ziplock bag with a drop of Dr. Bronners a couple hundred feet from the water source. I may get flamed for suggesting soap in the backcountry but I do wash my hands with it after pooping rather than hand sanitizer.

I think soap in the back country is reasonable just as long as it’s away from a primary water source. Not perfect though…

I usually just wash my clothes every other day when I’m out for a while.

What I do is have a safety pin on my pack and attach my shirt/pants/socks etc to the outside of my bag while I walk. This way they dry quicker. The only problem is that you have to be careful when you set the pack down to avoid it getting dirty.

+1 on using a gallon ziplock bag every few days for clothing. You can also use the bag to get most of the grime off your body before doing a wash or taking a swim to limit organic matter in the lakes and streams. One pair of undies is fine if washed often and if you practice good groin and backside hygiene.

If you wash up a little each day with some plain water on your head, face, neck and pits, then you’ll soon reach a low baseline level of grime on your body that’s very tolerable, even without soap. Every 3 days it’s nice to take a full bath, along with an alcohol wipe around the groin when finished.

For daily constitutional hygiene, I like to use an extended 90 degree squirt attachment for one of my unfiltered water bottles (700mL Smartwater bottle). After removing most of the poo with leaves or rocks, you can squirt the area well with the water, then follow up with just a piece or two of TP for “polishing”. Ending with an alcohol wipe of the area is also nice, along with a drop of soap and some water for the hands.

I came to the conclusion while hiking the PCT that laundry is mostly pointless. It’s nice to do now and then but ultimately it’s really quite pointless. Also, you lose your hiker trash cred if you are too clean.