Hygiene On The Appalachian Trail (Norovirus, Pooping In The Woods, Feet, Shaving, Periods, etc.)

hey y'all Dixie here I feel like most people who start the at are a little hesitant about going number two in the woods but Everybody Poops people poop in normal life and you're gonna have to do it in the trail unfortunately there's not a button to turn that function off but there are ways to do it to make sure that you're keeping things Pleasant first you pretty much have two options along the at one is to find a privy and the other one is to dig a hole pretties are often located in the areas of shelters most shelters have a privy near them and when you get in the privy you may notice that there is a bag of shavings or it'll tell you to get some Duff and add it to whatever you deposit in the whole of the privy and this is just to help things break down they need some organic matter to mix in with all the Poo so the microbes can do their little microbial thing and break the stuff down the only thing allowed in the Purdue these other than your waist out of your body and the duff will be toilet paper you are allowed to deposit your toilet paper but make sure you don't throw trash in there because some poor volunteer will have to fish it out if there's no privy in sight and you've got to run then you need to dig a cat hole a cat hole is a six inch hole that you'll dig down and it needs to be 200 feet at least from water sources the trail and camping areas to dig a hole you can take a trowel out on trail they have several different options one that people seem to like a lot is the deuce of Spades I felt like it was a little flimsy for how expensive it is but it is very lightweight so there's that but you can also use your trekking pole a rock a stick but you do want to get that good six inch hole so that a curious animal doesn't come dig up your stuff along the Appalachian Trail you are permitted to bury your toilet paper they like the toilet paper to be pushed down towards the bottom of the hole you can even take a stick to do that with and kind of stir things up because the more you can break up your poop and mix it in then the more quickly it will decompose and then you just cover it up and if you want to leave that stick stuck down in there then that can signify to others that there is buried treasure there but they suggest not putting a rock on top of it because that can actually slow down the decomposition process and then obviously after you go especially number two you should do something to wash your hands as good as possible whether you carry some soap with you or hand sanitizer I keep my hand sanitizer and toilet paper all in a Ziploc bag in the mesh of my pack so that it's easily accessible when Nature Calls for peeing it's recommended that you are a hundred feet from a water source and 100 feet from your campsite so that you don't attract animals guys have it pretty easy but ladies you have a couple of choice pieces that you can go with here one you can use toilet paper to wipe but make sure you keep your trash bag close that hand that way you can put it in your trash bag or you're going to have to dig a six inch cat hole to bury your toilet paper which seems like a lot of trouble to me some ladies prefer to use a p-rag they have products marketed for this or you can just tie a bandana to the outside of your pack if you want to that way it can dry out and get the Rays of the sun to try to keep it as clean as possible I don't know I didn't really like the p-rag idea because then you're leaning your pack on things in the shelter and you know the p-rags touch on the shelter and the shelter that's got mice who is touching your p-rag and so I just didn't really like that idea but it works well for some people you can use leaves to dry off I don't recommend this option just because it seems not very clean to be putting something that's on the ground and the dirt in those areas also if you grab the wrong leaf that could be Troublesome and finally you can shake it off yes like t-swift just give your booty a little wiggle and then pull your britches up this is the method I use because I normally try to roughly bathe down once a day which I will talk about later so I'm not too worried about it and ladies if you don't want to have to deal with taking off your pack and pulling your britches down to go pee which you will get stronger So eventually you'll be able to squat and pee with your pack on if you so desire to have the ability to do that but there is another option that can make things a little bit easier there are a lot of urinary devices for females out there like the Shewee or the Pea style and many others but this device allows you to undo your britches put the device in the proper area and then pee standing up so you can do it just like a fella I've never used one of these before I probably should just so I can be more knowledgeable about them but it seems like just kind of more to deal with having to worry about rinsing out this device or keep it somewhere easily accessible so I'm not having to take off my pack because that would be one of the reasons I'd want to use one anyway and then I don't know as far as you if there's any residue there but it is an option and if that sounds like something that would be beneficial for you they exist instead of toilet paper and baby wipes some hikers prefer to use a travel bidet I've never personally used a bidet on trail I keep saying that I want to that way I can give firsthand experience and advice or recommendations for a trail the day but I just haven't gotten around to it yet but I've heard from quite a few people who have used them and once they went to the bidet they never went back to toilet paper and baby wipes they have several different brands of Trail bidets but one of the popular ones is the culo clean it's approximately ten dollars weighs like a half an ounce or maybe even a little less and it just attaches to a regular water bottle so any water bottle that has typical threads like a smart water bottle so basically you just connect the bidet and most people recommend having a standalone separate bottle just for the purpose of the bidet I mean not that you're you know sucking anything in to the bottle when when you squeeze it to clean yourself but just backsplash and all that it's it just makes sense why you might want to keep that separate so basically you just put water in the bottle squeeze it and it cleans your booty off apparently practice makes perfect and some hikers say they don't need to do anything else they just squirt it off and that's it there are some hikers who prefer to use a little like Camp soap or Dr Bronner's to kind of rub in the area and then rinse it off and then they wash their hands with that soap regardless just like any other time you're going to use the bathroom you should be far away from campsites and water sources Etc some people air dry after they use their bidet others might use a tiny bit of toilet paper so overall they're using less toilet paper and then some even use a bandana like a p-rag type thing except a booty rag so from what I understand the pros of a bidet is they're lightweight pretty inexpensive you no longer have to fool with toilet paper if you're in an area that requires you to pack out toilet paper so not having that bag of nasty teepee is nice and overall it makes sense that using a bidet is more hygienic you're actually more or less giving a shower to the nether regions instead of just smearing it around and trying to wipe it off the downside of the bidet from what I hear is it takes practice so it's good to maybe try it in the shower at home before you get out on trail and it's just not working out for you also you can wet yourself if you don't have that practice like squirting too much and getting your britches all wet or dealing with backsplash you know you squirt it and it shoots off on your leg or something so yeah practice makes perfect having a dedicated bottle for this can be bulkier than toilet paper but again not having to deal with the toilet paper is nice and finally probably the biggest Con in my opinion to Trail bidet is that it requires water now this isn't a big deal if you're somewhere like the at but in areas where you're in a more desertous situation like on the Pacific Crest Trail or Continental Divide Trail where water is so precious and you've got long water carries then you might not want to be wasting water if you will squirting it on your butt like with everything else in backpacking and in life in general it's all about personal preference but I just wanted you to know that this is an option that exists when you get out on the trail you should still keep up with your oral hygiene I know many hikers let that slip and it's kind of gross but I made a point to brush my teeth twice a day in the morning and at night before I went to bed when it got really cold out and I liked to keep how many times I had to get out of my tent to a minimum then I started brushing my teeth in the morning and at lunch but you will still get cavities out on trail despite popular belief if you don't take care of your oral hygiene I like to carry a little travel size toothpaste and a lot of the stores the resupply points will have things like that it just seems like a lot of weight to carry a big old tube of toothpaste I mean every time you use it the weight is reduced so it's not that big of a deal but I keep my toothbrush and toothpaste in a Ziploc bag and when I'm in town I wash that bag out and try to let it air dry as much as possible and even in my food bag at night I'll leave that Ziploc bag open to let things dry out I do switch out my toothbrush several times during a through hike I just like to freshen it up but I am one of those weirdos who either Cuts or breaks off the handle of my toothbrush to save some grams bathing what I was talking about earlier is I like to in the evenings at least kind of do a little bath now you can get into a water source and kind of rinse off if you want to be mindful of those who might be collecting water make sure that you are Downstream of them so they're not having to scoop up your foot water when they're collecting water for their dinner but you can get in the water and swim there's nothing that says you can't do that so if you want to do a little scrub-a-dub-dub then that's a good time don't carry soaps into the water source if you want to bathe with soap then you need to make sure you're away from camp and away from water sources carry water with you and you can Suds up and do your little bathing there but what I prefer to do is to use baby wipes and I'll just get a pack if I can a travel pack of baby wipes or maybe even a big pack at a store and split some with other hackers keep them in a Ziploc bag and then I do a head to toe General bathing so that I'm starting over fresh in the morning well as fresh as possible I don't bother carrying deodorant or any kind of scented things like perfume or makeup I personally don't want to fool with any of that while I'm out there because I'm still gonna look rough and I'm still gonna stink so I just embrace it and most other people do too I have seen some people start with deodorant but most if not all of those ditched it because it just wasn't worth the wait for how they ended up smelling anyway plus a lot of good scents like that can attract bugs which is definitely something that I'm not trying to attract more of while I'm out on trail but by all means it is a personal preference and for example my mother when she comes backpacking with me she's gonna have a little ball of deodorant and that's absolutely fine if that's what helps her get through hikers do different things with their hair while they're out on trail some people think that if you have long hair you need to cut it all off before you go out to the trail and that is one option if you don't want to deal with your long hair anymore but certainly don't feel like you have to do that I've always kept my hair long while out on trail and I pretty much handle it the same way out there as I do when I'm home and that's to put baby powder in it if it starts getting oily I brush it every morning before I get going and then braid it and at night I'll take my braid out and brush it out and sleep with it down some people prefer to cover their hair up with something like a buff if it's oily because they don't want to put baby powder and dry shampoo in it or don't want to tote those things basically do whatever is comfortable and convenient for you something else that I typically carry with me in the way of toiletries is conditioner I'll get one of those little travel size bottles because when I get to town sometimes I like to go directly to the hotel room and it's not convenient where the store is located to have to go shop before I take my shower so it's just worth the wait to me to carry that little conditioner because unfortunately many hotels or hostels they'll have shampoo and they'll have soap but they don't oftentimes provide conditioner now if you have short hair and you're just not that worried about it that's fine but for anybody who is going to try to maintain long hair while they're out on the trail conditioning definitely helps and then while I'm in town I'll see if I can't top off with conditioner I find in a hiker box or just purchase another little travel size conditioner log books now if you're wondering why I'm talking about log books in the hygiene section that's because you should be warned that logbooks are nasty people will be picking their teeth after eating dinner and flipping through the shelter log books or maybe they'll go to the privy and they don't have great hygiene after they use the preview to put on hand sanitizer so they'll flip through the books and put all their fecal matter everywhere so I'm not saying don't touch the log books and look through them because it's a lot of fun but you might want to rinse your hands off and use some hand sanitizer after you do another thing to be mindful of when it comes to hygiene is eating after other hikers now some people have no problem sharing food and drinks with other people and obviously that's a personal preference I'm not trying to be a germaphobe here but I do know that there have been bouts of norovirus on trail and if you're sharing food with people that can put you at risk but not even just eating and drinking after people but if another hacker has norovirus and they don't know it yet and maybe they're not great about cleaning their hands after they go to the bathroom and you offer them some popcorn or chips out of your bag and they stick their fecal matter hand into your bag and leave some of it for you well now you're going to be eating some doo-doo snacks and possibly getting norovirus and that's why you'll often see hackers instead of shaking hands when they meet they just do like a fist bump with just touching some Knuckles so while it might seem like I'm being a little too cautious I can promise you that being sick and having diarrhea in the middle of the woods is no fun even if you're not worried about bathing in your tent or keeping your body fresh while you're hiking in between towns I would highly recommend at least being hygienic about your feet because that can prevent you having issues with your feet your feet are what is going to carry you from Georgia to Maine or Maine to Georgia so you need to take care of them I would recommend at night washing your feet with water that you have in your water bottle or going down to the water source and if you can even let your feet soak in the water for a little while again being mindful of those who are collecting water and where they're at but just to get the dirt off of them and the salt build up from where they've been sweating all day also to cool them down and help with the inflammation that alone can help with having blisters and also other problems associated with different injuries also massage your feet you know tell them thank you for carrying you down the trail and when you can Elevate them I I tried to make a point of when I was taking a quick break on trail that if I wasn't actively doing something where I needed to be sitting up then I would lean back and prop my feet up on my pack and every chance you get let those puppies air out even if you think you're only stopping for five minutes it doesn't take long to slide socks and shoes back on all right now let's talk about some feminine hygiene periods suck in normal life so I promise you they suck just as bad if not more on trail but it is something that you can get through women find a way to through hike for six months so that's likely six periods although some have said that with increased activity they don't have as heavy or sometimes even periods at all I don't know and I've also heard of women manipulating their period with birth control so they don't have a period while they're out there I've never done that either I would check with your doctor and make sure that that's cool to do for six months before you do it but I have just dealt with my period in multiple ways the conventional way and I've also tried some other things so as far as the conventional method whether you use pads tampons panty liners or all of the above you may want to take all of the above even if you wear tampons you may find that you prefer pads because you're moving so much that the tampons just aren't super comfortable or maybe if you use pads you're not gonna like having a diaper like product on you for days at a time so you may find that whatever you're used to you actually switch up on trail so it wouldn't hurt for your first period to be prepared in all Realms I always pack more than I think than I'll need for the stretch and make sure that you're paying attention so it doesn't surprise you in the middle of a stretch and you didn't plan for it but I carry all of my feminine products in a Ziploc bag in either with my bathroom bag that has my toilet paper and my hand sanitizer or at least in the same outer mesh pocket that way I have it easily accessible when I go to the bathroom I can tend to that as well I would say in that stretch if you don't normally carry baby wipes it certainly is nice to have them or if you've got a bandana meant for that purpose for cleaning up just in case you end up with a mess that's always nice to have you're not permitted to bury your pads tampons panty liners because they are not toilet paper and that's the only thing that's allowed to be buried so make sure you're ready to pack those out with you same thing with privies if you throw those in the privy somebody a volunteer is going to have to dig it out and that's just really not fair to them also I use a separate trash bag for my feminine products that way I'm not having to go dig into my food bag to get out the food trash bag every time I want to go use the bathroom and and change what whatever feminine product I'm using also that way if I'm sitting around in a circle of people and I've got my food trash bag there I don't have all these bloody things you know hanging out for everyone to see while they're eating their food if you don't want to deal with the conventional feminine products then you can look into using menstrual cups some ladies tend to prefer these on trail because they don't have to have the extra weight of pads tampons panty liners they don't have to deal with the trash you know it's something that they can put in there and pull out dump out and clean it out and do it again and then you just carry that with you until you start your period again so if you've always got it you don't have to be worried about being surprised in a stretch where you're not prepared I tried a menstrual cup unfortunately I didn't practice with it long enough before I got out on the trail so I'm sitting in a privy trying to get the menstrual cup out to dump it and then put it back in and I've got all these people line waiting to use the privy so definitely don't be in that situation if you're going to use a menstrual cup I would practice long ahead of time unfortunately also the menstrual cup that I first tried just didn't really work well with my body I tried another one later on but I've just decided I don't I don't love menstrual cups some qualms I had about using them on trail one your hands just aren't very clean and you can use hand sanitizer and try to do the best you can but you are kind of gross on trail so having to use my hand to put it in there and take it out I wasn't in love with that idea also you've got to clean the menstrual cup when you're done with it for that particular cycle it's recommended that you boil them in water at least the ones that I use that's what they suggested you do so you'll have to use your food pot to boil your water I didn't really have any issue with that personally for myself but I felt bad if I was going to boil water for somebody else knowing that you know I had used my food pot in that way so also I was stressed about using them in a preview because what if you drop it in the privy and then you have nothing I guess that might be a warning don't use them in the preview use them in the woods instead but anyway it's all personal preference and if you're somebody a normal life that prefers menstrual cups then that's probably what you'll want on trail and if you're a conventional person then chances are you'll figure that out on trail too I carried nail clippers with me on the at I hate if I break a fingernail or a toenail and it's uneven just a personal pet peeve and I'll just sit there and pick at it so I like to have nail clippers to be able to keep my nails short it feels cleaner to have my fingernails and toenails shorter while I'm backpacking but also having the little file part to be able to clean out your nails when you want to is nice if you care about that sort of thing just a word of caution though it is advised to not cut your toenails too short so that you end up with problems with ingrown toenails but you also don't want to keep them too long to where they're causing you any discomfort or hitting the front of your shoes and potentially causing damage to your nail beds shaving on trail is definitely a personal decision whether you're a girl you're a guy I know some women have expressed that they don't want to have to shave on trail and they're going to have hairy legs and that's the way it is and that's absolutely fine but I've also seen some of these women kind of Shame the ones that decide that they want to shave on trail so I don't know I personally shaved my armpits and my legs while I was on trail that's what I prefer for myself and the way my body feels but you should do what works for you and your body I carried a disposable razor and I would usually just get a pack of a few of them and hold on to them because they're pretty lightweight until I went through all of them and then I'd get another pack or if I got a large pack because that's all that was is available at the store for disposable razors and I'd throw some in the hiker box when it was in the warmer months and I was wearing a tank top then sometimes I would shave in my tent it doesn't bother me to drive shave I know some people can't do that so if you carry some lotion or something like that then that might work for you or you can just wait and do it when you get to town but my legs I just waited and only shaved my legs when I was in town in the colder months I tend to appreciate having ChapStick and lotion I'll get something that's just moisturizing and not anything necessarily frilly and scented but these are personal things some people can do without this stuff and some people will prefer it but just listen to your body and when you get to town you're going to know if you need to pick up something but don't be afraid to feel like you know you're a little bit more high maintenance or whatever that's okay get what works for you in your hygiene regimen and if you're comfortable with being absolutely disgusting as long long as it's not causing you any physical problems then you're good to go but if you want to primp up a little bit more then that's okay too all right y'all well that is all I have for you today on this topic if you want to watch one big video with all of this information about the at but it's split up by a time stamp then you can click right here or if you want to watch my through hike of the at then you can check that out below thank you all so much for watching don't forget to subscribe before you go if you've got any questions feel free to drop those in the comments and we will see y'all next time [Music]

Channel: Homemade Wanderlust

Views: 61,150

Keywords: travel, hiking, backpacking, hike, gear, adventure, fun, story, Appalachian, Trail, PCT, CDT, thru-hike, Auburn, Alabama, epic, climbing, canyon, national, nature, mountains, update, park, lake, trail, tents, camping, summer, University, Aubie, River, stream, Mountains, National, Scenic, Dixie, Camino, Florida Trail, Pinhoti Trail, Foothills Trail, Tetons, Grandma Gatewood

Id: nLdquvNhT3c

Length: 25min 14sec (1514 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 22 2022