Mike,

Like many, I have benefited from your contributions to BPL- just the other night I used the slippery half hitch (I still remember those great illustrations) to tighten my tarp during a snowstorm, and went entirely stakeless. And the given the right situation, and the right smooth rock, I might consider leaving aside the TP. But I can't promise the dual use pee bottle will become part of my kit!

Seriously, though, some practical questions. As long as your are, ahem, using your own bottle all the time, I take it the actual health risks are very small. Do you find that there is ever *aftertaste*, or is that what the morning coffee is for? Perhaps some Tang?

One advantage of a floorless shelter, or a floorless vestibule area, of course, is that one need not leave the shelter, particularly if there is snow. I recall a recent thread here discussing the disposal of both liquids and solids in this manner in very fowl weather. Don't know why that has never made the cover of the REI catalog.

James

Edited by dubendorf on 04/12/2009 12:00:23 MDT.

I have gotten up early to start the stove, and then been handed a nalgene bottle full of urine plenty of times by a tent mate, and had him say: "Just rinse that out and fill it with coffee. Thanks."


^----id like to see someone hand me a bottle of pee and make demands. bye bye bottle!

....and somehow this makes me want to work for nols even more.

I work at starbucks now and I would love it if Mike would walk in one busy monday morning and stand amongst the yuppies in his month old polypro long johns, hand one of my baristas a nalgene full of ice cold urine and ask them to rinse it out and fill it with coffee.
That would probably be the best city day of my life.

Hi James

> I take it the actual health risks are very small.
In fact, unless you have an infection of the urinary tract (uncommon in males), there is no actual health risk. Urine is effectively sterile.

But then, I never have to get up in the night anyhow. Smirk.

Cheers

It's sterile when it is in you, and when it first comes out, but not after it's been sitting in a bottle for a while. Subsequent to elimination from the body, the bacteria start to have a party.

Dan is right -- but I just haven't gotten to the point of dual using one bottle for both drinking and peeing...

This seems to fall into the same area as washing off your potty trowel and then using it for dinner....

Poor Joseph, he just wanted to know if its bad to sleep in your clothes. Is it me, do I cause all the threads I post on to wander down these weird side trails? I mention it's better to get up to pee when still wearing clothes and here we are three days later slurping Top ramen of our orange plastic potty trowels. Maybe I should get a dirtbike! ;}

"This seems to fall into the same area as washing off your potty trowel and then using it for dinner...."

How would this be any different than a member of the non toilet paper crowd eating with their hands? ;)

The reason I started this thread is because BSA Scout leaders always emphasize changing out of your moisture laden day clothes before going to bed to prevent sleeping cold. I have heard this among other outdoor youth program leaders and was wondering if there was any truth to this idea. I was always under the impression that any moisture in the clothes would dry out quickly from body heat before causing any chilling effect.

Edited by jscalia on 04/13/2009 15:26:59 MDT.

If your crazy enough to wear cotton it's true, but nylon, fleece, wool, etc. will dry out in most conditions.

Change out of WET clothes, like if you are soaked from rain. But, with the modern synthetic clothing (wool included) the ability to stay warm with a tiny bit of dampness is easy.

The synthetic sleeping bag makes this easier. Down works too, but it requires some care over longer trips. Basicly, just allowing it to dry out is all that's needed.

The clothes would have to be really soaked and I'd have to be really cold before I'd try changing. I used to bring spare clothes; then I realized that when I took my wet clothes off they stayed wet for an inordinate amount of time. If I kept them on they usually dried within a half hour or so. Your body heat does wonders as a natural clothing dryer. And keeps wet (and heavy) clothes out of your pack.

If you're hypothermic and unstable then drying your clothes with your body heat would be... stupid, unless it was your only option. But on a normal day, with normal wetness, and no real threat of impending hypothermia, wear 'em! (As noted earlier, just please make sure none of those leaders are bringing jeans or cotton flannel shirts--and make sure they don't try to slip in cotton underwear...)

Couple years ago outside of Taos up the standard (walkup) route to Wheeler Peak

Not very old pee either


Sunglasses and temp


And why I didn't go outside at night

"The reason I started this thread is because BSA Scout leaders always emphasize changing out of your moisture laden day clothes before going to bed to prevent sleeping cold."


Thru-hiking for months last year, I never changed clothes at night and didn't have any problem as a result --- I'm in the camp of "don't change unless clothes are particularly dirty or wet".
A few times last year my one pair of pants was either too dirty or wet or both (typically these happened at the same time, I don't use gaiters) so I would either unzip the pant legs or just leave off the pants, but otherwise the only clothing adjustment is whether I'm wearing my warmth layer inside the bag or not, and perhaps changing socks for something dryer and/or thicker.

I'm not saying that the choice that's right for me is necessarily a universal truth, but I'm inclined to believe the idea posted earlier about the old rule of thumb passed on by BSA leaders being based on older clothing technology.

Christopher TMI!

Christopher -- TMI and TMR (too much red)! :)

What month was that Christopher? We're taking scouts up there this summer.....

"What month was that Christopher? We're taking scouts up there this summer....."

That's funny, no worries. It was early February.

Joseph, as a Scoutmaster I've often encouraged boys on campouts to change out of day clothes before going to bed. But there is a good reason. Unless we are on a high adventure trip all the boys are wearing 100% cotton clothing. Most of the boys have been playing hard and they are damp from sweat.

When backpacking it's a different story. At Philmont, for instance, the boys are wearing all synthetic clothes. Most will change into their long underwear for warmth at night. But we don't stress the "change out of our day clothes" as the key message for our crew.