"Stop these illegal immigrants en route, because we all know you can't close the border!"


Ryan,

Maybe you should have followed up with:

"Keep your dirty hands and your trail GORP apart, just like white women and colored men!"

> I'll go get some castile bar soaps at Walgreens or something.

We collect those little packaged soaps you find in motels etc. Much lighter than a full-sized bar, far more convenient than a dropper bottle, and one tiny bar lasts for a year or two in the bush.

Cheers

Edited by rcaffin on 09/04/2010 16:24:07 MDT.

I'm wondering if clean hands are less important when hiking solo. It seems very possible that your own GI fauna would be less harmful to you that that of others'.

Agreed, Eric. Your system ought to be used to them, although care should be taken as to what gets touched after a visit to the ablutions office. VSO's doctor told a bunch of us new recruits that diarrhoea means you have ingested someone else's faeces.

I also wonder if this and the issue of contaminated water come into sharper focus in hot, dry environments. My suspicion is that British backpackers have traditionally not been too concerned with hygiene and have suffered very little as a result. The Scottish Highlands have been particularly well supplied with cold, clear water this August.



The glens were sodden and even summits such as that of Mullach Fraoch Choire had excellent water sources. I wish its pool hadn't been freshened up quite so frequently during my holiday.

Edited by Bukidnon on 09/05/2010 01:03:38 MDT.

I would agree. Good sources of water harbor few pathogens and probably quite a few of the "I've never gotten anything in the backcountry" reports are from soloists. Hell is other people (or their commensal bacteria)...

Couldn't help chuckling, Tohru

"Never use the stuff at home."

Mud and sand? Or hand sanitizer?

"just like our grandparents did" Ever watch your grandparents wash their hands? It was if they were scrubbing in on surgery. The 21st century quick wet-soap-lather-rinse ain't gonna do nothin' no-how. But if you scrub well like they did...

The BAK-based cleaners have an advantage for me as a contact lens wearer: no alcohol residue (and thus eye burn). No rinsing needed, just rub (scrub?), air dry, then continue as if at home. (I don't have to use any treated water prior to hand-meets-eye, removing that possible source of contamination as well.)

I use the Adventure Medical Kits hand sanitizer, and found that the dispenser can be refilled: take a suitable pair of pliers (I use needle-nose vise-grips) and carefully grasp the bottom plate and rock it off. It'll be scratched a bit, but it'll snap back on without any fuss (and many times too). I use either Soapopular (for backcountry as it's odorless but more expensive), or the Office Max Smart & Silky brand (the one for kids) for day-to-day use (dirt cheap). Even though these brands vary in concentration of BAK from 0.13% (Soapopular) to 0.10% (Smart & Silky), I can tell no difference in efficacy.

My trick for washing hands in the backcountry was developed while solo-hiking the PCT. I suck water into my mouth from my Platypus or water bottle and immediately dribble it out of my mouth onto my hands while rubbing vigorously. No soap. It may sound remarkably anti-hygienic, but it allows for much better rubbing of the hands than if you pour water with one hand onto the other and try to rub and rinse the hands with each hand subsequently pouring water onto the other.

With this method I could cleanse my hands as many times a day as I wished (3-8 times) to keep them feeling clean. I used hand sanitizer only after bowel movements.

I had no GI problems then or since.

If you're solo then you won't be infecting others

You don't need alcohol sanitizer for a first aid sterilizer, BAK works fine. That is the active ingredient in Bactine.

If you need lots of sterile wash, overdose some water with purification chemicals (tablets or Aqua Mira) so there is excess sterilizer available.

Also, don't eat with your hands. Be really careful about touching food -- use a clean spoon or knife whenever you can.

FInally, learn to keep your fingers clean. For example, spread on sunscreen and insect repellent with the back of your hand, not your fingers. Don't drop your gear in the dirt so you won't be handling dirty gear. And so on.

Oh, and Dr. Bronners turns into gel in the cold. Not my favorite. I'm a Biosuds guy.

Edited by wunder on 09/12/2010 10:59:51 MDT.

When I interned at Baxter State Park, I remember the rangers telling us that hand sani only "piXXed off" the bacteria. I use it all the time in tha woods tho, and at music festivals where there's no running water (at least until I can spring for the VIP tix). When I did wilderness therapy, we gave out sani all day but did a solid hand washing every night, but for that you need at least two people and some kind of water jug, a cook pot would work. When the little kids would really screw up at the wag bag I'd make d--- sure soap and water was in play, a bleached nail brush too. Nothing like a chemical reaction to get ya clean n godly.
PS no profanity on the message boards? wtf are we like, 6? if you're old enough to pay with a credit card I don't think you will be offended by some strong words.

No, we are not 6. One would expect "potty mouth" behavior from 6 year olds. We are adults, most of us, and as such don't feel the need to sprinkle profanity liberally throughout a post. One can communicate clearly, effectively and with respect for each other without it. When we disagree, which happens often enough on BPL issues, we find a way to do so without making the "other" feel badly. The object here on this site is to learn from each other, teach each other and have fun sharing good times and bad times on the trail with our gear. When we are on the trail I would assume most of us find profanity useful at times. When we are sitting at our computers in our homes or offices writing a post, we exercise a certain level of consideration for the rest of the BPL community not knowing who enjoys a little profanity and who does not.

Mitchell!!! Cool down my eloquent homeboy, I wasn't advocating that you cuss up a storm, I just think if I fork over 20 bones for ninety down jacket articles I should be able to say what I please. Now go get your bedford handbook and post a reply.

John, you didn't read the terms and conditions that you agreed to when you subscribed here.

--B.G.--

And there are youngsters reading on these boards. Need to keep it family-friendly!

Last Comment on the subject.

I don't need a Bedford Handbook to reply. I value and treasure the English language and make a practice of using it with skill and style every day -- even in a post.

We get members like you ocassionally. They last a while then drift off to some other interests they may have, or they adjust to our community and get into the spirit of things. I hope you do -- adjust that is. Meanwhile, Bob's comment that you may need to go back and read what you agreed to when you signed up for this site with your "20 bones" is a good suggestion.

I've had to deal with the cracked hands a lot from crack climbing at T Wall in the winter. Solution: chapstick, blistex worked best for me, just rub it over the cracks and you're good to go

er, back on topic.

I gather this means that a good soap and water wash is often better. Beauty!

I've often wondered why any of us gram watchers (aren't we all on this site) would even contemplate taking gel instead of just plain simple soap leaves that are readily available at any outdoor shop. As long as you have water to use, it is lighter to take leaves. You get about 50 in a packet, and re-pack, say 10-20 in an XXS snap lock bag for any trip (overnight needs even less) and they weigh almost nothing (the biggest weight is the small pill sized snap lock bag itself, at about 1g)! Now it seems the tech data supports it also, so I can feel relaxed about it at the same time.

Craig

Edited by skeets on 07/16/2011 02:25:08 MDT.

"...plain simple soap leaves that are readily available at any outdoor shop.."

I tried them. I didn't like them.

Getting the first one out is easy. Getting the second one out with wet fingers can result in one drop of water saturating the rest of the "leaves" and solidifying them.

And if you get out several before hand, they are light enough to waft away on a breeze.

If you are doing more than just a hand wash you will go through them fast.

Liquid soap, although heavier, is much easier to dispense, spread, and use.

IMHO.

Edited by greg23 on 07/16/2011 09:42:21 MDT.