Lightweight and Ultralightweight Backpacking

The View from Here


Panoramic view from a mountain top in Glacier National Park, Montana
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What I use: clean up and hygiene

Not very much is needed for cleanup.

If you only boil water, and, use the freezer bag cooking method all that is necessary is to pack out the used freezer bags and food packages.

If you repackaged everything at home or in the car before you leave the trailhead, there is much less packaging to carry out.

I use an odorproof OPSak to pack anything having a strong odor, both in and out.

I use vacuum packaged food, when I can. I package it myself. Otherwise, I select shelf stable food.

For toiletries, I find unscented products. I also find biodegradable soap. Nevertheless, these products go into an OPSak.

This is because bears and other chewing critters have a more keen sense of smell, than we do.

I have an OPSak for my food bag and another OPSak for my trash bag. Nevertheless, I carry one lawn-and-leaf bag, so if I find a campsite or trail to have trash I will carry it out. If it is more trash than one large trash bag I can pack out, I report it to the Forest Service, the Ranger, or to the city or county, or other appropriate authority.

These are my toiletries.

The toothbrush is short, the toothpaste is repackaged in a small container from a store travel section. I added a few plastic toothpicks.


toothbrush

tp

Here is Charmin in a travel-size. I discard the package, to use a ziplock-type plastic bag instead. In the alternative, I like to carry the Puffs tissue travel pack instead of tp.

I carry the Sea to Summit soap leaves packet, pictured below, every time.


sample toiletries: unscented wipes

These wipes pictured are unscented, and alcohol-free.

The Eco Select wipes shown on the left hand side completely break down within two weeks, if you do not pack-it-out. However, a double ziplock bag is adequate to pack-it-out and an odorproof OPSak is even better.



My kayak gear











copyright © 2017 Connie Dodson. All Rights Reserved.