thru-hikers are gross

Day 95 ~ miles 1516.5 - 1541.

Thru-hikers are gross.  Yes, it's true...it's difficult to maintain a standard of hygiene when you live in the woods and your resources are so limited. 

Normally, we shower once every 5-7 days, sometimes less frequently.  In the meantime, we use baby wipes and/or rinse off in streams if the time/mood/conditions are right.  Baby wipe baths and rinsing in streams are not adequate long-term substitutes for actual bathing!  Most of the time, we really stink.

We wear the same clothes day after day after day (with the exception of socks and underwear, we do carry a change of each of those).  Laundry is usually done as often as bathing, or less frequently.   Our shirts get so crusted with salty sweat; sometimes they could likely stand up on their own.  Many of the laundry facilities along the trail are old, require maintainance, etc.  Often times, our clothes come out of the washer dirtier than they went in!

Imagine the condition of your bedding if you never washed it.  Couple that with your rarely bathed, sweaty body, sleeping on that same bedding every night.  Our sleeping bags stink!  Oh, and our backpacks are gross too.

We poop in a hole in the woods, which actually is probably more pleasant than most public restrooms.  I really don't mind it a bit.  But then, we carry out our used TP in a ziploc bag.  I know that many of you are repulsed by this, but realistically, the TP would take forever to break down out here in this dry climate, and an animal would likely dig it up anyway. Of course, there's nowhere to wash our hands, so hand sanitizer it is! 

We use hand sanitizer often, but really all it does is smear around the dirt already on our hands (hopefully it's killing some germs, too).  Underneath our fingernails are always brown with grime. Oh, and you should seeand smell our feet!     

We blow snot rockets, and use the same bandana every day to deal with our snotty secretions.

I am not complaining by any stretch of the imagination; we have fully embraced the thru-hiker filth, and we are so much more appreciative of the little things because of it.  So next time you step in that shower or sit on that toilet, take a moment to appreciate what you have!  We are doing this by choice, but there are plenty of people that are not afforded these luxuries, without a choice.