You’ve been playing hard all day and you’ve returned to camp ready for dinner and a cozy evening relaxing around the campfire. But first, you have to clean yourself. Yes, I know there are some of you who regret a shower at camp, but I look forward to you especially when you are unheated and outdoors rather than in a building. What an exhilarating experience.
Now to help manage this daily chore at camp, let’s put together a shower bag with the basics you’ll need for personal hygiene at camp.
To get started, look for a waterproof shoulder bag (see the blue bag in the photo). You want a waterproof bag to carry everything because you will take it with you to the shower and you don’t want the contents to get wet. Below is a photo of the shower bag and items that my wife and I take with us when we go camping.
The shower bag contains:
- towels and cloths
- soap and a plastic container
- shampoo and shower cap
- toothbrush and a plastic container
- toothpaste and dental floss
- comb and brush
- razor and shaving cream
- sunburn relief spray
- camping shower
There are several conditions under which you can expect to be able to take showers when camping. Different camps may have different facilities: some will have a bathroom with a shower and hot water, some will only have a cold shower, and some will have no shower. What a terrible thought to take a cold shower outside. Well fear not, because you can remedy that little problem by adding just one more item to your camping list, a camping shower.
A camping shower consists of a 2-1 / 2-gallon plastic bag that is clear on one side and black on the other, a string to hang the bag, and a nozzle with a zipper to control the flow of water.
Before leaving camp for the day, fill the camp shower with water and place it on the ground where the sun will hit it. Make sure to leave the clear side up. The sun penetrates the light side and the heat is absorbed by the black side below. As the heat increases, it is reflected back in the water. When you return at the end of the day, you will have plenty of hot water to shower. Use the attached cord to hang the camp shower, making sure to raise it high enough to be able to stand under the nozzle, open the zipper so gravity can do its thing, and enjoy.
Now that everything is clean, let’s have dinner and start that campfire.
