A camping shower is a must have luxury when you're out on the trail for days at a time. For some people the feeling of being dirty and not able to wash is enough to keep them from going camping ever. Well they don't need to worry about that anymore. Now you can wash up no matter how deep in the woods you go, no matter how far from civilization you get.
It used to be that the only way you would get clean is to use the showers at a family campground. Sure they work but you have to be up pretty early to be able to get any hot water and more than that, those places are usually a mess. I know that I can't stand walking around in somebody else's dirty soapy water and to be honest, I'm not convinced it isn't bad for your health at some level. Not to mention the lack of privacy and everything else that goes along with that.
Of course there's also the option of grabbing some biodegradable soap and just washing up in the nearest lake or river but that's not always practical either. If you're the type of person that likes to camp in the spring or fall when there's less of a bug problem then you can count on the water being very cold, maybe extremely cold even, and that could lead to anything from you becoming hypothermic to just catching a bit of a cold. Maybe nothing at all will happen to you but one thing is for sure, you can't beat the comfort of a camping shower.
They're actually nothing fancy and I'm surprised I haven't seen them around earlier than just the last few years. They're a plastic bag that's made of fairly thick plastic and tinted so that it's dark like a garbage bag. It has a spout on it and it will hold probably a couple of gallons of water. The spout on it can be turned on and off at will. The idea is that you fill it with water and hang it in a nearby tree or place it on a rock so it can be heated by the sun while you're doing your thing. Even on a cooler day the sun will heat the water to a much more enjoyable temperature than a nearby lake or river will offer you.
At some point in the day when you figure the water has been adequately heated you simply hang it up in a tree, wet yourself down, lather up, and then rinse it off. The best part is that if you figure one shower is not enough to get you clean then you can bring two with you. Heat them up at the same time and you should have more warm water than you need. They will roll up into a nice small little package that you can take with easily.
These days you simply don't need to feel dirty when you're camping. I'm aware that some people find it to be part of the charm but with a camping shower you can go anywhere anybody else wants to go and still keep clean.
Ian Kurz is an enthusiastic camper and the owner of the website www.everything-about-camping.com where he has camping advice for beginner campers and more seasoned campers alike. Be sure to check out his camping shower page while you visit!
Click the XML Icon Above to Receive Outdoors Articles Via RSS!
