Here are some various tips we used/learned on the JMT
Blister care- Daveed was lucky enough to never have blister problems, I had a couple minor issues. Thankfully most of those issues happened before we started the JMT. While we were in Glacier NP, I developed blisters on the outside of both my pinkie toes and in a couple spots, kind of between my toes. That problem was solved by getting Injinji toe socks. I picked up 2 pairs at the REI in Portland and wore them as my liner socks on the JMT. I was a little skeptical as they seem so silly and gimmicky, but they were awesome. No issues at all with blisters on or between my toes!
I did encounter some blister issues on the backs of my heels on day 2 of the JMT. At first I used moleskin applied directly to my skin but it came right off when my feet started to sweat. I bought some Liquid Skin in Tuolumne Meadows and it helped to protect my skin and helped with keeping infection out, but it also started to flake off after my feet started sweating. Ultimately what ended up working the best was putting a piece of duct tape around the backs of my heels, on the outside of my liner sock. The duct tape didn't stick to my skin either once I started sweating. I put a piece on the back of each heel and then to conserve the tape and not have to carry more, I wore my socks 2 days in a row before rinsing them. So I changed the tape every 2 days and I went through one roll of the tiny "travel" sized rolls over the course of the 26 days that I used the tape.
My daily foot regimen was as follows and I never got infected blisters and the blisters never got any worse, although they never really truly went away. I did end up with a bit of a callous on the backs of my heels, but it wasn't enough to not need the tape: every morning I would paint Liquid Skin on the backs of my heels to disinfect and keep the area clean. After it dried I'd put on my liner socks and put a piece of duct tape around the back of each heel. At lunch I would take my boots and socks off and let everything air out and dry. In the evening when we reached camp, I would take my boots and socks off and let everything air out and dry. I would also peel or flake off any remaining Liquid Skin so the blister areas could dry out more. Every couple days I would rinse my feet in a lake/creek.
Overall my socks and feet stayed pretty clean. Because my boots were Gortex, they didn't let any dirt pass through the mesh/fabric, so keeping my blisters clean was easy. Using the Dirty Girl Gaiters was also helpful in keeping dirt and debris out of my boots and socks.
"Laundry" on trail- I brought a tiny Sea to Summit clothesline which we used nearly every day to hang dry our items. It worked great and I would definitely bring it again! I saw someone who brought a collapsible bucket for laundry. A great idea so you can carry your water away from the water source and rinse/clean things really easily. We used gallon and 3 gallon sized zip locks instead as they are cheaper, lighter and smaller.
I brought along some big safety pins that I used to pin my socks to the outside of my pack. This worked well on sunny days to dry my socks faster.
Bathroom Business- All trash on trail needs to be packed out including toilet paper. Some people use natural sources of toilet paper like pine needles, rocks, etc. We did not. We used small camp rolls of TP. I found a 3 pack of Coleman camp TP at Walmart which was a lot cheaper than buying the single rolls that REI sells. For what the camp TP is, it's very expensive. You could take TP from your house, we saw a lot of people who took the cardboard roll out of the center of half a roll of TP and stuff it in a sandwich bag. I chose the camp TP because it's very compacted in a roll and the roll itself is very small. It was thin 2-ply and worked great. I kept it in a sandwich bag to keep it dry. Daveed ended up not needing as much TP as we sent to ourselves, but I took it and used it. We also brought travel sized packages of baby wipes which were great to have. We stayed cleaner and fresher and I even used a couple here and there to clean my face. It felt really good to clean the dirt, sunscreen, sweat, salt and grime off my face. We also brought a small bottle of hand sanitizer and with both of us using it a couple times a day, we only used half the bottle. We also carried a plastic hand shovel/trowel for digging our holes.
We had to use wag bags while in the Whitney zone and pack out our solid waste, which was not as gross as we thought it was going to be. In fact, it made doing our business a lot faster, we didn't have to dig a hole. We experienced no odors after we sealed up our bags and just for good measure I put mine inside a zip lock bag, so it was triple sealed!
Best tip: powdered bleach alternative in the bottom of our used TP zip lock bags. This was Daveed's idea and something he had done on a previous backpacking trip. He didn't mention it until we were in Yosemite the night before starting the JMT, but thankfully, the Village store had a container of powdered bleach alternative for sale. I can't remember the brand but it was some sort of natural product, no actual bleach chemicals... Anyways. We brought with us enough quart sized zip lock bags to use for the duration of the trail, planning to throw away a bag of used TP at each resupply stop. It worked perfectly! We put the equivalent of about a half teaspoon, maybe a teaspoon at the most, of the powder in the bottom of each bag. The powder took care of any odors. In fact, I never remember smelling ANYTHING when I would open the bag. This was a big plus as it's just gross carrying that sort of stuff around. Admittedly I never stuck my nose in the bag and tried to smell anything, but you get my drift. We still have the full container of the powdered bleach at home, which we haven't used yet. Seems to me like we'll still have some for our next backpacking adventure! And many more!
I would absolutely use the "powdered bleach" in the bottom of my used TP zip lock bags again. I would use the camp TP again as long as it was within my budget. Otherwise I would take TP from home and make my own rolls. I would bring baby wipes again. I would bring hand sanitizer again, but a smaller bottle of it (1 oz instead of 3 oz travel size). I would use the hand shovel/trowel again but would consider getting a metal one as we did encounter some challenges digging our holes in areas where there were a lot of roots from the little surface plants. I think a metal one would be stronger and make it easier to dig the hole. A titanium one would also weigh less.
Dudes- you might not want to read any further than this. I'm going to talk about lady things now. You've been warned.
It always amuses me to see people like Steph Davis respond to questions from ladies about how to deal with your period while out on an adventure. It's not complicated. But it can be gross. I used the same method on the JMT that I use when I'm out rock climbing: pack it out.
My apologies if this is too much information and too graphic, but it really seems to be a mystery to those not accustomed. So here is some info for you! I used tampons on trail and packed an extra TP bag with powdered bleach in the event I needed more than one bag. I was unlucky enough to get my period during our longest stretch between resupplies, and I got it on the day we got our resupply. Which meant I had to carry my used tampons and liners until our next resupply which was 7-8 days later....That also means there was no shower or running water available to freshen up. I sent myself individually wrapped feminine wipes, enough for one per day, which I used at the end of each day to freshen up a bit. I highly recommend these! They made me feel cleaner and fresher. Yes, the bag of used tampons was gross and I was really happy to get rid of it once we got to our resupply. And I did end up needing the extra bag for my used TP and stuff. Because of the additional scent in my TP bags, I double bagged them in a gallon zip lock bag and then into my bear can at night. Cringe. I know. So gross to put something like that in the container that held my food, but I was concerned about the smell after a rodent of some sort chewed a small hole in the bag the first night of my period. I kept my TP bags in the side stretchy pocket of my pack every other night previous to this and never had any issues. It could have been a coincidence but I didn't want to attract any bears, so I double bagged it and put it at the very top of my bear can, above the trash. I was hoping the layer of trash would help protect my food in some nonexistent way :)
There were ladies on the trail who used other alternatives than tampons. The diva cup was one. It requires regular rinsing and reinsertion. Others used a sponge which also requires regular rinsing and reinsertion. There was plenty of water available on trail for the rinsings as the Sierras have tons of lakes and creeks. But, both of these options gross me out with all the reinsertion and lack of countertops, running water and soap etc...I would be concerned about dirt and cleanliness. To be fair, I have not tried either of these so maybe it's not such a big deal?
One other thing I did on trail to keep me cleaner and fresher, was that I used TP every time I peed. I don't always use TP when I pee in the woods but considering the long stretches between showers and clean laundry and the lack of running water, I used TP. And I'm really glad I did. I also used a baby wipe once a day to help keep things cleaner and fresher.
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