Even the wilderness can’t save us from having to do the dishes. Washing dishes in the backcountry doesn’t have to be terrible, though. Once you have bug spray and a good system down it’s pretty slick.
Regulations & Disposal
For such a freeing place, the BWCA sure does have a lot of regulations! These regulations keep one of the world’s most pristine wilderness areas just that; pristine! So, please respect the rules and keep our beloved BWCA clean.
BWCA regulations require campers to dispose of dishwater at least 200 feet from any water sources including rivers, creeks, and lakes. It must also be disposed of 200 feet from campsites, latrines, and walking paths such as hiking trails and portages. Keeping dishwater disposal distant from these areas will help reduce the encounters with curious critters and cause the water to be filtered through the ground before entering the aquatic system.
Dish soap & Sponge
Go easy on the soap quantity, a little bit goes a long way. Biodegradable or not, less is more. We use regular dawn dish soap. A couple drops of soap gets us through an entire meal’s worth of dishes, no problem.
Towels
Growing up, our family would always bring a dish cloth. I remember scrubbing noodles off the bottom of the pot with my nails because the cloth wasn’t efficient. Now we bring a sponge with a scrubby side that we have cut into thirds to make it smaller. It’s small, wrings out most of it’s water, packs well and is easy to hang up on the clothes line. In general, I’m not a fan of sponges, but it works best for camping purposes.
Regular drying/tea towels will work just fine. We have discovered, however, that using a quick drying micro fiber towel is the most efficient way to get dishes and towels dried quickly. This is important for those who don’t base camp and are on the move during a route. It’s a real pain to have a towel hanging off of a bag to dry while you’re portaging and canoeing.
Water
Heating water isn’t necessary for dish washing in the BWCA, but it is nice. Heating up a small pot of water on your gas stove can make for more pleasant washing, it’s up to you whether you want to use the fuel on that or not.
We prefer to wash with water right from the lake, nothing fancy. We wash back into the woods, away from trails and water. In the past, we have used a tub but I’ve gone lighter in recent years and simply use our largest cooking pot, which is actually quite small. It gets the job done, though and doesn’t take up any extra space in our packs.
Rinse water can be hauled in a collapsible bucket or another pot. Again, we use water right from the lake. There are some that fold down to fit in the palm of your hand. Camp gear has come so far!
Clothes Line
You’ll likely already have a clothes line ready to roll for bathing suits and wet clothes. If not, a simple stretch of paracord and some clothes pins is all you need.
Root of the Issue
Bring a collapsible shovel with a serrated edge for cutting through the excessive amount of roots in the ground. I’m not kidding, we tried to pack light one year and brought a tiny trowel with a smooth edge. It did not go well. My following birthday, my husband gifted me a collapsible shovel with a serrated edge. It’s pretty awesome. The hole doesn’t need to be large or deep. Just enough to pour a little water in. We are trying to reduce impact, not litter the forest with holes.
Fewer Dishes, Less Washing
Try reducing the amount of dishes you need to wash by making a few of them dual purpose. For example; drink your coffee/hot cocoa first in the morning and follow it by making oatmeal in the same mug. Always have your breakfast after your beverage, otherwise bits of breakfast will be littering your morning brew.
The System
After cooking your delicious meal and feasting, it’s time for the dirty work. Dish duty should be a shared task. If you have a small group, everyone gets a job. For larger groups take turns with different meals. For the most time efficient dish wash, 3 people is optimal. One to wash, one to rinse and dry, and one to dig the hole. On our most recent excursion, we had a 4th job; watching the kids, this took the most effort.
We have a pretty slick system for dish washing in the back country. The key to not being devoured by mosquitoes is to work fast and well together.
- Spray with bug spray, very important.
- Heat water while gathering dishes, soap, sponge, towels, rinse water, and shovel.
- Find dish washing location.
- One person starts on a hole (200 feet from trails, latrine, camp, water and portages).
- Soap up the dish water and lay out one dish cloth.
- Wash each dish with the sponge and toss into rinse bucket.
- Each dish can be rinsed and placed on the drying towel.
- Depending on how fast your washer is, dishes should be dried as they are rinsed or after they are all washed.
- Wash the pot last and hand off to the hole digger. The pot should be dumped in the hole, then rinsed out with the rinse water. The remaining rinse water can be disposed of in the hole. Bury the dish water.
- Dry and stack the dishes. Keep the dishes off the ground so they don’t collect debris.
- Hang the towels and sponge to dry, pack away your clean dishes. Done!
Your camping crew will learn what works best for your situation. We’ve learned through trial and error and things have gotten better as we’ve grown more experienced and camp tools have evolved over time.
One thought on “How to Wash Dishes in the Backcountry of the BWCA”