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1. How hard is it to sleep on the trail? I get my BEST sleep in the backcountry.

2. After eliminating bodily wastes, how do you get clean? I wipe. If necessary, I wash with some water if I start to itch. Mostly, I hike and sweat till every thing is pretty much washed away.

3. What happens when your gear gets wet? Prep your pack with a trash compactor bag liner. Protect your gear. And learn to live with "comfortably damp".

4. I met a throughhiker on the AT (in MA - Beartown State Park area) in August while I was on a dayhike. He was clean shaven! I thru-hiked in '99. Trust me, he shaved during a town stop. NOBODY shaves in the backcountry unless you're forced to like I was in the Marine Corps. Be a mammal. Grow some hair.

5. Do you "bathe" in streams, ponds, or lakes? I 'swim". No soap. Not really needed. Just rinse off the sweat.