How to dry your clothes when hiking?
Whether you are hiking in unsettled weather or trekking for several days, your clothes may get wet. You may encounter rain or decide to wash your hiking clothes yourself. Once wet, you need to know how to dry your hiking clothes.
Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash
Drying your clothes in a bivouac
After an intense day of hiking, you may be tempted to wash your clothes or dry your rain-soaked clothes at the bivouac. Before sunset, you can dry your clothes outside, on the ropes of your tent for example. However, it is not recommended to leave them outside all night, especially if you are in the mountains. The morning dew may leave your clothes damp.
At night you can put wet hiking clothes in your tent. Some hikers place them at the bottom of the sleeping bag or on top so that the body heat dries them naturally. This way you can leave with clean, dry clothes the next day.
Drying clothes while hiking
After a rain shower or if your clothes have not had time to dry at your bivouac site, you can dry them during your hike if the weather is good. For example, you can hang your rain jacket or socks on your pack. This way they will dry while you are walking and you won't have to worry about them.
Make sure that your clothes are well hung up so that you don't lose them on the way. If you can't manage to secure them to your bag, you can take a safety pin with you to make sure the clothes will fit.
Choosing the right clothes for hiking
Clothes made of natural fibres such as merino wool have the advantage that they do not absorb odours. This means you can wear them for days without washing them and still not suffer from the smell. If they are soaked, they need more time to dry. Cotton should be avoided because it gets wet quickly and takes a long time to dry.
In contrast to natural fibres, synthetic fibres such as polyester smell quickly. However, they have the advantage of drying very quickly. This is very practical if you need to dry your clothes quickly.
We advise you not to hang up your black or dark-coloured clothes in the sun. The sun tends to discolour clothes. It is therefore better to leave them in the shade and put them inside out.
Drying clothes on a hike is therefore possible and quite easy. You don't need any special equipment and you can dry your clothes while hiking without worrying about it. Be careful, if you want to wash your clothes in nature, always place yourself downstream and favour soaps without additives (Aleppo soap, Marseille soap...) or biodegradable so as to respect the environment.