Off-Road Ranger I
I've always dumped my water in a fire pit, or used paper towels to clean and put in my trash. Is there a better way? What do you do?
BDO
BDO
Where do you put your dishwater?
- Thread starter bear_den_overland
- Start date
I try my best to keep it near the kitchen table...although a difficult task most of the time ;-)
Red_Leaf_Overland
Rank IV
Advocate I
When in a campground I usually toss it about 10-15 feet out into the woods around camp ( most of the time bears aren't an issue in the campgrounds we visit so you may get a racoon at night but that's about it).
When off grid I am usually near water so I either do the dishes in the water a bit away from camp or I toss the water into the woods similar to campgrounds just further out.
When off grid I am usually near water so I either do the dishes in the water a bit away from camp or I toss the water into the woods similar to campgrounds just further out.
Traveler II
I wipe my dishes until they are spotless before utilizing a small amount of water and soap to sanitize. With two of us, I usually end up with about 1 cup of water that gets diluted with clean rinse water. In the end I have 2 cups of dishwater that needs to be disposed. The water doesn't have food particles in it and the soap content is nil. I usually toss it in the trees far from a water source. If I am at an actual campground I follow their protocol. I have given some thought about a small container to take dishwater back home (or to a bathroom) with me, but haven't followed through as I need to learn about 'black tank' maintenance.
the wife is huge about saving the environment, so i use it to make her coffee...
Pathfinder I
Influencer I
Call_me_Tom
Rank III
Enthusiast II
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I use a lot of paper plates and I just wipe down any pots or pans that I use. Paper plates go in the campfire after use.
Influencer I
Member III
I use a hand held pump spray bottle to wash my dishes. It's filled with water and a small amount of dish detergent. Paper plates and bowls go in the fire and everything else gets wiped down with paper towels immediately before the "scraps" dry. It's easy to spray and wipe them down with paper towels after that. The paper towels barely get wet and end up in the fire as well. I don't pack a wash tub, brushes, towels, etc.
When bears are not an issue, gray water is dispersed onto the ground outside of camp, so as not to attract rodents or insects.
When in campgrounds, I follow the protocol, particularly in grizzly country. Boondocking in grizzly or other bear heavy locations, I dump onto the ground, but much further from camp.
Please, never wash your dishes in a stream or lake; this adds harmful contaminants to the water which may result in the death of aquatic life. Also remember that others may be using that water (filtered, but that won’t remove all the soap) to drink or in cooking. Bring a collapsible bucket and draw water to use in washing both your dishes and self.
If you burn your used paper plates, keep in mind that bears have incredible olfactory senses and may still smell the food scraps you burned, especially if they were damp and don’t burn down to fine ash. From the National Institute of Environmental Health:
“Bears are thought to have the best sense of smell of any animal on earth. For example, the average dog's sense of smell is 100 times better than a human's. A blood hound's is 300 times better. A bear's sense of smell is 7 times better than a blood hound's or 2,100 times better than a human's.”
Yikes!
When in campgrounds, I follow the protocol, particularly in grizzly country. Boondocking in grizzly or other bear heavy locations, I dump onto the ground, but much further from camp.
Please, never wash your dishes in a stream or lake; this adds harmful contaminants to the water which may result in the death of aquatic life. Also remember that others may be using that water (filtered, but that won’t remove all the soap) to drink or in cooking. Bring a collapsible bucket and draw water to use in washing both your dishes and self.
If you burn your used paper plates, keep in mind that bears have incredible olfactory senses and may still smell the food scraps you burned, especially if they were damp and don’t burn down to fine ash. From the National Institute of Environmental Health:
“Bears are thought to have the best sense of smell of any animal on earth. For example, the average dog's sense of smell is 100 times better than a human's. A blood hound's is 300 times better. A bear's sense of smell is 7 times better than a blood hound's or 2,100 times better than a human's.”
Yikes!
If Dawn dish soap is safe enough to get oil off baby ducks, I feel fine about using a few drops here and there to clean my tiny camping dishes.
Traveler III
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Off-Road Ranger I
how do you say I’ve never camped in bear country without saying you’ve never camped in bear country? ^^^^ this genius ^^^^^ nailed it.
Influencer II
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In campgrounds, I dump it into the fire pit. Boondocking, I throw it into the woods. I use the CVS version of Dr Bronner's soap, for everything, so its biodegradeable. And, the food bits-well, it is what it is. Most gets scraped into the trash, but its inevitable some makes it into the woods. Certainly not enough to make critters dependent, and we dont have grizzlies in New England, and the only aggressive bears we hear about, are the ones that wander into town and lose their inhibitions toward humans. My several encounters with black bears in the back woods, has had them running away faster than I could identify what they were, lol.
Guardian II
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Man, am I really going to be the only one to say I don't wash my dishes? I just wipe them with a paper towel and obviously towel and crumbs go in the trash bag. Plate will be just fine. I wash it for real at home.
Influencer II
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This is one of the reasons everything I use is stainless steel. Worst case, I can toss everything into boiling water, and call it a day.
