It just occured to me, being a germ-a-phob, that the AT is cleaner than the local grocery store. Even with all the funk I acquired and hikers I shared hot tubs with, I was never worried about catching anything. Now cotton people freak me out more than ever with their coughing, nose picking kids, restuarant workers that don't wash anything, co-workers that come in sick and don't tell anyone they have Strep until three days later and the day before I have to go inpatient. I'd rather live in a rat infested, food stained, candle wax splattered shelter than in my own town. I can't recall any hiker ever picking his or her nose and wiping on a shelter surfaces. But I've it at my local mega-lo-mart. Body condom, please!
_Bushwhack_Where I feel safer
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#1
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#3
That's the problem with getting old, Dave. Once your clutch starts to slip, you're done. I snot rocket in your general direction, Monsewer.
_BW_
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#5
I never get sick on the trail. Invariably, a week or two after getting back to town I have a bad cold or worse. I attribute that to all the door handles, public bathrooms, public transportation, stuff you don't see on the trail.
On the other hand, you need to show some discretion in shelters, too. I was having lunch in a shelter in CT, and a filthy guy comes in, bragging about not having a shower since PA, and how he’s been hiking for days with explosive diarrhea. I’m packing up to go as quickly as I can, but one of his buddies is so glad to see him he shakes his hand. Eww. (And I’d bet a few days later, they’re blaming his sickness on the bad water.)
_Garlic_
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#6
Along the same lines, Antlers Campsite in the 100 Mile Wilderness has (or hopefully, had, though traditions die hard) a register located in the PRIVY, right by the hole. And sure enough, it was always chock full of entries, intractable pathogens be damned. ("Read it and wipe"?) I'd imagine the old registers are regarded as welcome memorabilia, too, now festering on someone's coffee table somewhere.
It’s easy to get desensitized when you’re living - unavoidably - the less than clean, less than comfortable trail lifestyle. And generally we can live inside our own skin just fine; it’s when we commingle that the trouble arises.
_bf_