A five-day journey into the thought process of human cleanliness in the wilderness.
Pre Trip:
Take a long shower! It'll be the last one for a few days. Better trim your nails too! Need a shave? This is the day to do it!
Day 1:
Get on the river, that weird smell from your seat on the bus probably didn't stick to you anyways. Regret decision to get that crisp white, quick-dry shirt sometime during lunch...should have gone for that safari-khaki colored one. No big deal, hair in camp is brush-able. Teeth are always brush-able.
Day 2:
You have never been more disgusting in your entire life. Hair is completely unmanageable. (You never wanted dread-locks.) B-line for the solar-shower as soon as personal gear in stowed in tent. Dirt is in every crevice of your body. Feel better after shower. Immediately spill some of your dinner on your fresh shirt. Teeth still brush-able.
Day 3:
You took a shower yesterday, and you got splashed a bunch today and swam around in the river at camp, so you’re still pretty clean. Besides, the camp games are so fun you'd hate to miss out! You manage to find the time to brush your teeth.
Day 4:
Last night on the river! You don't even have time to think about bathing! You've become one with the canyon, and never cared so little in your life how you looked. Your pocket mirror has been forgotten at the bottom of you toiletries bag and stubble is growing all over your body. Your nails have visible dirt underneath them. But, It was such a fun day! Your teeth still get brushed before bed.
Day 5:
Re-enter society. The bus didn't smell weird at all! You see your face for the first time in days back at the hotel! You got tanner then you thought you would! You take a shower and notice copious amounts of dirt sloughing off with the clean, filtered shower water. You see your face again, you realize the tan was mostly dirt. You realize how bad the clothes smell you wore on the trip. At the post-trip dinner you laugh with everyone about how incredible it feels to be clean again.
Heck, who cares about dirt? You loved every second of it, and can't wait for the next adventure!
