Collins Complete Hiking and Camping Manual: The essential guide to comfortable walking, cooking and sleeping. Rick Curtis

and poor personal hygiene before handling food. Get into the habit of using good cleaning practices for a safer and more enjoyable trip. It’s not just your cleanliness; someone else’s lack of good hygiene could cause you to become sick. (See below.)

KEEPING CLEAN ON THE TRAIL

      One of the most common health problems when backpacking is gastrointestinal illnesses like diarrhea, which are spread by fecal-to-oral transmission. Fecal-borne pathogens get into your system through one of several routes:

       Direct contact with faeces (even using toilet paper leaves germs on your hands)

       Indirect contact with hands that have contacted faeces (shaking hands, for example)

       Contact with insects that have contacted faeces

       Contact with contaminated drinking water