While there may be the occasional accommodation that includes washer and dryer, most of the time, laundry will be a daily hand-wash process. The daily ritual will be as follows:
- Arrival at alberge and check in
- Take a shower
- Change into tomorrow’s hiking clothes
- Hand wash today’s hiking clothes
- Hang to dry
- Hope things are dry by morning
To facilitate this process, I am bringing three laundry-related items.
Earth Breeze Laundry Sheets – l LOVE these sheets and have been using them at home for the past several years. I typically use a half sheet for a normal sized load at home, but for washing a handful of items, I’ll likely tear the sheet into about 12 pieces and that one little piece should do the trick. For my hiking purposes, these sheets are great because they are super lightweight. Three sheets weighing in at 10 total grams. On a more general note, I really appreciate how I’m not paying for a bunch of water and that they come in biodegradable paper envelopes. As a bonus, they are a local Oregon company, so I like supporting my state’s economy.
Travel clothes pins – These are an item I’ve had for a long time and I can’t identify where I purchased them from. They are very lightweight, but will keep my clothes on a drying line if a breeze comes up.
Diaper Pins – there will be times when things are not completely dry by morning. These pins will allow me to secure still-damp items to the outside of my pack so they can continue to dry as I walk.
Towel – while not officially part of my laundry kit, I do intend to use my microfiber towel to help squeeze out as much moisture as possible from the washed clothes before setting them out to dry. By placing items flat on the towel and then rolling up and wringing out, I should be able to remove more moisture (with less concern for stretching out clothes) then I would if I wrung them up by themselves.