While you may think the title says it all, as an overly sweaty person one of my biggest struggles going outdoors for multiple days is how smelly I get. While I have learned to live with it to a point, it makes it really hard to convince your significance other to share a tent for night(s) when they know how smelly you get after just a couple hours. To overcome this, I have put together a list of things I have found that have helped me stay “fresher” in the outdoors and ensure my BO doesn’t scare anyone away in a 10 mile radius.

Merino Wool

Merino Wool is being labeled as a miracle fabric if you pull up a technical hunting advertisement. I have found, even in the Southwest, Merino wool is something I can wear for the most of the year. It comes from ultralight weight 150 gram up to 300 gram plus weights. This indicates how heavy the fabric is and how much it insulates.

Benefits of Merino Wool:
Softer than regular wool (not your grandpa’s wool)
Absorbs odor
Regulates Body Temperature
Transports sweat away

Negatives of Merino Wool:
Expensive – Most Merino Wool is 2-3x the price of synthetic or cotton clothing
Less durable – it seems to develop holes faster than most of my other clothing
More effort to clean (hand wash or at a minimum hang dry)

Even in the Arizona summer, I have found that a lightweight Merino wool boxer brief can help keep the stink from reaching biblical proportions. The negative though is it seems to do its job of transporting the sweat into my next layer, where it generates some stink there. Keep this in mind when packing for extending trips, you are sometimes just moving the stink from an inner layer to outer layer if everything isn’t merino or anti odor synthetic. Overall, I have slowly been building up my stash of Merino wool clothing, starting with some Black Ovis Merino Wool boxers. Since then I have moved on to adding some of Skre Gear Merino Wool to my hunting collection and wore their short sleeve shirt for 3 days of Coues Deer Hunting, finding it helped cool me down in the heat. My Next piece will probably be a shirt for skiing, hiking, and river trips from Voormi or Duckworth. If you haven’t I highly recommend you try Merino Wool, especially beyond the socks most people recommend.

Layering

The next important piece to helping combat stink is to use layering in your clothing as much as possible. When it is 100 plus out, this is a bit harder to do but in the Fall through Spring timeframe I have found that layering is a key to not overheating and in turn sweating.

When first starting out on a hike, I force myself to start in one less layer than I thing I need. An example of this starting off in a shirt instead of putting a fleece layer over the top. Since so much hiking in Arizona starts at the bottom of a mountain and has you climbing up, I normally warm up quickly and find I don’t need that layer until I stop for a break.

Additionally, instead of bringing only 1-2 layers when colder, I try and have 2-3 thinner layers that add up to the same level of warmth. Since they are thinner, they additionally don’t add on as much weight as you would think and instead provide me a lot more flexibility to regulate my body Temperature.

Lastly, I have starting doing the same thing with my lower body when possible. I have started hiking in shorts more and more, finding that a pair of Magnum PI length shorts seem to help me from over heating and let more air flow in, meaning less stink down by the boys. Additionally, I have been continually looking for socks that breathe better and are thinner, helping keep my feet dry. On longer packs I even bring a second pair, switching them out halfway through the day. Layering and dressing right has helped me combat the stink and be more comfortable in the out of doors.

Wipes/Towel

The last thing I do to combat stink and avoid killing my tentmate is to bring body wipes or a towel I can wipe off with. When I first started, I always avoided the extra weight and bulk of a pack of wipes or a towel, just choosing to ignore the smell and grime. However, I have found that the weight is minimal and I can sometimes get away with one less pair of underwear if I bring the wipes. I normally try and wipe my buddy down at the end of the evening, wiping the sweat off my face and then cleaning anywhere else.

This helps me feeling cleaner and smell better, but I also noticed I seemed to sleep a bit better, which is an even better ancillary benefit of the wipes. Additionally, if I am bring the wife outdoors, these are now a must have for her, so I have gotten used to carrying them. If you haven’t tried wipes out yet, a pack of Dude Wipes from Amazon is around $3-$4 bucks. I just put some in a Ziploc to avoid the bulk of an entire pack.

Last Thoughts

While combating stink may seem unimportant the next time you hit the trail for a night or two, I promise you will feel better and won’t want to come out, wishing you had a longer time if you have a quick and easy way to clean off, you layer correctly, and try out Merino Wool.

What steps do you take to combat stink in the backcountry? Let me know in the comments below!