Up until recently, toothpaste has been an issue for us on backpacking trips. Not a significant issue, but one of those little things that annoyed me enough that I found myself continually looking for a solution:
- Toothpaste is messy, it seems to always have this way of sticking on things, especially the kids.
- The tubes are not convenient for packing. They are either too big, too small, almost empty, getting a hole, etc.
- It's not easy to bring only the amount that you need.
Some possible solutions I found were:
- The Toob toothbrush. This device is a combination toothbrush/toothpaste container. Overall, not a bad idea, but we didn't want to have special toothbrushes that required specal heads just for backpacking. We like using our regular home toothbrushes on the trail, it just makes life simpler.
- Dr. Bronner's. Some of the more hard-core backpackers will use their Dr. Bronner's magic soap for everything - including brushing their teeth - so that they only need to pack one cleaning agent. In theory this sounds interesting, but I tried brushing my teeth with it once and couldn't quite get into-it. There was no way I was going to get the rest of my family to buy-in to this idea either.
- Toothpaste dots. Take your favorite toothpaste and dehydrate it. Overall not a bad idea, and one I seriously considered until I discovered an even better idea...
Tooth powder
Tooth powder is basically dry toothpaste in powder form. It is what was used for oral hygene before toothpaste was invented. For backpacking, we have found it has a lot going for it:
- You can put it in any sized container you like, and a little goes a long way. Before we head out on a trip, we fill up a .25 oz mini dropper bottle with tooth powder and it is more than enough for our family of five for a three day weekend - we usually have lots left over.
- For gram-counting backpackers, it is very light-weight.
- No sticky mess.
- Some brands can be really wholesome, much more so than toothpaste. We don't like putting chemicals in our mouths and have found tooth powder to be a really natural way to clean our teeth. Our current favorite brand, Uncle Harrys, is made with only a few ingredients: Calcium carbonate (natural chalk), mustard seed powder, sea salt, natural plant essences. This means we can swallow it without ill effects and makes for simpler brushing because less rinsing is required.
- You can buy it in large quantities. We buy it in 16 oz containers which lasts us a really long time.
Our family likes the tooth powder so much (the only reluctant member is Brienne who finds the powder too spicy and salty tasting - sounds like good Indian food to me) that we have made the switch for everyday use. In doing this life gets a little simpler and the outdoors feel a little more like home - integrating home life with our outdoors/adventure side is always something we are striving to achieve.
If you still are looking for the ideal oral hygene solution for outdoor use, you might want to consider giving tooth powder a try.
We hiked Mount Washington last weekend. The highest mountain in the eastern United States. It's nothing compared to the western mountains but we did hike an elevation gain of 4,000+ feet and spent nine hours on the trail, including a lunch stop at the top.
Top of Washington with our friend John Sifferman
The kids and I were tired the next day so we slept in and took the rest of the day slowly. This routine, a day to allow mommy and kids to start the week slow after a busy weekend, is just our latest schedule change in a continual finding our way on this path to an adventurous family life.
It's one of our goals to be adventuring outdoors all year round. Damien works a regular weekday job. Come the weekend we head to the mountains for one-day-a-week hike and spend another day at home taking care of house and yard maintenance and sometimes getting together with friends in the evening.
Life is full. The summer especially so. We started this new Monday routine as an answer to my request for more downtime in my schedule and to ensure our children get adequate rest and unstructured play time after long hikes. Damien is energized from hiking long distances. I'm energized physically but emotionally I need a certain amount of "relax time" at home to feel recharged.
This is why we homeschool, and more fundamentally why I'm a full time homemaker. So that Monday morning we are not rushing out of the house but taking it easy, even after the normal summer school break is over. We homeschool year round so summer doesn't bring vast changes to our schedule.
We homeschool to give our family the maximum amount of freedom to follow our interests, collectively and individually.
When we started our homeschooling journey, many years ago (we decided to homeschool before our children were even born), we were attracted to this lifestyle because of the families we knew who were homeschooling their children. Interesting families, with interesting children doing interesting things together.
At the time we didn't imagine hiking and being outdoors as much as we are, well maybe Damien did but didn't let me in on his secret. But we did imagine being able to choose our own schedule and meet our children's unique educational needs. Right now the children and I need a down day during the usual work week in order to keep the pace we do with Daddy on the weekend. Homeschooling allows us that freedom.
It let's us tell our eleven year old daughter, who likes sleeping in and reading, that come Monday morning (or whatever day we choose) she can do that - to her heart's content. But come Saturday morning we're going to be up and at 'em quite early to hit the trail - spending the day hiking together as a family.
Freedom to choose adventure. Freedom to choose curriculum. Freedom to choose the way we want to live. This is why we homeschool.
(If you are interested in more homeschooling related posts you can check out our homeschooling resource page at FIMBY.)
Just when I thought I had all of the new minimalist footwear developments covered in my previous post, I discovered this video. Looks like Golite also wants a piece of the action (whether or not these shoes will actually qualify as minimalist remains to be seen):
