River clothes on the left, camp clothes on the right.

If you’ve talked with me on the phone before and asked anything about clothes on the river, I’ve probably given you my sermon on camp clothes vs. river clothes. It goes a little something like this: (!)

River Clothes: I always wear the same thing every day on the boats. Usually, that is a long sleeve shirt and a pair of shorts (board shorts or swim trunks). A long sleeve SPF shirt is perfect down there, it keeps the sun off your skin and you can get it wet to cool off.

Camp Clothes: Right when I get into camp I’ll set up my area and change into my camp clothes. This isn’t too different than my river clothes (usually shorts and a short sleeve cotton shirt) but the point is that I change.

I never wear my river clothes in camp and I never wear my camp clothes on the river. After sweating, hiking and getting doused with water all day I like to change out of those clothes and into something clean and dry. Generally, at the halfway point of any trip I’m on I try to wash my clothes in the river too.

So it is a simple technique but one I’ve found to be successful in the Canyon. Camp and River clothes, keep ’em separate!