We are going Kayaking on the Buffalo river in Arkansas on Labor day weekend and will be camping out one night. We love camping and don't need or want any electricity, air-conditioning, or cable tv but I sure would like a hot shower after swimming and kayaking all day. We typically camp at areas that have hot showers and toilets but unfortunately it appears from the websites that Arkansas is a little more primitive. We don't cook, we have snacks and drinks in the cooler and go out to restaraunts for other meals, but does anyone know of a camping area near Harrison Arkansas that has showers? If we can't find any hot showers what other options are there for cleaning up,... maybe heat water in a pot on the campfire and wash down with some soap, or what?

We use a solar shower. I think you should be able to pick them up at Academy Sports, Dicks, or Cabelas. It's basically a vinyl bag and hose that is clear on one side and black on the other. Fill it up, hang in a sunny spot, and by Afternoon it's all nice and toasty. They hold about 3 gallons, so you may want to get 2. Won't work for a warm shower in the morning, unless you heat some water and pour it in with a funnel.

Part of the fun of camping is using exactly one pot (3qt) of hot water for a "shower." Joe

__________________
Wisdom chases me; I'm faster

I'd second the idea of a sun shower.

I don't camp but use one on weekend outings on the boat. Works well if you remember to set it out to warm up before the sun starts to set!

We also take it with us to remote shooting sites. Works great for washing hands and other clean up chores.

Lewis and Clark didn't have a hot shower until they got to Yellowstone....

We have one place that we camp that doesn't have facilities and hot showers. We just wait til dark and go down and bathe in the spring.

Nothing like bathing in 68* water to get your heart going.

We do have a sun shower, and they work very well. You have to be sparing of the water though.

We've used one of these for years. I wouldn't want to go camping without it.


Coleman Hot Water on Demand Portable Water Heater

__________________
Dum spiramus tuebimur

Baby Wipes O.K.?
They will get you by in the woods or the airport.
I guess it's a little cold there at that time of year?

__________________
Dum vivo cano

Solar showers are great if you have the luxury of leaving one sitting in the sun all day first.

However, you are only going for 3 days max (Labor Day weekend), so here is what I do for short trips:

Use your dishwashing rinse water to sponge bathe. I wash the dishes in warm water using Dawn to cut the grease, and then rinse them in boiling water. By the time that you have the dishes packed up the rinse water is cooled down enough that you can get all of the important parts cleaned.

__________________
Only a cold warrior

we mastered the "2 showers from 1 solar sack" decades ago. Yes, 2 adults CAN get reasonably clean in less than 3 gallons of water.....there are tricks to learn. Well worth the effort, and cost is minimal. Adds a ton of fun to the outdoors.

Note: put the sack IN the sun at least by noon at that time of year. KEEP it in the sun, so minimal attention is required to move/tend it.

I'd think kayakers have plenty of water time while camping....

__________________
Dum vivimus Vivamas

I have used solar showers with great results for years. Try and find the 5 gallon model as it will accommodate two nicely. Lay it on a hard surface, a large rock will work well where it won't be shaded and plan on moving it a couple of times to keep full sun on it. This time of year 3 or 4 hours is usually plenty but check the water temp BEFORE getting under it. They can easily exceed 105 degrees on a nice sunny day. As noted, if not sunny enough just heat some water and add the hot to a larger amount of cold and you should be fine. If you have a lake, pond, bay, stream etc., available try the boaters method... get wet with the hot water, shut it off, lather up and then jump in the lake(or ocean). Finish with a nice hot water rinse.

A rubber door mat that drains works well as it is easy on your feet and keeps you up and out of the dirt. We used ours yesterday at the campsite.

The solar water bags work well, and are cheap. Get several.

You didn't mention a budget or how much room you have.

A 30 gallon plastid barrel (painted black) mounted on the roof would be a giant solar shower.

The propane fired camp heater mentioned above is a good option.

If room and budget allows, a large water tank, a mobile home water heater (25 gal) a water pump and a generator will make a shower just like home. I have seen camper rigs set up with these.

If you're going to use it once, get the solar shower. If you're going to use it again and again, get the Coleman water heater. It's essentially a tankless hot water heater that runs on propane. They should run about $100 at WM.

__________________
Insert short witty words here

What's probably the gold standard of outdoor, portable showers is the Zodi brand, not suitable for kayaking but great for any circumstance where modest bulk and weight are not serious concerns. Units consist of a stainless steel tank of about 2.5 gallons capacity, IIRC, a pressure pump similar to that of a garden sprayer, a hose with twist on/off shower/sprayer head, and an optional propane burner assembly, with which I don't bother. I use mine as a solar heated shower, or, if it's cool or cloudy, supplement solar radiation with H20 heated alternatively, such as on a Coleman stove. The ability to pressurize the tank is a boon in desert campsites, where there is often no "tree" worthy of the name from which to hang a gravity powered solar shower bag. This is a robust, durable product, not cheap, but like all good gear, worth a little more than you pay for it...

The solar shower works very well as others mentioned. If it's not too cold out I usually skip the hot water and use a couple of gallons of cold water to clean up with. Brrrrrr, but it does wake you up first thing in the morning.

If water is scarce, like in desert camping, I use a virgin one gallon insecticide sprayer. A quart of hot water, top it off with cold water, give it a dozen pumps and you can get cleaned up quite respectably with a total of one gallon of water. Flop flops keep your feet out of the mud.

Thanks for all the advice. I didn't expect to get so many well informed responses and I'll pick up a couple of solar showers that I saw online and were on sale for under 12 bucks.

I had no idea they worked so well!

Oddly, every time I Googled "Buffalo River" "hot shower", the Holiday Inn Express would pop up.

Here is some cabin information from the NPS: Buffalo Point Concessions

Park Information: http://www.nps.gov/buff/index.htm

As Capt Steve mentioned. Test the water first! I do not know the temp where you are, but we use the solar on the boat and here in Fl, the water will scald you! We heat half and then add cold.

I kinda like the generic baby wipes from Wal Mart Idea. I use them at the range all the time. Probably 4 or 5 for a whole bath.

__________________
Still Running Against the Wind

Buy a solar shower and just add hot/boiling water to the water you draw from the river, you will figure out the correct mixture after a time or two...

There may be a few shower places at Buffalo.
I guess it depends where you go..
The last time I went there, we went to one of the
usual Buffalo National River parks, and they had
bathrooms and showers in the park. Also water
and I think power at the camp sites.
We might have been at an RV hookup though.
The solar heaters work pretty well for a low
cost backup.

Cabela's -- Stearns Outdoors Sun Shower

That link may help you. I don't camp so I don't know if this is what you need but it just so happen that I got there catalog in the mail today.

__________________
Don't look, reload and shoot!