9 Tips for Backpacking and Camping During Your Period

Last updated on April 14th, 2021 at 05:18 pm

Hiking is an activity closely related to our nomadic past. As such, we should feel empowered in our hiking efforts. There are many of us, however, who feel less confident getting on the trails during our periods. This is a surmountable feeling though, and we should feel confident roaming great distances even while on our periods. After all, menstruation is a natural part of the human cycle. We shouldn’t let our periods deter us from getting outdoors, even while backpacking on multi-night camping trips. This post focuses on tips for hiking, backpacking and camping during your period.

Following the tips below will help make your menstrual hike or camping trip a success.

1. Select The Best Menstrual Product For Backpacking And Camping

Everyone has a personal preference when it comes to which menstrual product they use. For hiking and backpacking, however, there are clearly better choices than others. This is both for application purposes, but also for ease of disposal and safety.

Reusable Menstrual Cups Are Best

If you are going on a camping trip or backpacking through the wilderness reusable menstrual cups are really the best menstrual product to use. A menstrual cup is a small rubber or silicone cup that catches menstrual blood by being inserted.

If you have not been using them they may take some practice to get used to. Once you do, however, they are great for the following reasons:

1. They are reusable, meaning you won’t have a ton of waste to deal with on your trip (see later steps)
2. Because they are reusable you can reduce the number of items you pack-in / bring on your trip
3. Disposing of blood is simple; just pour blood in a shallow hole and cover up with soil (also called a “cat hole”)
4. Menstrual Cups can remain in place for up to 12 hours (reference manufacturers instructions)
5. Cups are easy to clean out; water often does the trick; boiling water for thorough cleans (ref. instructions)

There are a variety of manufacturers out there, and multiple sizes can be purchased based on personal variables. Flow, age, and whether you have birthed a child are all ways used to determine the size of the menstrual cup you’ll need.

Generally, using a menstrual cup is easy. Again, there is a learning curve to inserting and removing the cup when its full of blood.

If you can master the menstrual cup while backpacking you will be traveling lighter, and with less worry about carrying bloody waste items out of the park.

Tampons Are Your Next Best Option

According to the National Park Service, using tampons is recommended over external pads. While tampons may not be reusable they are used internally, and because of this, they are a great option for your backpacking excursion.

The main benefits of using tampons during a hike or camping trip are:

1. You may already be comfortable with the process of using tampons
2. They are better than pads when hiking

While you may be very familiar with using tampons, they do require more work when on a hike. This is most true for multi-day backpacking excursions or serious camping trips where you won’t have any solid wall buildings around you.

If using tampons, you will need to pack enough for the entire trip and carry every used tampon out of the park with you (proper disposal methods described later in this post).

Pads Are Not Recommended For Trails Or Camping

Unless medical reasons are forcing you to use pads it is not a recommended option for hiking or backpacking trips.

As an external menstruation control, there will likely be more blood scent given off from the pad. While there is no solid evidence that this scent is enough to attract bears or other wildlife, it is recommended that the scent of menstrual blood be contained.

Another reason pads are not recommended is their size. Pads are bulky to pack for longer trips and also bulkier for carrying out of the parks. Remember, you will need to carry out every product you use to control your period. The size of pads will make for a larger waste bag. Just another reason to more fully explore using cups and tampons.

2. Pack For The Length Of Your Hiking Or Backpacking Trip

Remember, you will need to pack everything you need when you leave for your trip. If you are going on a day trip where you plan on returning to a working restroom and running water, no big deal. However, if going on a multi-day trip you will need to plan ahead.

If you are using a menstrual cup it may be wise to bring an emergency tampon just in case.

Regardless of what type of menstrual product you plan on using make sure you have enough to get through the duration of your excursion.

3. Pack Zip Locking Plastic Bags For Menstrual Product Disposal

Disposing of menstrual products is much simpler when you aren’t in the middle of a national park. For long hikes, backpacking trips, and long distance camps, we need to come prepared. Bring at least two, quart-sized zip lock plastic bags. You should always double zip lock your menstrual waste on a hike. The two bags will help contain scents, but will also provide more protection for the other items your waste comes in contact with while hiking out of the park. Double bagging is a fantastic insurance policy in the scenario that one of the zip locking bags gets damaged.

While we are on the subject of the zip locking bags possibly getting damaged, it is worth bringing up that it may make sense to bring more than two of these bags on your trip. After all, it would be nice to have a backup if one (or both) of the bags got a hole in it.

4. Bring Small Brown Paper Bags To Conceal Waste

Above, we talk about sealing our used menstrual products in zip locking bags until we can dispose of them properly. But what if we rather not have a bunch of tampons visibly floating around in clear bags? Not to worry!

There is a fairly simple way to pack your waste away more discretely. Your conundrum can be solved by remembering to pack a number of brown paper bags. Just place your used tampons inside the brown paper bag. Fold the top a couple of times. Place the brown paper bag into your two zip locking bags. Seal them up.

You have now properly stored your waste while concealing what exactly your keeping in the zip locking bags. Ta Da!

5. Treat Used Tampons Just As You Would Food Items

If you opt to use tampons on your next camping excursion be sure to dispose of them properly. This means you will need to pack the used menstrual products away much in the same way you pack food waste away.

I discuss double bagging (in zipping / lockable bags) above, but you will need to store used menstrual products safely overnight as well. If sleeping in a tent each night you will need to hang any used towelettes, tampons, or pads a minimum of 10 ft. above ground and 4 ft. away from the nearest tree trunk. This is the same precaution you would take for food items.

Other suitable places for your waste would be in the trunk of a car, the cabin of a truck, or in a solid trailer (not one of those ply-able pop-up type of trailer though).

Animals may confuse used menstrual products for food. While the double bagging methods described in this post help reduce the chances of any animal getting into your waste items, it is best not to take any chances.

6. Don’t Use Scented Menstrual Products

According to The National Park Service, “cosmetics, perfumes, and deodorants are unnecessary and may be an attractant to bears.”

This blurb from the National Park Service should be enough to convince you to leave the heavily scented items at home. Whenever on the trail safety should be the first priority.

Outside of the safety aspect of it all, we shouldn’t worry about body odor anyhow. After all, if we are hiking in a group everyone likely has very similar smells about them. Hiking is a physical activity, and as such we are all going to sweat (and more).

7. Pre-Moistened, Unscented Cleaning Towelettes Are Very Helpful

When running water is a luxury, unscented cleaning towelettes become a near necessity (these are my best friend). Bringing these on your adventure would require space in your backpack, but having the ability to thoroughly clean everywhere and everything is invaluable.

Towelettes might be a great way to freshen up, but always remember that used towelettes need to be packed out. These are ultimately going to turn into waste that needs to be removed from the trail. Dispose of your used towelettes in the same way you would dispose of a used tampon; by sealing in two zip lockable plastic bags.

8. Don’t Bury Used Feminine Products…Ever

Never, under any circumstances, bury your used tampons. This is littering at best, and fatally dangerous at its worst. Seriously.

Yes, it has been shown by various sources that it is a myth that bears are attracted to period blood. Regardless of this, the National Park Service has indicated that burying used menstrual products can create dangerous habits if animals dig them up and consume them.

When an animal works for food, and then ultimately gets to eat something from that effort, it is called a “food reward”. If you bury used tampons and unintentionally provide a food reward to an animal you may be encouraging that animal to seek out similar scents. This is very bad. In this scenario, the buried menstrual products would act as a “food reward”. If the animal receiving the reward is a bear this is especially bad. Associating the act of eating with the scent of period blood could then inadvertently draw bears to women on their periods (source: National Park Service).

So, let’s all look out for each other and remember to pack out all of our waste.

9. Don’t Let Your Period Stop You From Hiking or Camping

Being on your period can be a bit of a handful when on a backpacking or camping trip, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go camping. If anything, you should feel empowered to take on the outdoors. After all, there is nothing more natural than our bodies. We shouldn’t be scared of our menstrual cycles, or allow ourselves to be hostage to something that half the world goes through once a month.

As long as you pack everything you need for your trip, and have thought through what you are going to do with waste products, you should be able to take in the beautiful scenery through the duration of your trip.

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Image credit: Zach Dischner (https://www.flickr.com/photos/zachd1_618/) Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-ND 2.0); reduced file size and dimensions