I was addressing the pollution issue. Soap and chemical residues on our bodies (e.g. insecticides, sun-screens, deodorants) should be kept out of natural water sources. Wash away from the source and the ground will naturally filter the water for reuse.

sorry to hear that hope your better soon

Sorry to hear that. At least you got to ride Parkdale Hill which is my least favorite part of the Hardscrabble Century...mostly because you hit the bottom of it at 80 miles. The other side of Parkdale is fun, however.

That^ and if there are any kids around, I try and chat them up for a few minutes or whatever. Then you are a person and not an anonymous tent to be screwed with that night.

If you are touring in Scotland or the Scandinavian countries, free or stealth camping isn't an issue that requires special attention to times for setting up camp.

It's not like you have to bathe every day.

You may not need to but when I have bubbles of salt on my face after the salt has evaporated and when I lick my mustache, I go beyond the daily recommended salt intake, I need to bathe.

And please, don't bathe in streams. It's not good for the fish.

I think that hiding your stuff under leaves, etc is clever. But I'd avoid it. When hiking, I always choose an empty place, but if I did hide my stuff, it'd make it impossible to use the old "Oh, what? I can't camp here? Sorry? I was just a bit lost?" excuse.

It's all a question of whether you can be seen and whether it matters. I haven't done any stealth camping, but I use a hammock tent, and not every campground is on board with hammock-camping. My feeling is that if I hang it up too early and am asked to take it down, then I'm in for an uncomfortable night on the ground. But if I wait until it's close to dark I lessen the odds that someone will wander by or that a passerby will notice or that a passerby who noticed will care enough to rouse a sleeping camper to have them take down their tent. So if there's any question, I wait as late as I dare. It may be better to ask forgiveness than permission, but better yet is making sure no sees anything you have to be forgiven for. But if I feel confident that no one will care, or that I won't be seen, I set up camp as soon as possible. Setting up after dark is a pain, and I avoid it if I can. But even if I want to set up in daylight, I have a bad habit of rolling into camp near sundown and racing daylight to get things set up.