Every backpacking source that I've read have been emphatic about the importance of hand washing on the trail. They point to the case that normal rules you use at home should be the same as on the trail (wash after using the toilet, before and after cooking, and before eating). These are just much harder to do when there isn't a steady stream of sanitary water coming from a faucet.
There are different ways to clean your hands, but the easiest are the hand sanitizers. These are great for sanitizing hands before eating, for they are very effective at killing off germs and other nasties. What they don't do is clean your hands of dirt and other crud. For that, plain old soap and water are required. However, soap can be unhealthy for the environment, particularly if the phosphates in the soap get into the water supply and create algae blooms. So, I'll need to get some special soap that doesn't have any phosphates.
When setting up a washing station in camp, the standard is to set it up 200 feet from camp, and 200 feet from a water source. The objective is to let the water, soap and any dirt soak into the ground and allow the ground to use it as a filter. Don't pour it on any vegetation, for it may kill it or animals may dig it up if there's something tasty in the water. (Apparently, the animals on the mountain will find most anything tasty.)
So, the rule seems to be, keep them clean to avoid the spread of disease. Didn't we learn that in the 1700's?
My wife recently informed me that more and more phosphate-free soaps are being offered.
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